You’ve already been given expert advice for getting started on social media.

Now it’s time to track the social media strategy you’ve implemented.

With these four reasons listed below, the question of “Why should I bother tracking social media?” will be answered.

1. To see what works and what doesn’t

There’s no point of sharing content across social networks if you don’t know what type of engagement you’re getting back.

By tracking key social media metrics — including likes, comments, retweets, shares, repins and +1s — you can see what’s working with your audience, what’s not, and how you can tweak your strategy to improve your results.

You can also gain valuable insights including:

  • The best time to post
  • The right frequency to post
  • The type of content that works best (photos, links, videos, etc.)

In addition to keeping your eye on the number of interactions your content is receiving from fans and followers, you can also take advantage of the native reporting tools like Facebook Insights and Twitter Analytics.

Tip: With MarketMeSuite’s ‘Shorty’ feature, you can shorten links before sending or scheduling out a post and see how many people have clicked the link once it has been posted.

2. To know what networks you should focus on

Having a social media plan across Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Instagram and Pinterest increases your reach and makes your business that much more accessible through social. But sometimes it’s in your best interest to only focus on two or three social networks.

Maybe your target audience isn’t on Google+ or LinkedIn — that’s okay.

Tracking your results on social media makes it easier to identify your high value networks and helps you prioritize your time and resources on social media.

Tip: Facebook recently launched Audience Insights, a new tool that extends beyond their Page Insights allowing you access to details of your target audience such as: Purchase Behavior, Geography, Demographics, or Facebook Activity.

3. To see where leads/customers come from

Interacting with people across social is important for building relationships and improving communication, but part of the reason you’re on social in the first place is to attract and convert fans and followers into customers.

Going off my last reason, if you notice that one network is bringing in most of your leads and customers, you can do two things:

  • Put more of your marketing efforts to that one network and convert, convert, convert.
  • Take what has been working on that one network and use that same strategy toward other networks to see if you can get the same results.

Once you start coming across a number of leads on networks such as Facebook or Twitter, you’re going to need a place to keep track of them.

Tip: With MarketMeSuite’s Lead Inbox, you can mark a social post as a lead, as well as mark how high quality that lead is. Once you’ve marked a lead and its importance, it will then be categorized by network.

4. To set, meet, and exceed your goals

Getting results is the name of the game with any form of marketing effort. But if you’re not taking the time to track your results, it’s impossible to set realistic goals for your social media marketing.

When you start to track your results on social media, you’ll be able to set goals to work toward. Your goal could be related to the number of interactions you hope to generate, or the number of fans you hope to attract.

For example,

  • Number of Likes on Facebook
  • Followers on Twitter
  • Comments on Instagram Photos

But you can also begin to set business goals like,

  • Number of new customers from Twitter
  • Total sales from Pinterest
  • Number of referrals from Facebook

Set the bar high with your social media plan. The only way you’re going to see how your strategy benefits, is by setting goals and keeping track of how those goals are being met.

Stop lacking in tracking

There is countless ways to track your results on social media.

Whether you go through individual network insights or use analytic reports that MarketMeSuite can provide to you through each unique social profile, tracking your results is a must.

Have you started tracking your social media efforts? What’s one important element of social that you keep track of the most for your business? Let me know in the comments below!

MarketMeSuite participated in the pilot of the Constant Contact Small Business Innovation Program. Visit the Constant Contact MarketPlace to learn more about MarketMeSuite’s new integration with Constant Contact!