Steve Retka, Emerging Media Manager at Bolin Marketing, has spent years working on clients from Mr. Bubble to Maurices to Carmex. Here he shares his experience and insights on the importance and misconceptions about social media measurement and analytics.

1. Measuring Up: Fantastic Analytics and
Where to Find Them
@SteveRetka, Emerging Media Manager - Bolin

2. Hi, I’m Steve.
I do social media things.
2009 2012
2010 2013

3. What are we here
to talk about?
@steveretka
Making sense of metrics
4 buckets of social goals
How do you find it all?
Reporting: A necessary evil
The times they are a-
changin’
Where do you go from
here?

4. Why should you
care?
Someone will always want to
know about performance
Helps you be a better you
Another tool in your
professional utility belt (like
Batman, but less
intimidating)
@steveretka

5. Making Sense of
Metrics
Focus on the “why” and don’t
get bogged down with the
numbers
Not all metrics will matter
the same to all brands
Know what goals you want
to achieve with social media,
because that will be your
ROI
@steveretka

6. 4 Buckets of
Social Goals
Growth shows audience size
Engagement reflects
audience interests
Reach measures audience
quality
Conversion shows what you
can do with your audience
@steveretka

7. 4 Buckets of
Social Goals
@steveretka
Facebook likes, fans, People
Saw This, clicks
Twitter followers, mentions,
referral traffic, retweet
reach
Pinterest followers, repins,
comments, sales traffic
YouTube subscribers, views,
shares, traffic
Instagram followers, likes

8. 4 Buckets of
Social Goals
Facebook likes, fans, People
Saw This, clicks
Twitter followers, mentions,
referral traffic, retweet
reach
Pinterest followers, repins,
comments, sales traffic
YouTube subscribers, views,
shares, traffic
Instagram followers, likes
@steveretka

9. Growth
@steveretka
Is your presence expanding
or stagnant?
Simplest goal to track,
focusing on account-level
growth by channel
Account size matters
because that is your
potential market
For better or worse, this is
what marketers are judged
on

10. Engagement
@steveretka
Does your audience like
what you’re doing?
Tracking how individual
posts perform
A good barometer for what
your audience likes and
responds to
Not all engagement is
created equal. Shares &
retweets have better reach,
but comments show more
initiative

11. Reach
@steveretka
Is your content going
anywhere?
Reach can show if you’re
rising above the noise of
others
Impressions are important
because so many brands
understand them
“Viral” is a dirty word

12. Conversions
@steveretka
What are you getting out of
social?
Referral traffic, email
subscribers, coupon
downloads
Social media can’t drive
sales, but can drive sales
opportunities

13. How Do You Find
It All?
@steveretka
Dive into each channel’s
internal analytics first
Understand the significance
of any metric before
tracking and reporting it
Not sure where to start?
Keep the 4 buckets in mind

14. Facebook
Insights
@steveretka
Facebook offers tons of
valuable data for free
Great starting point for
trying to understand social
media analytics
Seems confusing until you
focus on the 4 buckets

16. This is how much your
audience has grown
This is how many people
saw your posts
This is how they’re
responding to the posts
This is what they’re doing
with your content

17. Monitoring Tools
@steveretka
There are hundreds of social
media monitoring tools out
there
Which one you have to learn
varies by company
Getting one? Start by
knowing what you need to
track and report on
Understand your price
range going in
Not having one is okay
SO MANY
SOCIAL
MEDIA
TOOLS

18. Reporting: A
Necessary Evil
@steveretka
How do you convey all of
this info to the client?
There is no one right way to
report on social media
Every company/agency has
their own way of reporting

19. Reporting: A
Necessary Evil
@steveretka
Best to combine
quantitative and qualitative
components
Anyone can throw out
numbers, marketers add
context and meaning
Follow the What-Why-How
chain
Always ask “why did this
happen?” and follow up with
“how can we use this?”

20. Reporting: A
Necessary Evil
@steveretka
Start with What –
Understanding the raw data
Post 1 has most clicks,
meaning it might be driving
the most traffic/conversions
Post 2 has the most shares
meaning it has the highest
reach
Post 3 has the most likes and
comments, meaning it has
the highest engagement
x1,000
Likes
x1,000
Clicks
x10
Comments
x10
Shares
x2,000
Likes
x200
Clicks
x10
Comments
x100
Shares
x2,000
Likes
x100
Clicks
x30
Comments
x20
Shares
1
2
3

21. Reporting: A
Necessary Evil
@steveretka
Next step is Why – Finding
out why Post 1 is driving so
much traffic
Look at all the different post
variables and try to find
what’s different
Compare the data against
previous 30/60/90 days
Understand that it may be
an anomaly, and not
everything means
something
x1,000
Likes
x1,000
Clicks
x10
Comments
x10
Shares
1
Status Photo Link Video
http://www.awesome
link.com/stuffyouare
postingtofacebook
http://bit.ly/ur2
ez
vs
Time Date

22. Reporting: A
Necessary Evil
@steveretka
Finish with How – Figure
out how leverage the
success of Post 1
Think you might be on to
something? Try it out and
monitor the results
A/B testing is key, and know
that it’s okay to be wrong
The greatest role marketers
play is bringing new ideas
and insights to the table
x1,000
Likes
x1,000
Clicks
x10
Comments
x10
Shares
1
Photo Link
Time
Photos with links get
more clicks than just
links? Make sure all
links have photos
Posts between 6pm
and 9pm getting
more clicks? Schedule
out more content

23. The Times They
Are A-Changin’
@steveretka
Changes to Facebook’s
algorithm has gutted organic
reach for brands
Social media strategy must
move beyond Facebook
However, understanding the
meaning of metrics is
transferable
4 buckets of social media
goals apply to all marketing
efforts, not just social media

24. Where do you go
from here?
@steveretka
Always look for the meaning
in a spike or drop
Remember that your
audience is unique to your
brand
This industry changes fast,
so stay up to date on the
latest news and updates

25. Find this deck on SlideShare.net/steveretka
Any questions?