As marketers, we all love data, but to be honest, most marketers base their success on a social media strategy with less value. What are these vanity metrics? Vanity metrics are Likes, impressions, page views, shares, comments, followers, open rates, traffic, time on site, bounce rate and clicks. They are the most commonly used metrics to measure the effectiveness of marketing campaign activities. What is the problem with these vanity metrics? Vanity metrics are easy to collect in large quantities, and most platforms provide them. It is challenging because they are confusing when measuring a return of investment or commercial value. Some social media campaigns may appear to be succeeding because of vanity metrics. Why do vanity metrics have no meaning? Why is it valueless? Simply because they are manipulated and do not provide us with accurate information about our business or the action of our followers. The vanity metrics may only convey half of the story. Counting traffic is useless unless it is tied to a specific goal.
What are the Vanity Metrics we must stop measuring in our Marketing Campaign?
Based on Hubspot.com, here are some vanity metrics we must stop measuring are:
Facebook Fans: The more companies post content on Facebook, the more newsfeeds need to share their space, and the fewer users see and consume from any company.
Twitter Followers: On Twitter, it should not be about the company's number of followers. People typically follow random accounts for reasons unrelated to their actual interest in them. Many users, for example, follow you because they want you to follow them in return -- and if you do not, you often lose that follow days later.
Blog Post Page Views - This indicates you've established yourself as a thought leader and have created great content -- both reasonable first steps in an inbound marketing plan. However, page views do not indicate where these views are coming from, if they answer a reader's questions, or even how long they spent on that page.
Number of Subscribers: It's simple enough to track how many people have converted into a trial users or agreed to receive your newsletter. However, are people consuming your product and content? Often this product demo or email goes unused or unseen.
On paper, vanity metrics appear fantastic in terms of numbers. However, when you try to plug these metrics to describe significant business outcomes like ROI, they lose their value and become just hollow digits. Further severe repercussions for relying on vanity metrics are short-sighted decision making, failure to engage, and flawed understanding, which lead to poor decisions.
The term "vanity metrics" has acquired unwarranted bad connotations, similar to "clickbait," making it easier for marketers to disregard its worth.
It is easy to get caught up in measuring vanity metrics because they are often the easiest to calculate. But there is nothing wrong with keeping an eye on them, and you can still take pride in them and use them as motivators for the team. But you must remember that if a metric doesn't have any actionable outcome, it is likely to be a vanity metric. And not words spending too much time. Make sure that the metrics you focus on give real insights into your marketing efforts and how the business can move forward.
Reference:
Janet Aronica @JanetAronica, Stop Measuring These Vanity Metrics in Your Marketing Campaign Accessed on June 13, 2022, https://blog.hubspot.com/vanity-metrics-to-stop-measuring-and-better-alternatives
Image – accessed on June 13, 2022, from https://scicomm.in/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/YOUTH-OBSESSION-WITH-LIKES-FOLLOWERS.jpg
Comments