First, let’s start with the basics. What are social media analytics?  

Techopedia defines Social Analytics as: “Social Media Analytics (SMA) refers to the approach of collecting data from social media sites and blogs and evaluating that data to make business decisions. This process goes beyond the usual monitoring or a basic analysis of retweets or ‘likes’ to develop an in-depth idea of the social consumer.” 

Social Media Analytics tools show you the strategies that are working and not working for your business. Using analytics can also help create performance reports to share with your boss, team, and stakeholders.  

Using social media analytics can give you insights into who your customers are, what they are interested in, and what products and services they like. It can also tell you when to post on social platforms so that you reach the largest amount of people. 

Every social platform like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. is equipped with their own analytical insights for FREE! Yeah, I said it. As long as your profile/page is set to business, you are good to go! While these insights are free there are several other tools you can use that will combine all platforms together in one spot and some of them are free too!  

Hootsuite Analytics is a great way to take full control over your social media content. Hootsuite allows you to schedule posts on all profiles and allows you to receive several other metric reports on clicks, comments, reach, and shares. Hootsuite is not free but is definitely worth the money. It will take your social media to the next level! 

Google Analytics is another gem for businesses and it is FREE! This tool will allow you to learn about your website visitors. It will give you reports on which social platform gives you the most traffic to your website so you can focus more on a certain platform. It also shows you what content works best on each network. Google Analytics will make your social media campaigns more effective and efficient!  

The best way to utilize your social media analytics is to first set up your SMART Goals. These are goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timely. Then you will need to track and share your results with your team. Keeping an eye on your analytics will allow you to change your strategy as needed. Lastly, you always need to test and refine your strategy. Don’t be afraid to make changes if you think it could lead to an overall better result. Social Media is constantly changing and if you want to stay in the game you have to change with it!