The importance of tracking analytics for social media

Artists, shop owners and front desk folks: Analytics are your friend. If you haven’t set up Google analytics for your site, hurry up and do that yesterday. Instagram has easy-to-use analytics at the push of a button, and Facebook has a tab called, “Insights,” if you have a business page.

There’s a lot of jargon associated with analytics, and that can be overwhelming. We get it. There’s no reason to go down the rabbit hole, because most of what you need to know is common terminology and can be understood easily.

Some of the information you can garner from analytics are:

1. Best time of day to post
2. How many people are engaging with your content
3. Demographics of who is seeing and liking your posts
4. What content is not worth repeating

Best time of day to post

This is strategic. If most of your audience lives in one timezone, you’re best suited to post during hours those people are awake. Obvious, we know. But when you test a few posts during waking hours, you’ll find that more people see your posts during certain times of the day. More importantly, unless you have a marketing team handling your social media strategy, our guess is you don’t have all day to create content and get it out there. If you have enough mental bandwidth for 2-5 posts per day, make sure you’re being seen by the largest group of people at the right times during the day.

How many people are engaging with your content

This is part of the above about timing, but slightly different in that when folks comment and share your content, it can go viral. Analytics makes it possible to know what’s the best stuff you’re posting so that you can capitalize on it.

Demographics of who is seeing and liking your posts

Demographics are the gold of old school advertisers. But knowing your audience is quite literally how you build your brand. Did you know that more women have tattoos then men? You’ll find out who’s liking your posts, what age they are, gender, and more, by tapping into your analytics. Mother’s Day discounts may not be a bad idea after all.

What content is not worth repeating

This seems obvious but so many people forget it. If it’s not working—stop. The same types of posts that get 1 or 2 likes or a share here or there are not cutting the mustard. Branch out. Test new content. Make a video. Post an Instagram Story. Your target audience are your potential clients, and you are a brand they need to discover.
Tattoo the world!