When was the last time you checked your social media metrics? Not just your company’s page, but your personal LinkedIn, Facebook, or Instagram page? As a B2B leader focused on gaining visibility for your organization you might be wondering, “When I’m focused on marketing my business, why does it matter what I post on my personal social media?” Fair question. The truth is: it’s all related and it matters a lot.
It’s all about personal connection. People want to engage with – and be inspired by – people, not companies. Simply put, allowing your potential clients or partners to get to know you first helps them decide if they want to invest their time and money in your product or services. When done right, an active personal presence on social media can be an effective form of networking which can bring in leads and new clients for your business.
So how do you know that what you’re posting on your personal pages is resonating with those potential clients? Social media metrics.
It’s All in the Data
Social media metrics offer valuable insights into how your overall content strategy is performing, number of impressions, and how your audience is engaging. By tracking these metrics, you can create an effective social media strategy that reaches the right audience, optimizes your marketing efforts, and supports your business leadership goals. Here are three ways social media metrics can inform and enhance your content strategy.
1. Identifying Content Preferences
The easiest way to discern what content your followers are connecting with is to examine your posts’ engagement metrics e.g. likes, shares, comments, and click-through rates (CTR). By analyzing which content types (e.g., videos, infographics, photos, polls) and topics (blogs, tips, inspirational quotes, customer testimonials) receive the most engagement, you can determine what resonates best with your audience. This insight allows you to focus on producing more of the content that your audience prefers, increasing the likelihood of engagement and conversions.
Pro Tip: An easy way to boost engagement is by ending your posts with a question and inviting others to answer in the comments. Consider tagging a few colleagues who are active in social media, so that you can guarantee a response or two. And make sure you respond or like the comments in return. Social media is meant to be social. Engagement should be a two-way street!
2. Optimizing Posting Times
Understanding when your audience is most active on social media helps you schedule posts for optimal visibility. Metrics can show the best times and days for posting, ensuring your posts reach the largest audience, which in turn can maximize engagement. You’ll want to note the times of posts with the greatest reach, engagement rates, and peak activity.
Pro Tip: If you’re struggling to find time in your busy day to post your content at optimal times consider using a social media management platform such as Loomly or Sprout Social to create, plan, and schedule your posts.
3. Knowing Your Audience
Understanding your community, specifically their interests, demographic, and behaviors, will better inform the best social media platform and type of content they’ll engage with. For example, LinkedIn is a platform for thought leaders to share ideas, business wins, and exciting projects. LinkedIn is a great place to inspire conversation around workplace culture and share viewpoints on employment trends, too. Having a better understanding of who your online community is and what content they expect to see on their social media feed will help you tailor your content to what is expected on each platform and your community’s preferences, increasing relevance and effectiveness.
Pro Tip: LinkedIn is not generally the place to share your vacation photos – unless, of course, you are tying them into an engaging thought leadership post. Occasional personal posts that celebrate wins can be good for your LinkedIn feed and impressions, since colleagues enjoy celebrating life wins and milestones from time to time. Alternatively, Facebook and Instagram are designed for more personal sharing.
Refining Your Content Strategy
While it’s great to know what kind of posts garner the most engagement on a Tuesday morning on LinkedIn, what’s even more helpful is understanding how it plays a part in your overall social media strategy. This is where long-term tracking is helpful.
Continuous monitoring of metrics enables you to understand what works and what doesn’t as it pertains to the “big picture.” By regularly reviewing these insights, you can make data-driven adjustments to your content mix, posting schedules, and advertising tactics to improve overall effectiveness. It will also help you identify trends, seasonal patterns, and the impact of various content strategies. For example, we typically see a lower engagement rate during the summer months and around holidays. Planning for these dips can inform your cross-promotional marketing decisions or timing to promote major announcements on your feed.
Additionally, if you notice over time that you lose a few followers here or there, try not to worry about it too much. If your engagement and click through rates are good and you’re still steadily gaining followers, the occasional loss isn’t a big deal. In fact it may even help your numbers. Inactive followers drive engagement rates down, so if someone in your audience isn’t interested in what you have to offer it’s better for you if they leave. After all, not everyone is in your target audience!
Keep It Personal… Mostly
While your personal pages are all about you, your personal life, and interests, you’re still a representative of your brand and company. It’s best to remember that, just like you never want to divulge too much personal information on social media about yourself or family, you should be mindful of the information that you’re sharing and the statements that you make. Fact checking sources and being considerate of others and their unique experiences is always a good rule of thumb.
Also, while you don’t want to inundate your personal feed with company posts or branded content, sharing the occasional cross-post or celebrating a company “win” from time to time is always a good idea. Doing so helps promote brand visibility while potentially gaining new followers for your company page.
In today’s fast-paced digital landscape, social media is not just a platform for sharing updates—it’s a dynamic tool for engaging with your audience, shaping brand perception, and driving business growth. We encourage you to take a look at the metrics of your personal social media accounts and formulate a strategy to help boost your engagement.
So, what do you think? Are you ready to grow your social media presence and complement your brand? Let us know in the comments below or reach out to insight180 to find out how we can help!
