If you’re a financial firm with some kind of social media presence, then that’s fantastic. You’re already a big step way ahead of many of your competitors.
However, in our experience, most financial firms and advisers aren’t fully aware of how to track the correct social media KPIs, showing the reach, revenue, and ROI from your social media.
Sure, some firms will monitor “followers” or “like” counts as part of their financial marketing strategy. But if you really want your financial marketing to work, then you need to be monitoring metrics which give you answers to the following kinds of questions:
- Are my social media efforts actually reaching the right people?
- Am I engaging with qualified, prospective clients?
- Can I count how many of my social connections are inquiring about my financial services?
These questions really are getting at the crux of the matter. Most other metrics are purely for vanity.
For your financial marketing to be effective in this area, there are at least 2 primary social KPIs you should be directing your attention towards:
- Reach
- Engagement
#1 Reach
Would you rather walk into a room containing a small number of mingling, potential clients, or a large one?
Naturally, the more people there are in a room, the more potential there is for the kinds of conversations which can open up business opportunities for your financial firm.
Social media networks can, to an extent, be thought of as “online rooms”. Measuring your “Reach” therefore indicates how many people in these social media “rooms” notice you when you walk in with a new post, status update or social share. It shows how far your message is travelling.
Here are the KPIs you should track to measure social reach within your wider financial marketing strategy:
Impressions
Impressions refer to the number of occasions your social share appeared on someone else’s timeline or news feed. This doesn’t necessarily mean that these people noticed it, or even looked at it. It does, however, mean that they had the opportunity to.
Fans / Followers
These are the numbers of people who have actively stated that they want to see your posts, and who could potentially see your content when you put it out to the world.
Traffic
This one is crucial to pay attention to for your financial marketing. Looking at your Google Analytics data, how many visitors to your website are actually emanating from your social media channels? Not only does this give insight into your potential reach, it also begins to shed light onto how your audience is engaging with your brand. Let’s look at that next.
#2 Engagement
It is pretty hard to dispute that measuring engagement should be your main focus when it comes to social media.
Engagement metrics measure the number of shares, likes and comments generated by your social media posts. They provide the primary instigator to refining all of your other social KPIs, honing your overall financial marketing strategy.
It’s all very well having a wide social reach, but if no one actually engages with your posts then it means your content and message aren’t resonating with your audience.
It’s also worth noting that, on social networks like Twitter and Facebook, the amount of engagement with your posts actually greatly influences their reach! This is because these social platforms’ algorithms perceive engagement as a sign of popularity and quality content.
With all this in mind, which are the crucial engagement KPIs you should be monitoring for your financial marketing?
Likes
People tend to gravitate towards popular things. This is why your number of “Likes” on a post can impact the level of attention people give it. Posts with lots of Likes are also generally favoured by social algorithms, meaning they get pushed up higher in search results.
Shares
Getting lots of “Likes” on your posts is great, but it is still a fairly passive form of engagement. If someone shares your post, then this is more meaningful and deliberate. It means they are endorsing your content or message to their network of connections, meaning they perceive your work to be high quality.
Clicks
People generally click on your social links because your post has an attractive title and image. It’s important to measure clicks independently of “Likes” and comments. After all, lots of clicks without the latter two means that you managed to gain your audience’s attention, but you didn’t deliver what they expected when they arrived at your content.
Mentions
If your post results in a tag or mention, it means people are talking about your service, message or brand. When this occurs, it’s a great sign. It means you are perceived as relevant and that you are at the top of people’s minds.
Visits
Arguably not as important as other metrics, but measuring profile visits does give you an idea of the number of people who are interested in your brand, and not just what you posted at that moment.
Comments
Sometimes we forget this, but the whole of point of social media is to be social! If you’re putting out relevant, interesting posts and these start a conversation, then even if the comments you get aren’t very nice, this is better than shouting into an empty room. People are noticing your brand, and comments show that you’re generating interest.
