KPIs vs Metrics – Tips & Tricks to Performance Measures For small businesses, it can be a bit tougher to set goals and develop a strategy to ensure they are met. You can ensure this by working on the right tools to help you achieve your goals. Once you have defined your strategy and objectives, the next step is to figure out how to best link them to a measurable metric.
Choosing Your Key Performance Indicators
A critical component of any goal is ensuring that it is measurable. With so many terms and metrics to consider in the world of digital marketing, how do you know which ones to pay attention to? The answer is frequently found in your goal. When you get down to the essentials, you can often determine exactly what your digital marketing strategy needs to deliver.
For example, if your company’s goal is to make sales through an online platform, your objectives could include increasing traffic to that site or focusing on conversions. Keeping this in mind, you should consider the number of website visitors to your site or platform. However, this is not always the case.
Each distinct objective will have a distinct measurable. This is a key indicator of how well that aspect of the strategy is performing. These key performance indicators (KPIs) are critical for determining whether your strategy is effective. Is it performing in the ways that you require it to meet your goals? As a business owner, you want to know that your investment in digital marketing is producing results. This will propel your company forward.
Connecting KPIs to Goals
Now that you have determined your KPIs, consider how you will implement a strategy to achieve them. If you want to increase traffic to your website, do you provide social media users with links that encourage them to click through to it? Are you using the right social media advertising? Are you using the right platforms for your target market? Several factors must be considered. These could assist you in achieving the best possible results in each of your KPIs.
While it may be tempting to consider ten thousand likes as a measure of success in social media marketing for small businesses, these metrics are meaningless if they do not serve your company’s objectives. Determining success on social media is far more complicated than counting likes and followers. Other than those that are attractive on the surface, there are several other important metrics to consider. These “vanity metrics” are rarely useful to business goals and are frequently viewed as an indicator of success by those who are unfamiliar with your objectives.
Once the KPIs are chosen, monitor them consistently. You can compensate for any shortcomings by keeping track of the results on a weekly or a monthly basis. You can also benefit from growth in key areas.
If you check your website data and notice that Instagram accounts for 70% of your social media traffic after running social media ads for two weeks, it could simply mean you should change your ad placement to reach more Instagram users. Alternatively, you should spend more money on Instagram advertising than on other social media platforms.
Reporting and monitoring
Using data to create periodic reports is a terrific way to track progress over time. In the case of digital marketing strategy elements that take longer to show results (such as SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)), you will be able to not only monitor this but also look back at what has or has not worked in the past and implement or avoid it. It is also a great way to reflect on your progress and recognise where you have grown up. Every victory is worthy of celebration for a small business owner.
The significance of having a well-thought-out strategy cannot be overstated. However, linking this strategy to measurable objectives is where the true value of effective social media for small businesses is realized. Simply put, the use of measurable KPIs acts as a GPS on your journey toward your business objectives. As a result, you will be able to identify which roads are blocked, where there is traffic, and which highway represents the best route. All the while telling you how far you still must go.
Contact us for advice on how to set measurable KPIs, link them to your objectives, and create a bespoke digital marketing strategy. We would love to get you started on the right track! Contact FBS Digital at 0204 526 5195 or e-mail at hello@finchleybusiness.co.uk today!