A lot of business owners feel a bit overwhelmed by analytics. I get it - there's a lot of data to sift through, and it can be tough to understand what all the numbers mean. But here's the thing: those numbers can be super helpful for your business!
Think about it - analytics give you a sneak peek into how your business is doing and how your customers are interacting with you. It can help you see what's working well and what needs improvement. And when you have that information, you can make decisions that'll give you an edge over your competition.
In today's digital world, data is a big deal. And if you're not using analytics, you're missing out on a ton of valuable information that could help you grow your business. So even if it feels a little intimidating at first, it's important to dive in and learn about analytics. Trust me, it'll be worth it in the end!
Today, we’re going to dive a little deeper into the world of analytics; specifically focusing on how you can utilise them to make better decisions on the content you post for your small business. Saving you time and effort in the long run. We’ll also talk a little bit about different terms that are used in Analytics, like Engagement, Reach and CTR. As always, we will finish with an actionable task that you can implement right away to help get you on the right track with your content!
Sound scary, and far too technical for someone who doesn’t even want to be on social media in the first place? That’s ok, and you are not alone! We’re going to do this together. Are you ready?
Great! Let’s start.
First up, let’s have a quick chat about what analytics actually are:
If I were going to try to explain analytics to a child, it would probably sound something like this:
Analytics are like counting how many things you have. Imagine you have a basket of apples and you want to know how many apples you have, that's like analytics. But, instead of counting apples, we use computers to count and understand things like how many people come to a website, what they do on that website, and what they like and don't like. That way, we can make the website even better for them!
Still with me? Awesome. Now, we’re going to get a bit more technical.
So we have a basic understanding of what analytics are… but how exactly do they work? What should you be looking for? How can you actually USE them to make those informed decisions for future content?
I’ve got you covered!
In an effort to not overwhelm you, we’re only going to focus on 3 metrics in today’s blog: Engagement, Reach and CTR. We will cover more important metrics in future blog entries, but for now: let’s jump into the basics and get comfy with your soon-to-be best friends.
ENGAGEMENT. One of the most important analytics to track is engagement. Engagement refers to the interactions that people have with your social media content, such as likes, comments, shares, and clicks. By monitoring engagement metrics, you can see which types of content are resonating with your audience and which ones are falling flat. This can help you make better decisions about what to post in the future.
For example, if a small clothing store posts a photo of a new dress and it receives a lot of likes and comments, it's a good indication that the dress is popular with the audience. The small business can then use this information to create more posts featuring similar dresses or styles.
REACH. Another key metric to track is reach. Reach refers to the number of people who have seen your content. This can include people who have seen your post on their newsfeed, as well as people who have seen it through shares and retweets. By tracking reach, you can see which types of content are reaching the most people and which are getting lost in the noise. This can help you make decisions about how to optimise your content for maximum visibility.
For example, if you notice that a certain type of post, like a funny meme, is reaching a lot more people than your other posts, you might want to create more memes in the future.
CTR. In addition to engagement and reach, you'll also want to track metrics like click-through rate (CTR) and conversion rate. CTR refers to the percentage of people who click on a link in your post, while conversion rate refers to the percentage of people who take a desired action, such as making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter. By monitoring these metrics, you can see how effectively your social media campaigns are driving leads and sales.
An example of how you can use CTR analytics: if you are promoting a new product and posts a link to where your audience can find it on your website, you can use CTR analytics to see how many people are actually clicking on that link. If the CTR is low, it may indicate that the post isn't catching people's attention or that the product isn't quite what your audience is looking for.
In this case, you can try experimenting with different types of content to promote the product, such as a video or a customer testimonial. You can also try to make the post more engaging by adding a call-to-action or by asking a question. By testing different strategies and analyzing the results, you can optimize your content to increase the CTR and ultimately drive more sales for your products.
How to use Analytics!
Now, I'm sure you’re wanting to move on to some more relatable parts of the podcast. Like how you can apply the information we’ve just talked about, and start using your Analytics to grow your business.
While data can be a bit intimidating for small businesses, the good news is, you don't have to be an analytics expert to make data-driven decisions!
I’ve got a few tips that I’m hoping you will find helpful!
- Start with a goal - What do you want to achieve with your data? Do you want to increase sales? Improve customer satisfaction? Once you have a goal in mind, you can determine what kind of data would be useful in helping you reach that goal. Just remember to be specific with the goals you are setting. A good example of setting a specific goal would be “I want to increase my sales by 10% next quarter”, a poor example of setting a specific goal would be “I want to make a lot of money next quarter”. This is not me saying that making lots of money isn’t a good goal for your business, I am suggesting that you be more specific. When you’re more specific goals, breaking them down into smaller steps becomes easier, and using tools like analytics can help you create a clear path to achieve those goals.
- Choose the right tools - There are a lot of great analytics tools out there that are easy to use, even if you don't have any experience with data. With that said, most platforms give you access to your analytics from within their platform. I highly recommend having a peek around the free tools that are available to you BEFORE you invest money and time into learning another program. Get to know your numbers, and what analytics look like, and start to get comfy with the idea before you jump into the deep end.
- Keep it simple - I can not stress the importance of this step. KEEP IT SIMPLE. Don't try to track everything at once. Unless you’re an expert with numbers and are very familiar with Analytics already, tracking everything at once is a sure fire way to guarantee overwhelm. The best thing you can do for yourself is to create achievable tracking goals within your analytics. Decide what your 1-3 most important factors are and focus on those metrics until you feel confident in adding more to the mix.
- Check your data regularly - Make a habit of checking your data at least once a week. This will help you stay on top of things and make adjustments as needed. Tracking your analytics is one thing, but the knowledge is useless if you don’t act on the information you are consuming. If you notice one kind of post isn’t performing well in your weekly schedule, and has been underperforming consistently compared to your other posts for weeks now, then it might be time to make tweaks to the future content that followed the same formula and change how you are delivering your message in that kind of post. Which brings us along to my last tip:
- Make changes based on your data - When you see what's working and what's not, make changes accordingly. For example, as we just discussed: If you notice a certain post is underperforming, It’s probably time you make some alterations to that kind of post… or, to put a positive spin on things: if you see that a certain type of content is getting a lot of traffic, make more of it!
Before we move on to the actionable task…
I am a firm believer that it’s important to at least have a basic understanding of every aspect of your business, not just Analytics, BEFORE you hire someone else to do the job. I think this is important so you can ensure that you are able to ask informed questions when working with professionals that you hire, so you don’t waste your time or their time trying to understand the information they are providing you when you have reports provided, and so you can fully understand the work that goes into the job you are outsourcing. I’ve noticed a trend in small business owners lately, and this is all based on my own experiences and opinions, I’m not making any scientific claims or anything along those lines… but I have noticed that a lot of the small business owners I speak to seem to have a misguided belief of the time it takes a professional to complete the job they are outsourcing. Whether it’s social media management, online marketing, pr or other areas of a business that might get delegated to a third party, I’ve noticed a pattern in small business owners, that many of them overestimate how much work can be completed in an hour, and feel discouraged with the level of service that is being provided for the budget they have negotiated.
Understanding the scope of work that is involved in a task you otherwise would know nothing about is crucial to maintaining expectations and healthy relationships with the people you hire to assist you with your business.
In addition to this, knowing more about your own analytics (or any area of your business for that matter) can save you time and money by providing you with a clear understanding of the problem that you want to solve. For example, if you know that your blog posts are under performing but you don’t know why: you might think that you need to hire an editor to strengthen your writing, or maybe shift your focus to another topic. While these could definitely be part of the problem, if you can understand the basics of your own analytics then you will be able to make a more educated decision about which of these potential solutions, if any, will actually help you solve the problem you’re facing.
Understanding the basics of your own analytics will allow you to confidently make better decisions about what kind of services you may or may not need.
ACTIONABLE TASK TIME!
Set up analytics on your social media accounts: If you haven't already, set up analytics on your social media accounts so you can start tracking engagement, reach and CTR. Pick one or two analytics you want to track, and make a note of your average metrics. Then put them somewhere you will see them often, somewhere near your work space is a great place for this. This will remind you of what your homework is for the next part of this actionable task:
I want you to check in 2-3 times over the course of the week, to get more familiar with what your analytics look like on past posts. Spend about 5-10 minutes a day exploring them.
At the end of the week: I want you to use your research and brainstorm ideas on how you can replicate posts that have performed well, and create a list of 5 - 10 new post ideas that you can implement in the future.
Think you can do it? Great! Not sure? Try to do it anyway. Taking action is one of the most important things that you can do for your business, even if it’s taking action before you feel like you’re ready… because let’s face it, we almost never feel ready. Which is actually the topic of next week’s podcast! Speaking of next week's episode…
If you made it this far, I wanted to leave you with a quick reminder that this blog is also now a podcast! We release new episodes once a week, so if you’re interested in listening to this information rather than reading it, you can find us at “Searching for Sustainable Self Employment” on all major podcasting platforms.
That’s it from me for now, take care of yourself! K, bye!