maximize your twitter metrics

Maximize Your Twitter Metrics

A guide for SMBs by

LET’S GET STARTED

Digital and social media a�ord businesses of all sizes a plethora of data that, if used correctly, can positively impact workflow, performance and profitability. Many small and medium businesses focus on creating and publishing content to generate a larger Twitter audience and drive valuable engagement with their current and potential customers. While engagement and publishing are critical components of a successful strategy, a third component, analytics, should not be underestimated.

By measuring your Twitter presence and your audience’s response to it, you’ll turn seemingly random social interactions into strategy―changing insights. Whether it is identifying which messages resonate with your audience, determining successful campaigns, or spotting holes in your customer service, smart analytics can change your social media game. Simply test, learn and adjust your strategy using all the data literally at your fingertips.

Big data doesn’t have to mean big headaches. Identifying a few key goals and using metrics to measure against a short list of objectives will make social media much more manageable for you and your team. In this guide, we break down what each metric means, provide suggestions for determining which metrics make sense for your business and also o�er tips to help you analyze what it all means for your business.

01

MA XIMIZE YOUR T WITTER METRICS

UNDERSTAND THE TERMINOLOGY

Let’s be honest, social media has its own language. As a small and growing business, you’re likely forging unknown territory, so it’s easy to get confused and overwhelmed by mentions, hashtags, impressions, interactions and the like. The bottom line is you can’t measure something you don’t understand. We’ve compiled a handy reference to help you translate the terms that matter for your business and better navigate Twitter.

Direct messages (DM)Private messages sent between two Twitter users,

consisting of 140 characters or less.

EngagementA Twitter user’s interaction with another user. This can

come in the form of mentions, Retweets, favorites and

new followers.

FavoriteAn instance where user marks a stand-out Tweet by

clicking the yellow star next to a message—like a virtual

high five.

Follower CountThe number of Twitter users that are subscribed to your

updates at any given time.

HashtagClickable words or phrases that can be used to categorize

messages and foster conversations around topics or

events. Can be used for tracking campaigns.

MentionUsers mentioning your brand in a Tweet by using the @

symbol, followed by your brand’s Twitter username.

New FollowerTwitter user who was not previously subscribed to your

Tweets that becomes a subscriber.

RetweetAn existing tweet that a user shares with their followers

that also retains original attribution.

@See Mention.

#See Hashtag.

Follower DemographicsDescriptive information about a Twitter user that follows

your updates, such as gender, age and race.

Increased/Decreased InteractionsWhen a Twitter user directly engages with your brand in

the form of a mention, Retweet, follow, or favorite.

Individual PerformanceData showing an individual’s response rate and time to

messages on social over time.

Number of Click-ThroughsThe total number of times a link was clicked in a Tweet.

Number of ImpressionsThe total number of times any user could have potentially

seen a brand's name or message.

Number of Incoming MessagesThe total number of messages received in either the form

of a brand mention within a Tweet, or a direct message.

Number of MentionsThe total number of instances where a Twitter user that is

talking to you, or about you, mentions you in their tweet.

Number of RepliesResponses to messages you’ve published from other

Twitter users; done by including the user’s Twitter handle,

prefaced with an @ symbol.

Number of Retweets (RT)The total number of times Twitter users shared your tweet

with their followers.

Number of UnfollowsThe amount of Twitter users that unsubscribe from your

Tweets in a given amount of time.

Optimal Send TimeDays of the week (and times of day) your messages are

most seen by your audience; based on historical data.

ReachThe number of users who saw an impression of your

post in their timeline.

Response RatePercent of inbound messages you respond to that

warrant a response.

Response TimeThe amount of time it takes your business to respond to

inbound messages.

Sent MessagesOutbound messages sent from a Twitter account, either

in the form of a Tweet or direct message; factors into

response rate calculation.

Team PerformanceAverage of all users’ performance data measuring

response rate and time.

Unique UserSee Reach.

02

TWITTER TERMS


Direct messages (DM)Private messages sent between two Twitter users,

consisting of 140 characters or less.

EngagementA Twitter user’s interaction with another user. This can

come in the form of mentions, Retweets, favorites and

new followers.

FavoriteAn instance where user marks a stand-out Tweet by

clicking the yellow star next to a message—like a virtual

high five.

Follower CountThe number of Twitter users that are subscribed to your

updates at any given time.

HashtagClickable words or phrases that can be used to categorize

messages and foster conversations around topics or

events. Can be used for tracking campaigns.

MentionUsers mentioning your brand in a Tweet by using the @

symbol, followed by your brand’s Twitter username.

New FollowerTwitter user who was not previously subscribed to your

Tweets that becomes a subscriber.

RetweetAn existing tweet that a user shares with their followers

that also retains original attribution.

@See Mention.

#See Hashtag.

Follower DemographicsDescriptive information about a Twitter user that follows

your updates, such as gender, age and race.

Increased/Decreased InteractionsWhen a Twitter user directly engages with your brand in

the form of a mention, Retweet, follow, or favorite.

Individual PerformanceData showing an individual’s response rate and time to

messages on social over time.

Number of Click-ThroughsThe total number of times a link was clicked in a Tweet.

Number of ImpressionsThe total number of times any user could have potentially

seen a brand's name or message.

Number of Incoming MessagesThe total number of messages received in either the form

of a brand mention within a Tweet, or a direct message.

Number of MentionsThe total number of instances where a Twitter user that is

talking to you, or about you, mentions you in their tweet.

Number of RepliesResponses to messages you’ve published from other

Twitter users; done by including the user’s Twitter handle,

prefaced with an @ symbol.

Number of Retweets (RT)The total number of times Twitter users shared your tweet

with their followers.

MARKETING TERMS

Number of UnfollowsThe amount of Twitter users that unsubscribe from your

Tweets in a given amount of time.

Optimal Send TimeDays of the week (and times of day) your messages are

most seen by your audience; based on historical data.

ReachThe number of users who saw an impression of your

post in their timeline.

Response RatePercent of inbound messages you respond to that

warrant a response.

Response TimeThe amount of time it takes your business to respond to

inbound messages.

Sent MessagesOutbound messages sent from a Twitter account, either

in the form of a Tweet or direct message; factors into

response rate calculation.

Team PerformanceAverage of all users’ performance data measuring

response rate and time.

Unique UserSee Reach.

03


Specific to Sprout Social

ENSURE OVERALL IMPACT

Now that we’ve dropped the dictionary and you’ve learned the lingo, let’s talk about how to make these metrics work for your business. You don’t have to keep track of every single data point at your disposal. In fact, we suggest you focus on just a few that detail performance and shed light on your overall businesses strategy.

We o�er three simple steps to help you determine the metrics that will make a di�erence for your business.

04


1 DETERMINE OBJECTIVES

Social media can’t live in a silo. In order for Twitter to have a meaningful e�ect on your business, your purpose for being on social media needs to roll up into your overall business objectives. First, determine what business objectives you have that can be complemented by Twitter. Here are a few questions to consider as you map it out:

• How do my social goals support

greater business goals?

• Have the right stakeholders

contributed to setting objectives?

• What resources (human or tech)

do we need to flourish?

2 DEVELOP & ALIGN STRATEGIES

Now that you’ve determined overall business goals, focus on the Twitter tactics that can support them and drive results. For instance, if you’re overall business goal is to promote a new product launch, you can find industry influencers to seed with the product or create a hashtag campaign around the new product. You can also use Twitter’s Lead Generation Card to collect info about users who might be interested in your product launch. A few questions to consider as you plan and implement:

• Are the social stategies and tactics

outlined attainable?

• What are the best days and times

to engage our brand’s audience?

• What content and tools do we

need to successfully manage our

strategy on a daily basis?

3 FOCUS ON METRICS

Alright, now it is time find those metrics that actually matter to you. Based on your brand objectives and social strategy, you can find metrics that will help you track progress, uncover holes and basically give context to all the work you’re doing on Twitter. On a broad scale, consider a few of these questions as you analyze:

• What factors caused increases or

decreases in performance?

• Is our audience active and

engaged on an ongoing basis?

• What processes are in place to

test, learn and adjust as necessary?

05


DETERMINE THE RIGHT METRICS

Here are a few overarching social objectives along with correlating metrics. You don’t need to track them all, but let this be a jumping o� point for your own Twitter measurement.

Brand Awareness & VisibilityUsing Twitter to promote your business and gain market traction is often a primary objective, common for businesses of all sizes and industries.

SUGGESTED METRICS

• New Followers

• Retweets

• Mentions

• Hashtags

• Click to Site/CTA

• Direct Messages

Sales & ConversionsThe influence of Twitter for driving sales, product recommendations and encouraging potential customers to convert (both online and o�ine!) continues to rise.

SUGGESTED METRICS

• Click to Site (including Twitter’s conversation tracking)

• Engagement

• Sales Leads Generated

• Promotions

Customer Service & Care The lines between various customer service channels continues to blur and Twitter is quickly becoming a primary channel for both reactive and proactive social customer care.

SUGGESTED METRICS

• Response Time

• Response Rate

• Day/Time Trends

• Team & Individual Performance

Audience GrowthIncreasing your Twitter community base through smart, relevant and engaging conversations can be beneficial to building your brand online and o�ine.

SUGGESTED METRICS

• Messages Sent

• Increase in Followers

• Mentions

• Retweets

• Impressions

• Reach

07


ANALYZE PERFORMANCE

Compared to other forms of marketing and communications, not to mention other business functions, it’s easy to adapt your social media tactics on the fly. Your business is changing and evolving daily, and there’s no need to feel locked in to a certain social strategy for months and months. Analyzing your social performance regularly enables you to find out what works and what doesn’t work which, ultimately, means you can make smarter business decisions. In a small business setting, being able to quickly pivot is always a plus.

Once you’ve aligned goals and determined which metrics are key for your business, it’s time to start tracking. Don’t let the numbers or seemingly massive amounts of data scare you—with proper preparation, the right tools and a few “best practices,” you’ll get the biggest bang for your buck when it comes to tackling Twitter.

08


TIMING IS EVERYTHING, PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE

First and foremost, determine a length of time for your business to track social goals. Setting these parameters will ensure you can actually track week over week, month over month. Plus, it will give you a goal to work toward. If your brand is just getting started on Twitter and doesn’t see a ton of engagement right o� the bat, don’t fret—just start with a longer range, such as monthly or quarterly. You’ll benefit from a more comprehensive view of patterns and trends in your social engagement.

For instance, say you’ve just joined Twitter. Day 1, you gain five followers. Days 2 and 3, you gain two followers, then on Day 4, ten new followers. Because the number of new followers is being measured daily, the numbers are sporadic—completely normal for early-stage Twitter followings. But bottom line, it’s not telling you a lot about what you’re doing right or wrong. However, if you gain 20 new followers during your first week, 30 during your second, and 40 during your third, this is a sign that your social strategy is working, since the rate of new followers is steadily increasing every week.

FOCUS ON RATES RATHER THAN RAW NUMBERS

For a short time, social success was determined by the answer to one question: How many followers do you have? You’ve only got one thousand followers, well...you’ve got work to do. You’ve hit one million...hooray, you made it. When it comes to social media metrics, know this: sheer volume should never trump ongoing value. In order to truly get it right on Twitter, it’s best to focus on rates rather than raw numbers.

Just because you acquire new followers every week, it doesn’t necessarily mean your social strategy is working. For instance, your number of followers might be increasing, but the rate at which you’re acquiring those followers could be decreasing. Instead of focusing on how many unique brand mentions or followers you’re gaining every week, measure the rate at which you’re acquiring those followers.

Specific objectives and benchmarks will vary for each business, but set goals that will prime your business to steadily increase (or at the very least maintain) growth rates over time; whether that be the acquisition of new followers, increasing amounts of replies to your Tweets, or any other goals that you’ve set for your brand.

09


CONCENTRATE ON QUALITY OVER QUANTITY

Oftentimes, businesses that are new to social media are focused on gaining as many new followers as possible, getting as many brand mentions as possible, and so on. Audience volume growth is certainly important, especially in your business’ early days on Twitter. However, as you grow your follower base random people that have no interest or stake in your business will unfollow you sooner rather than later and provide no real business value.

Quality trumps quantity on social. If you earn 50 new followers that are brand advocates and super engaged, those followers are likely more valuable than, say, 500 followers who are not engaged and don’t care about what you have to say. Likewise, if you get 20 brand mentions that are not relevant to your brand, those mentions are not nearly as valuable as 10 brand mentions that are positive and in favor of your business. Always keep your quality controls on whether you’re just starting out or have a more advanced Twitter presence.

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11

FINE TUNE YOUR ENGAGEMENT STRATEGY

If momentum is slowing in terms of Twitter engagement, it might be time to rethink your strategy. Sometimes it takes a few rounds of trial and error to figure out what’s working and what’s not, especially when getting started and finding out what engages your audience. While it may delay you for a while, replacing an underperforming strategy with a new-and-improved one will not only foster your brand’s Twitter success in the long-run, but also contribute to the success of your overarching business goals. Consider these scenarios as a signal its time to revisit your strategy:

Followers aren’t engaging with content:

• Add calls-to-action to your Tweets. Instill a sense of

urgency, or provide an incentive, and your followers are

more likely to act.

• Vary your content. The same type of Tweets over and

over again is boring. Mix it up with original Tweets,

Retweets from users or other brands, and relevant,

third-party content.

• Utilize multimedia. Many consumers respond to visual

and interactive media from brands, so don’t

underestimate the value of adding a picture, GIF or

video every once in a while (don’t overdo it).

You aren’t acquiring new followers at a steady or increasing rate:

• Strategically follow users who are likely to be

interested in your brand. Click on hashtags to

determine who’s talking about topics relevant to your

brand, or do a general keyword search.

• Look at profiles of industry leaders and identify who

they’re engaging with on social and start following

those users.

Twitter users are talking negatively about your brand:

• Determine if you’re responding to negative Tweets in a

timely and professional manner. The longer you ignore

negative messages about your brand, the more prone a

user is to share complaints with their entire network.

• Look at what users are complaining about and try to

identify trends. Pinpoint the issue and address it, let

them know you’re working on a solution.

• Avoid dismissing a customer complaint, even though

you don’t agree with it. Show that you care about

unhappy customers and genuinely try to find a solution,

and it will go a long way with your audience.


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