Overvaluing vanity metrics It’s easy to see likes as the currency for social media value and popularity. On my personal social accounts, I certainly get excited when my tweets and photos rack up likes, and I’m far from alone. When evaluating the performance of Contently’s posts, the first thing I look at is the number of clicks a post receives. Most of our social content links to an article or report we want our audience to read, so if they follow through to our site, that’s a better win for us. Ignoring dark social shares Last year, we wrote about the challenges marketers face with dark social shares. Plenty of studies have reported when, exactly, social posts gain the most attention. Ultimately, even if you catch your audience exactly as they’re checking Twitter on a coffee break or commute, they’ll be less likely to click on your perfectly timed post tomorrow if what you post today is irrelevant or ill-conceived. But does your company need a Pinterest, YouTube, and Reddit page? But I still see too many brands missing the mark by curating social accounts that don’t actually serve them. Finance brands probably don’t need a YouTube page, but hotels that can make quality travel videos will benefit from one.
Raise your hand if you’ve ever deleted a selfie or a tweet because it didn’t receive enough likes. Hey, there’s no shame in it—cultivating an engaing persona takes practice.
Even the most savvy personal social users make common mistakes when managing a brand account. Plenty of brand accounts gain attention for their sass and engaging content, but the number of likes and retweets you get may not be a perfect representation of your true social impact. So before you delete that tweet that only got one like from a super-fan, here are four social media misconceptions that could affect your engagement.
1. Overvaluing vanity metrics
It’s easy to see likes as the currency for social media value and popularity. On my personal social accounts, I certainly get excited when my tweets and photos rack up likes, and I’m far from alone. Research has shown that dopamine, the same chemical boost we get after a victory or a good workout, is released when we receive likes and shares on social media. However, these vanity metrics aren’t always the best indicator of social success.
When evaluating the performance of Contently’s posts, the first thing I look at is the number of clicks a post receives. Most of our social content links to an article or report we want our audience to read, so if they follow through to our site, that’s a better win for us. Sure, it looks nice when 21 people like a post, but I’m much more exited about the 80 clicks, even though the public can’t see that.
Instead of getting discouraged when a promising tweet doesn’t rack up the likes and retweets, pay attention to the clicks and check how long people stay on the page after coming from social. If your post is generating strong engagement, don’t worry so much about the superficial stats.
2. Ignoring dark social shares
Last year, we wrote…
COMMENTS