Is This a Good Number?

– Understanding Platform Benchmarks -

You've put yourself out there. You've established a solid social media presence and are ready to take the financial industry by storm! However, your social media metrics reports come raining in, and all the numbers become blurred. You may wonder, "Is this a good number?"

It's a question we get asked all the time. That's why we're here to shine a light on social media platform averages to help you better gauge how your online presence is doing. So, fill your mug, and let's talk about platform benchmarks!

To start things off, let's better define each social media "buzzword" you often see across your platforms.

Impressions are the number of times your content has been displayed to your audience's feed. A single piece of content can have multiple impressions for a single user. In contrast, reach is measured by the number of unique users exposed to your content.

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FOLLOWERS, SUBSCRIBERS, AND VISITORS:

This is primarily your audience. A follower is a user who is actively following your social media profile and/or page. Similarly, a subscriber has subscribed to follow and/or receive your updated content; such is the case on a YouTube channel or signing up for your email newsletter. On the other hand, a visitor views your page, whether it be on social media or your website.

ENGAGEMENT, IMPRESSIONS, REACH, AND VIEWS:

Now that we've established who makes up your audience, let's dive into how they interact with your content. Engagement refers to the number of interactions your audience has made with your content, such as likes, comments, shares, etc. The following terms are where the definitions begin to blur for people. A view is counted each time someone presses play and watches at least three seconds of your video. However, a unique viewer is someone your content has been impressed upon, another way of saying each person that was shown your content in their feed. Impressions are the number of times your content has been displayed to your audience's feed. A single piece of content can have multiple impressions for a single user. In contrast, reach is measured by the number of unique viewers exposed to your content.

BOUNCE RATE, CLICKS/CLICK RATE, OPEN RATE, AND PROSPECT-TO-CLIENT/CONVERSION RATE:

Let's better define these terms for your email marketing and website. Your bounce rate measures how many people visited your page and left without interacting with any other page. It's as if they "bounce" off your homepage and are gone immediately. With some interaction, you'll be able to measure your clicks/click rate, which is determined by a person clicking a hyperlink or image on your website or content in your email marketing. Likewise, your open rate is the percentage rate your audience is opening your emails.

Let's investigate each platform and its advantages. This will give you a better sense of the platforms to focus on and the expectations to place on your social media presence.

ONLINE PLATFORMS

Facebook

Facebook remains one of the most popular social media platforms. It continues to thrive as a place to connect with your audience, especially the Baby Boomer generation (ages 58-76). Facebook has the highest rate for reach, second to Instagram. However, Facebook has a very low engagement rate. This rate is measured by the percent of your audience that engages with your content (versus what percent of unique viewers). The larger your followers grow, the lower the average engagement rate.

INSTAGRAM

Known for its beautiful aesthetics and video content, Instagram is a terrific platform, especially when interacting with millennials (ages 26-41). Instagram touts the highest reach rate, meaning more of your followers will see your content compared to other platforms.

Known as the "professional" platform, LinkedIn is fantastic for reaching small business owners, B2B companies, and companies within specific industries.

TWITTER

A platform where opinions fly, Twitter continues to feature relevant content in shorter, bite-sized tweets. We tend to recommend the other platforms over Twitter for advisors based on the pop culture reactive nature of Twitter going against the principles of financial advice like "don't time the market" or "don't let emotions make your decisions."

YOUTUBE

Lights, camera, action! YouTube offers a platform to get up close and personal with your audience. As the second largest search engine, your content on YouTube has the longest shelf life of all the platforms sans your website. You may be surprised to see a video from years ago suddenly receive attention. Educational videos on specific subjects seem to be the best strategy for reaching new viewers on YouTube. Personal, fun videos are relevant only to an audience that already knows you. These videos are best hosted on YouTube and shared with your clients but will not garner new viewers from YouTube searches like educational topics will.

Email marketing remains one of the best marketing tools on the internet if used properly. Email allows you to personalize your message and follow up with your audience. We strongly recommend growing an engaged email audience and sending messages that are relevant to the recipients.

WEBSITE

Your website is the one place you can control every piece of your audience's experience. No ads or content are competing for attention. Just like your email, we strongly recommend creating a website with information relevant to the user.

Hooray! You now better grasp these social media metric terms and benchmark numbers for each platform. But we're still going! We've crafted a social media platform benchmark cheat sheet just for you. Become a Savvy Advisor and download our free Social Media Benchmark PDF today!

Is This a Good Number?

– Understanding Platform Benchmarks -

FOLLOWERS, SUBSCRIBERS, AND VISITORS:

ENGAGEMENT, IMPRESSIONS, REACH, AND VIEWS:

BOUNCE RATE, CLICKS/CLICK RATE, OPEN RATE, AND PROSPECT-TO-CLIENT/CONVERSION RATE:

ONLINE PLATFORMS

Facebook

LINKEDIN

TWITTER

YOUTUBE

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