Coming into my role a TCV last November it was important to me increase the visibility of our network online starting with social media and the website. I learnt that it is important to track and record increasing presence online in order to see whats working and what isn't and improve overtime. So here is my tips on how to analyse your presence and recording it for reporting and potential funding purposes.
Whats working and what isn't?
Social media in particular is a game of trial and error when you are new. Test out different things to see what your audience responds to and likes. For example - A quote on a Monday may get more likes and views than if you post it on a Tuesday as your followers may enjoy the motivation on a Monday morning more than a Tuesday. And by Friday they might find a video more engaging as it takes less energy than reading a big post. But it is different for every audience.
So how do you know what your audience likes the best? Firstly you can analyse the likes, comments and shares, the more there is the better engagement with your audience you are getting. These 3 things are the hardest to gain when you are new to the platform.
You can also track the reach. This is the organic number of unique views to your post. The bigger the better. This will increase the more like/comments/shares you get.
Thirdly you can track the engagements. These can be a little bit all over the place. They count as likes/shares and comments but also might include people that clicked on the link or the photo.
How do you record this in a way that is easy to understand? This is how I do it
1. A google sheet
At the end of each month I will scroll back down our Facebook page and gather the information. The Reach of every post, the number of posts that month, the average reach from the two previous data and the total page likes at the end of the month. This allows me to track the progress online and if the amount of posts I make corresponds to an increase in response or not.
2. A graph
Another way I track the month on social media is through a weekly graph. So I will collect reach, Engagements and Reacts/Shares for each week to see the trends and impacts of different events for example the Christmas period we see a large drop in response.
When enough data is gathered it is a good idea to make a 6 monthly graph or one for the year to see if events you are holding or different times of the year show peaks for social media engagement.
Next week I will explain how to analyse your online presence on Mailchimp and tips to increase engagement.