Data and analytics: two words that can sound intimidating if you’re not a trained data analyst. But collecting data and analyzing metrics can transform how organizations use social media to communicate. Particularly for public health organizations, these data can help answer important questions about your online audience, including:

• What types of content performs best? 
• When is the best time to post content on each channel? 
• How often should you post content?  

At HIV.gov, we routinely assess our metrics and make adjustments and enhancements to our communications based on data. Here are some tips on our approach: 

Measure What Matters
There are many metricsExit Disclaimer that an organization could track, but it’s important to spend time thinking about what you should track. The metrics you collect should be based on your communications goals. For example:

• If you want to measure reach and brand awareness, consider tracking total followers, new followers over time, reach, impressions, and shares. 
• If you want to measure user engagement, consider tracking likes, favorites, shares, replies/comments, and mentions.
• If you want to measure how much traffic social media drives to your website, consider tracking engagement with social media posts (link clicks) and incoming traffic to specific web pages (you may need to create customized links to measure this).

Finally, if you want to measure behavior change, consider setting up dedicated experiments where you use social media in a controlled environment.

Once you’ve determined which metrics you’re interested in collecting, you can decide which tools you’ll use to collect that information. Many social media platforms have their own built-in analytic tools (often free), like Facebook InsightsExit Disclaimer or Twitter AnalyticsExit Disclaimer. If you want to track all of your social media channels in one place, or are looking for additional metrics, you can use a third-party tool. We previously covered some of the free and low-cost analytic options, which include: 

• Google AnalyticsExit Disclaimer
• BufferExit Disclaimer
• HootsuiteExit Disclaimer
• CyfeExit Disclaimer
• TweetReachExit Disclaimer

To learn more about putting these ideas into practice, we spoke to Jennie Anderson, Senior Program Manager at Kaiser Family Foundation/Greater Than AIDSExit Disclaimer, who shared why her team tracks metrics:

Similarly, Kyle Taylor, Senior Manager of Communications at NASTADExit Disclaimer, and his team use social media metrics to make adjustments to strategy and content in real time: 

If you still have questions, there are free online classes and guides that can help you get up to speed, including:

• The Beginner’s Guide to Social Media MetricsExit Disclaimer
• 5 Essential Social Media Metrics to Track and How to Improve ThemExit Disclaimer
• Google Analytics AcademyExit Disclaimer

Even experienced digital marketers can sometimes struggle to understand—and make good use of—the social media data they collect. Whether you are new to social media or a seasoned expert, we’re happy to provide one-on-one technical assistance to help you make the most of your metrics. Sign up for our Virtual Office Hours today. While you’re at it, don’t forget to sign up for our emails to get information about digital tools delivered straight to your inbox!