How to Actually Measure Social Media Success (Beyond Vanity Metrics)

👋 Hey, I’m Christina Le, Head of Marketing at Plot. Before that, I spent years running brand social accounts, testing different strategies, and figuring out what actually moves the needle in social media marketing. For a long time, social media success was measured by follower count and engagement. Simple. Easy. And completely misleading.

Because while those numbers felt good (dopamine when they went up, or existential dread when they didn’t), they didn’t tell you anything about what’s working, why it’s working, or how to improve.

✔ Social has changed.
✔ Organic growth is harder.
✔ Algorithms are pickier.

And if you’re not measuring the right things, you’re just posting for the sake of posting. Here’s how I actually track—and more importantly, how these metrics help me adjust strategy.

1. Reach vs. Impressions: How Far Does Your Content Go?

Reach = how many unique people saw your post.
Impressions = how many times it was shown (even if the same person saw it multiple times).

Why This Matters:

If your reach isn’t growing, you either:

• Aren’t posting content people care about
• Are stuck in algorithm jail
• Need to rethink timing, frequency, or format

How to Tell If You’re in Trouble:

• Reach is stagnant or dropping despite consistent posting.
• Impressions are high, but engagement is low (your content is being seen but ignored).
• New audience growth is pretty much nonexistent.

What to do:

Try adjusting your post frequency, engaging more in comments, or testing new content formats. If that doesn’t work, reassess who your content is actually for.

2. Engagement: Are People Interacting, or Just Scrolling?

Likes, comments, and shares don’t mean much on their own. You need to compare them against reach to understand if people actually care.

What to track instead of just “likes & comments”

• Engagement rate which is the total engagement ÷ reach. This tells you if people are reacting at scale.
• Content type performance: do one-liners get more comments? Do carousels flop? Track it.
• Who’s actually engaging? If it’s mostly employees or bots, your numbers are lying to you.

How to fix low engagement:

• Stop posting for the algorithm. Start posting for actual humans.
• ‍If no one’s commenting, ask better questions. Generic CTAs are boring af.
• Use patterns. If your last three high-engagement posts were memes, guess what? Post more memes. Just be more creative with connecting it back to the business.

Example: If a carousel post reaches 10,000 people but gets 0 engagement, while a one-liner post reaches 5,000 but gets tons of comments, you know your audience prefers quick, digestible takes.

3. Follower Growth: Are Ppl Subscribing to Your Content?

A follow isn’t just a vanity metric. People are literally opting in to see more.

What to ask yourself:

• Are people following after a specific type of post?
• Are they dropping off after sales-y content?
• Are you actually talking to them or just broadcasting into the void?

If your growth is flatlining:

• You’re not engaging outside your own posts.
• Your content doesn’t give people a reason to stick around.
• Your tone might be off (and yeah, that matters). Too polished? Too generic? Too self-promotional?

Fix it by doubling down on engaging in comments, creating shareable content, and testing new formats.

4. Proactive Engagement: Are You Actually Being Social?

A brand that only posts but never engages is like that person who only talks about themselves. Narcissism is out.

How to measure:

• How many comments are you leaving?
• How often, and how fast, do you reply to DMs?
• Are your replies starting real conversations or just… there?

If your engagement feels one-sided:

• You’re posting, but not interacting.
• You’re replying, but your responses are boring.
• You’re engaging, but not consistently.

Here's a quick fix/pro-tip or whatever you wanna call it: Pick 5-10 key accounts (customers, partners, industry leaders) and actively engage with their content. Make your brand known in conversations that matter.

Btw, tracking these efforts don't have to be so labor intensive. Tracking proactive engagement manually is a nightmare. If you’re logging outbound comments in a spreadsheet (or worse, just guessing), it’s not scalable. That’s exactly why we built Plot’s proactive engagement tracking—so social teams can track outbound engagement across TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube Shorts without losing hours to manual tracking. See how many comments you’re leaving, what’s getting traction, and where your efforts are paying off—all in one place.

Seriously, considering getting the right tools to make your life easier.

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Bonus: Saves & Shares is the Gold Standard of Trust

Saves & shares are the real signs of valuable content.

Saves = "I need to remember this."
Shares = "I need others to see this."

If your posts get saved a lot, turn them into guides, resources, or long-form content.
If your posts get shared a lot, create more of that format or topic.

Pro Tip: Explicitly tell people to save or share your post. I noticed that this actually works.

Why Does All This Even Matter?

To repeat, social media isn’t just about numbers, it’s about awareness, trust, and action.

If reach is growing, more people know your brand.
If saves & shares increase, your content is resonating.
If proactive engagement is working, you’re building real relationships.
If lead form submissions go up, social is driving business impact.

Not every social win translates to revenue overnight—but without social, your brand has no presence, no credibility, and no community. At the end of the day, this job is more than just posting. The folks behind the accounts are juggling with creating content, engagement, trend analysis, and strategy—all while proving impact to people who don’t always get it.

But when you track the right things, you take control. You can iterate with purpose, push back with confidence, and move beyond "just post it on social."

Remember, dearest SMM, you run the account. You’re the expert.

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