Imagine trying to market your business without understanding how effective your marketing efforts are. It would be like driving with your eyes closed! You need to be tracking the right marketing metrics in order to make informed decisions about your marketing strategy and budget.
But with all of the different marketing channels and metrics out there, it can be tough to know which ones are the most important. This is especially true with most small businesses as they don’t have the time or money to track everything.
To help you out, we’ve put together a list of our favourite marketing metrics that every digital marketer should be monitoring.
What Are Metrics?
Marketing metrics are simply measurable values that can be used to track, assess, and optimize marketing campaigns. In other words, they give you insights into how well your marketing efforts are performing so that you can make necessary adjustments.
Marketing metrics inform marketers about which data to collect and how to analyse it. They can tell you several things, including:
- Whether you’re reaching your target audience.
- What kind of response your campaigns are getting.
- How effective your marketing strategy is overall.
- Which marketing activities are working and which ones aren’t.
- Which area you should be investing your time and money in.
Website vs. Social Media
Most business owners know that they should have a website. But what many don’t realize is that a website is only one part of an effective online marketing strategy. In today’s digital world, social media is just as important – if not more important – than a website.
So what’s the difference? And which one is better for your business? This is one debate that could go on forever, but the truth is, both are important, and each has its own set of metrics that should be tracked. It depends on what you want to achieve with your marketing efforts as to which platform will work better for you.
Website Metrics
These are basically things that happen on your website. It’s important to track these because they give you an idea of how people are interacting with your site and what they’re doing once they’re there.
Some important website metrics to track are:
- The number of visitors (and the Source) – Also known to many as “traffic”, this is the number of people that come to your website. This is important to track because it gives you an idea of how popular your site is and how people are finding you. The Source is also important to track as it can give you an idea of what marketing efforts are working best.
- Bounce Rate – This is the percentage of people who come to your site and then leave (or “bounce”) without interacting with your content. A high bounce rate is not ideal as it means people are not finding what they’re looking for on your site.
- Conversion Rate – This is the percentage of people that take the desired action on your site. This could be anything from making a purchase to signing up for your newsletter. Your conversion rate will give you an idea of how effective your site is at achieving its goals.
Social Media Metrics
On the other hand, social media metrics are a little different. Here, you’re not so much concerned with how people interact with your site, but rather how they interact with your content on social media. You want to know how your social media accounts are performing and what kind of reach you’re getting.
Some of the most important social media metrics to track include:
- Engagement Rate – This is the number of people who are interacting with your content (liking, commenting, sharing, etc.). Tracking how your content performs on social media will give you a good idea of what’s resonating with your audience and what isn’t.
- ROI: Referrals & conversions – This is one of the most important metrics for any business, especially for small businesses. You want to know how much money you’re making for every dollar you spend on marketing. Tracking your referrals and conversions will give you a good idea of your ROI.
- Awareness: Impression and reach – This is the number of people who see your content. If you’re paying for ads, you want to track how many people are seeing them. If you’re not paying for ads, you want to track how far your content is spreading organically.
Are You Tracking The Most Important Ones?
These are just a few of the most important marketing metrics that small businesses should be tracking. There are plenty of other metrics out there, but these are our favourites. If you need help tracking your metrics, we’d love to help. Contact us today for an engaging consultation. Happy tracking!
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