Social media analytics can be overwhelming. However, if you build a plan for analytics at the beginning and tie it to your program goals, you can successfully design an analytics plan that will help you measure, analyze and report on your social media ROI.

1. The Perfect Pour:
5Tips onTap
Social Media Analytics
Tyler A. Thomas, MA
Director of IntegratedContent |University of Nebraska–Lincoln
@TylerAThomas| tthomas10@unl.edu

2. 1
Goals & Objectives
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3. Goals & Objectives
•No matter the platform, identify clear goals and
objectives that ladder up to your
organizational/unit goals.
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4. Goals & Objectives
•Ask Yourself:
• Who is our audience?
• Why are we sharing content on this specific platform?
• Is what we are sharing connected to our larger
organizational/unit goals?
• What content and content themes make the most
sense to share to achieve these goals?
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5. Goals & Objectives
EXAMPLE:
• Goal: Be the best Greek System in the United States
• Social Media Objectives:
a) Showcase the success our members are having in
their organizations, on campus and in the community
b) Showcase the vibrant diverse Greek community on
campus
c) Etc.
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6. Goals & Objectives
Don’t forget to
identify your
audience(s)
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7. Goals & Objectives
•Once you have your goals, objectives and
audience(s) defined you can move to Tip 2.
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8. 2
Understand theTerms
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9. Understand
theTerms
Impressions, clicks, views, tap through,
opens, watch time, actions on page,
recommendations, followers, likes,
reactions, video views, audience retention,
location, geolocation, hashtag, audience
engagement, reach, negative feedback,
share, comment, completion rate…
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10. Understand theTerms
•There are a lot of data points!
•Each platform uses different data to provide
insight
•Each platform has a different “dictionary” to
define their own data points
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11. Understand theTerms
EXAMPLE: Instagram story
• Impressions
• Who Watched The Story
• Back
• Forward Next Story
• Link Opens*
• Votes*
• Completion Rate*
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12. Understand theTerms
Example: Instagram Grid
• Calls
• Comments
• Emails
• Engagement
• Follows
• Impressions
• Likes
• Saves
• Reach
12@TylerAThomas

13. Understand theTerms
•EXAMPLE:
Instagram Grid
• Calls
• Comments
• Emails
• Engagement
• Follows
• Impressions
• Likes
• Saves
• Reach
• Link Clicks
• Click Thru Rate
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14. Understand theTerms
Understanding what the terms mean and
what’s even possible will help you cut down
the overwhelming number of data points.
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15. 3
IdentifyWhat’s
Important
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16. Identify What’s Important
•Referring to your goals and knowing
what is possible on each platform,
map out what you want to measure
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17. Identify What’s Important
•Referring to your goals and knowing what is
possible on each platform, map out what you
want to measure
•This should be done at the beginning of your
planning and then iterated on as you roll out
your content
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18. Identify What’s Important
Questions to think about:
•Do we just report on vanity metrics?
•Is it important to just report on impressions,
reach and clicks?
•Are “saves” on Instagram a good metric?
•Does total video views provide enough insight
on if the content is performing?
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19. Identify What’s Important
1. Refer to your goals and what is possible
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20. Identify What’s Important
1. Refer to your goals and what is possible
2. Start with 3-5 metrics/data points that
make sense to those goals
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21. Identify What’s Important
1. Refer to your goals and what is possible
2. Start with 3-5 metrics/data points that
make sense to those goals
1. Are they platform specific data points?
2. Are they content specific data points?
3. Are they campaign specific data points?
21@TylerAThomas

22. Identify What’s Important
1. Refer to your goals and what is possible
2. Start with 3-5 metrics/data points that
make sense to those goals
1. Are they platform specific data points?
2. Are they content specific data points?
3. Are they campaign specific data points?
3. Make a plan to track those data points
22@TylerAThomas

23. 4
EstablishWorkflows for
Gathering, Analyzing and
Activating
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24. Establish Workflows for Gathering,
Analyzing andActivating
24@TylerAThomashttps://theblog.adobe.com/reporting-vs-analysis-whats-the-difference/

25. Establish Workflows for Gathering,
Analyzing andActivating
Gathering
•Who
•How
•How often
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26. Establish Workflows for Gathering,
Analyzing andActivating
Gathering
•Who – Who will do it?
•How – How will they do it?
•How often – How often should they
do it?
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27. Establish Workflows for Gathering,
Analyzing andActivating
EXAMPLE: Gathering
•Who – Who will do it? >> Intern
•How – How will they do it? >> Online Tools
(Google Sheets, Hootsuite, IFTTT, Box) Native
Apps
•How often – How often should they do it? >>
Daily, Weekly, Monthly
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28. Establish Workflows for Gathering,
Analyzing andActivating
Analyzing
•Who
•How
•How Often
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29. Establish Workflows for Gathering,
Analyzing andActivating
Activating
•Who
•How
•How Often
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30. 5
ShareWhat’s
Happening
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31. ShareWhat’s Happening
• How often are you sharing what you’re doing
on social with others in your office, organization,
business?
• This is an opportunity to get solid feedback to evaluate
what you’re doing
• It’s an opportunity to enlist additional support from
humans and/or machines
• It’s a start to your pitch for additional money or resources
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32. ShareWhat’s Happening
Ask yourself:
•Who should you share it with?
•How should you share it?
•How often would they like to see it?
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33. 5Tips onTap
1) Goals & Objectives
2) Understand the Terms
3) Identify What’s Important
4) Establish Workflows for Gathering, Analyzing and
Activating
5) Share What’s Happening
33@TylerAThomas

34. ThankYou!
Questions?
Slides: https://go.unl.edu/tipsontap
Tyler A. Thomas, MA
Director of IntegratedContent |University of Nebraska–Lincoln
@TylerAThomas| tthomas10@unl.edu