Social Media Analytics 101: Understanding What Actually Matters

Let’s be real: way too many brands are obsessed with the wrong numbers. You don’t need 100k followers to “make it.” You don’t need a million likes to prove you’re killing it. What do you really need? To understand what your analytics are actually telling you.

Metrics aren’t just boring numbers in a dashboard. They’re insights that show you what’s working, what’s failing, and where to pour your energy. Without them, you’re throwing content at the wall and hoping it sticks.

Grab your coffee and let’s break this down.

The Key Metrics You Actually Need to Track

Reach vs. Impressions

Think of reach as how many unique people saw your content. Impressions? That’s the total number of views, including when your mom watches your Reel ten times.

• High reach + high impressions = lots of eyeballs and views. This is the perfect spot.

• High impressions + low reach = the same few people seeing your stuff on repeat (time to work on expanding your audience).

• Low impressions + high reach = people are scrolling past without engaging.

Engagement (and Interactions)

Likes, comments, shares, saves, follows, DMs. It all matters, but they don’t all hold the same weight.

• Likes: surface-level interest

• Comments: new conversations and chances to show your personality

• Shares: free word-of-mouth marketing

• Saves: people think your content is valuable enough to come back to later.

• DMs: modern-day customer service. And 65% of people will ditch you if you ghost them.

Engagement and interactions are important. Track them both.

Follower Growth Rate

Sure, follower count isn’t everything. But your growth rate shows whether you’re consistently attracting new people or just talking to the same crowd forever.

Website Clicks & Conversions

This is the money metric. Content eventually has to move people off-platform and into your business. That’s where conversions come up. You need sign-ups, purchases, bookings, etc.

Setting Goals That Actually Align

Not all metrics are created equal. It depends on your objectives.

• Awareness: focus on reach and impressions

• Conversion: track clicks, sign-ups, and sales

• Community-building: look at engagement, DMs, and retention

The sweet spot is matching the right metric to the right goal. Otherwise, you’ll obsess over the wrong numbers and miss what actually is growing your brand.

Your Monthly Analytics Audit (Step-by-Step)

1. Set clear goals. What are you trying to achieve this month? Awareness? Sales?

2. Pull your data. Use tools to perform platform analytics.

3. Visualize it. Graphs > raw numbers. Make it look nice so your brain doesn’t fry.

4. Spot patterns. Compare this month to last. Which post soared? Which flopped?

5. Segment your audience. Look at who is engaged. Any trends in location? Interests?

6. Adjust accordingly. Post more of what worked. Drop what didn’t.

Benchmarks: Where Do You Compare?

Numbers don’t mean much until you compare them to something. Meaning benchmarks.

• Industry benchmarks: the general average across your niche.

• Competitive benchmarks: how you stack up against others in your field.

• Personal benchmarks: your own progress over time.

And yes, the size of your account matters:

• Small accounts normally see higher engagement rates.

• Established brands have bigger reach but level engagement percentages.

• Large accounts focus more on audience size and awareness than micro-level engagement.

TLDR;

Here’s your quick monthly audit checklist:

✅ Set SMART goals

✅ Track reach, impressions, engagement, growth, and conversions

✅ Compare to benchmarks

✅ Pull insights & adjust strategy

✅ Repeat

At the end of the day, social media is not about chasing shallow metrics. It’s about measuring what matters, adjusting as you go, and turning data into actions.

And if this feels like too much statistics for your creative brain? No problem. That’s literally what I do. Schedule a call, and let’s make those numbers work for you, not against you.