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aintaining a strong social media presence for your brand requires creativity, consistency, and thoughtful audience targeting. But once you do all that, how do you know if it’s working? Which social media KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) will help you understand whether your channels and accounts are growing, reaching the right people, and generating conversions?
Here, we look at the 10 key social media KPIs that can help you measure the effectiveness of your content and campaigns. And remember, measuring is just the first step: Gathering data is useful only when you take the time to analyze it, consider the story it’s telling, and distill it into a set of directives for upleveling your content and your strategic approach.
1. Engagement Rate
This metric looks at how frequently your audience interacts with your content through likes, comments, shares, saves, and other reactions. A high engagement rate indicates that your content is resonating with your audience and offering value, entertainment, or useful information in the midst of the endless scroll. In other words, it’s the difference between getting passed over for an Oscar and “You like me, you really like me!” Travel marketers will want to keep an eye on industry benchmarks, too — on Instagram, the average engagement rate for hospitality brands is 3.1%, and Facebook hovers around 1.3% (according to data from Hootsuite).
2. Conversion Rate
Conversion is the holy grail of your social media strategy. When your followers “convert,” it means they’re moving farther down the marketing funnel — following your call to action and taking the next step, whether that’s visiting your website, submitting a form, calling, or even making a reservation at your destination. A good conversion rate is proof that your social media content is effectively guiding users towards your desired action. You’ll need to be intentional in setting up tracking tools on your site, forms, etc., to make sure you’re getting the information you need to accurately assess conversions.
3. Reach
This social media KPI shows you the number of unique users who have seen a specific piece of content, whether it’s a post, story, or ad. Tracking your reach helps you understand the scope of your potential audience, how aware users are of your brand, and can provide insights into whether your paid ads are reaching the right demographics.
4. Impressions
Impressions refer to the total number of times your content (posts, ads, etc.) is displayed on a user’s screen, regardless of whether they actually see or engage with it. While reach measures unique users who see your content, impressions measure all views, which means one user who saw your post three times would register as three impressions — and that user might not be engaging or converting. This metric gives you a sense of the potential for engagement with your audience, but it needs to be combined with other social media KPIs to give a true picture of your strategy’s success.
5. Follower Growth
The saying “grow or die” applies to social media as well as other aspects of business development. Monitoring the rate at which you’re gaining followers lets you know whether your content is attracting new audience members — a fundamental goal of any social media marketing strategy. Think of it in hospitality terms: The guests who return every year and spread the word about your destination are foundational to your business, but they probably can’t keep it afloat on their own. You need to keep expanding your customer (and follower) base.
6. Average Watch Time (Video Content)
If your content includes video (and it definitely should!), be sure to track metrics like average watch time, in addition to views and completion rate. Keeping an eye on the total time your Reel or video was played can help you determine if your content is engaging enough to keep your audience’s attention, or if users are scrolling away from your video after just a few seconds. You’ll want to use this data to inform future video content creation: Do you need to focus your efforts on creating longer or shorter videos? Which type of video content is performing best — inspirational? Informative? Behind-the-scenes glimpses of your property?
7. Click-Through Rate (CTR)
CTR refers to the percentage of users who click on your content when they see it, rather than scrolling on by. It gives you insights into audience engagement and how relevant and interesting your messaging is for these users. Taking a close look at CTR data can help you tweak targeting, content, or calls to action. It’s the best way to track whether your posts are grabbing users and encouraging them to find out more.
8. Cost Per Click (CPC) and Cost Per View (CPV)
If you’re running paid social media campaigns as well as organic (ideally, your strategy includes a mix of both), you’ll need to keep a close eye on how they’re performing. Cost per click is a metric used in online advertising to determine the cost of showing your ad by measuring what brands pay to a publisher (like Meta) for every click. While you can afford to experiment with out-of-the-box approaches in your organic posts, CPC and CPV are tied to your budget, so you’ll want to identify areas where you might be overspending and adjust to optimize your ROI (return on investment).
9. Customer Satisfaction
Customer satisfaction on social media is often measured using the Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT), which gauges how happy customers are with a product, service, or interaction. CSAT is typically measured through surveys or feedback requests, often using a rating scale like 1 to 5 or 1 to 10. You’ll need to set up your own customer satisfaction measurement tools — you can use the pre-built survey templates offered by various platforms and customize them to fit your property’s needs.
10. Response Rate
Social media response rate measures how quickly and consistently your business responds to customer inquiries, comments, or mentions on the various platforms. A good response rate indicates a company is attentive to its customers, while a low rate can signal poor customer service (which can negatively impact brand loyalty). This KPI gives you insight into whether you need to adjust staffing and role responsibilities to prioritize faster response times and individualized replies.
Our social media experts can help you translate your social media KPIs into a strategy for driving more engagement and bookings across your channels. To get started, schedule a social media consultation with our team of hospitality marketing experts.