Before you start your campaign, you need to make sure that you have actionable metrics to measure and report on. How do you know what’s an actionable or vanity metric?
- Do your research. Actionable and vanity metrics vary year to year, depending on what’s trending in different industries and on social.
- Review your post performance. Actionable metrics are found on your highest performing posts, while vanity metrics are tied to the lowest.
- Talk to your team. It’s up to you as a brand to determine which metrics are most important to present to leadership.
- Look to your objectives. Actionable metrics will directly support them, vanity metrics will not.
Explanation:
Understanding the specific objectives of your campaign is crucial in determining the relevance of metrics. Actionable metrics are those that directly align with your campaign goals and provide insights that can inform decision-making and drive improvements. Vanity metrics, on the other hand, are often superficial and do not necessarily contribute to the achievement of your objectives.
Here’s why looking to your objectives is important:
- Objective Alignment:
- Actionable metrics are closely tied to your campaign objectives. They provide meaningful insights into the progress and success of your campaign in relation to your goals. If a metric helps you understand how well you are meeting your objectives, it is likely actionable.
- Decision-Making Impact:
- Actionable metrics empower you to make informed decisions and optimizations. They provide insights that can guide your strategy and tactics to enhance performance. Vanity metrics, on the other hand, may look good on the surface but often lack actionable insights.
- Relevance to Leadership:
- When presenting metrics to leadership, focusing on actionable metrics is crucial. Leadership is generally interested in data that demonstrates the impact and effectiveness of the campaign in achieving business objectives.
While talking to your team and reviewing post performance may provide additional context, tying metrics to your campaign objectives remains the most fundamental criterion for distinguishing between actionable and vanity metrics.