Analytics and Performance Metrics

These indicate how actively your audience is interacting with your content. Key engagement metrics include likes, reactions, comments, shares/retweets, saves, and clicks on links. You should monitor both absolute numbers and the engagement rate (the percentage of your followers who engage with a post) to gauge content resonance​. A high engagement rate means your content is striking a chord with your audience. Identify which posts spur the most engagement – do photos get more shares? Does asking a question increase comments? Use these insights to inform future content (e.g., if videos consistently get higher engagement, plan more video content).

Reach refers to how many unique users saw your content, while impressions are the total number of times your content was displayed (including multiple views by the same user)​. These metrics tell you how widely your message is spreading. Track reach to ensure you’re growing or at least maintaining the size of your audience. Compare the reach of different posts – if a certain topic or format (say, a Dig story) reaches a larger audience, it might indicate it was shared more or picked up by platform algorithms. Impressions can exceed reach if people are viewing your content multiple times or if it’s being reshared. Both metrics are available in platform insights; use them to understand visibility trends. 

Keep an eye on your follower (or page likes/subscribers) count over time, but focus especially on the rate of growth. A steady increase in followers indicates healthy growth of your community, whereas plateaus or declines might signal the need for strategy adjustments or more promotion. It’s normal to see spikes during big events or campaigns (e.g., a surge of new followers during Homecoming or after a major announcement). Track what events or content drives follower growth. Additionally, analyze the demographics of your followers if the platform provides (age, location, etc.) to ensure you’re reaching your intended audience segments. 

If one of your goals is to drive traffic to Howard websites (such as the main site, news articles, giving pages, etc.), use tools like UTM tags and Google Analytics to see how much traffic comes from social media and which platforms drive the most. For campaigns, track conversions that matter to you – for example, the number of event sign-ups from a Facebook post, or the number of applications started via a link you shared. This helps quantify the real-world impact of your social content. Some platforms like Facebook and Instagram (with a business account) offer link click metrics directly; for others, you might rely on bit.ly or UTMs to measure clicks. If a particular type of post yields strong conversion (say, a lot of people clicked an admissions info link from LinkedIn), note that as a best practice to repeat. 

Periodically (e.g., monthly or quarterly), review which posts had the best and worst performance in terms of the above metrics. Look for patterns: content type, topic, timing, caption style, etc. Did posts with questions perform better than straight announcements? Did using a certain hashtag boost visibility? Use these findings to refine your content strategy. It’s recommended to set aside time each month to compile basic stats and report them to key members of your respective team – many social platforms allow you to export data, or you can use a social media management tool that aggregates analytics. Over a quarter or year, these reports will help illustrate growth and success to your department and can justify resources by showing the impact. 

Set realistic goals for your metrics that align with Howard’s overall communications goals. For instance, a goal might be “Increase average post engagement rate on Instagram from 5% to 7% by year-end” or “Grow the School of Business LinkedIn followers by 15% this semester.” Having targets helps you focus efforts and evaluate success. Compare your account’s performance to past periods (month-over-month, year-over-year) to measure improvement, and even consider benchmarking against peer institutions’ accounts for context. Keep in mind quality over quantity – a smaller, highly engaged following is more valuable than a huge following that is mostly inactive. 

Beyond the quantitative metrics, also gauge the sentiment and feedback you receive on social media. Are comments mostly positive, or are there recurring complaints? Use qualitative insights to address issues (for example, if students frequently comment that they didn’t know about an event until last minute, perhaps communications timing could improve). Listening to your community’s voice is an informal but crucial metric of how well your content strategy is meeting audience needs​.