4.4 Key Performance Indicators
Successful businesses start with clear goals and business objectives. For example, one short-term goal may be to reach 5,000 new potential customers in a month, by harnessing the reach of social media. Business goals always need to be directly related to the business objectives to avoid wasting resources and losing focus. Keep this in mind to create content that is authentic to the organization and also consistently purpose-driven.
Data | Metrics | KPI
Data collection helps a business to measure growth, track customers, and can be used for employee accountability. A measurement or datum can be the number of clients, sales in a region, overall revenue, etc. Measurements, such as number of customers, only really have value when they are compared within the larger context of a business goal which is called metrics. For example, the number of new customers in the past month.
Data and metrics are both necessary to build and develop statements that show how a particular action (e.g., targeted Facebook advertising) performs. Tracking key performance indicators narrows the set of data and metrics to only those relevant to a particular action.
KPIs vary depending on business and industry
The KPIs that an organization measures will vary based on: the type of activity and industry, its customers, and its staff. However, they are likely to include most of the following:
- Net profit
- Net promoter score
- Customer engagement
- Customer complaints
- Market share
- Share of voice
- Carbon footprint
- Supply chain miles
- Waste recycling rate
- Employee satisfaction
- Staff churn
- Return on investment (ROI)
Once you have defined your business’ goals and strategy, identifying and aligning the KPIs appropriately for your business is much easier.
A company’s social media marketing plan will rely heavily on KPIs to understand the value of the actions and tasks taken in social media marketing.
