What’s the most important social media metric?

Just so we’re all on the same page, the most important social media metric in any situation is the one your client tells you is most important. If your client needs help generating leads through social media, then lead generation is the most important metric.

But speaking more generally, if a client were to ask you what the most important social media metric is these days…How would you answer? If you weren’t speaking specifically about the client’s business, but just overall trends? Please don’t say likes. Please don’t say followers. Please don’t say likes.

For me, this is a question I’ve struggled with in the past. But the answer became clear to me after hearing a case study from one of our FH research specialists this week.

The most important social media metric is, of course, shares.

Why shares? Well, it’s really simple when you think about it. What has the marketing and PR pro’s holy grail been dating all the way back to the days of Mad Men and before? Word of mouth, right? The most effective and trusted marketing tool there is.

Shares are instances of online word of mouth that we can track., which you could actually argue makes them more valuable than offline word of mouth. Everyone says they understand the value of offline, but when it comes time to show the proof, people back away because they can’t find the pudding. With online shares, we know right where the pudding is…and how many people have grabbed a spoon. Plus, social media shares have a significant impact on your website’s ranking.

Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram…they all promote likes and  followers. So that’s what our clients focus on. But if you were to weigh social media metrics, likes and followers would almost always get the lowest weight. They’re solely exposure metrics that don’t show any customer engagement or action.

The question is: Are you having the necessary conversations to help your clients move beyond exposure metrics? If not, and they still think exposure numbers are the most important social media metrics, that’s not helping them or you.