Reports are coming in and numbers are hitting you from all sides, the feeling of dread is escalating by the minute. Ok, maybe it’s not quite that dramatic, but the amount of information coming in from your marketing team can be overwhelming. From search engines to social media channels to website analytics, you have a plethora of information available to you. But where do you start and what metrics should you be evaluating?
Here are a few things to consider when you are looking at your data:
Pay Per Click Advertising (SEM, Email, Social Media): Click-Through Rate (CTR)
Click-through rate, or CTR as it’s often labeled, is a data point that will give you a quick indication of how well your ad is performing. It is found by dividing your impressions (how many people viewed your ad) by the clicks that your ad received.
This number on its own may be confusing – how in the heck do you know what’s good? The answer might surprise you. The average CTR for the Google Display network is only 0.46%! That seems really low, but when you see how many impressions your ad has received you may be positively surprised!
Pro Tip: Dive deeper into understanding your CTR by looking at reputable resources like WordStream to compare your click-through rate to the averages for your specific industry!
Social Channels (Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.): Engagement
Just like clicks, engagement tells you what content is appealing. Engagement is how your audience interacts with your business through clicks, comments, or shares. Followers are an important component of social networks, but the real value comes from understanding how these followers are interacting with your content.
Being active on social networks can provide your customer base with a solid understanding of who you are and what you’re about. In return, you can decipher what your potential customers are looking for from your business. Social Networks are exactly what they sound like – a place to be social. They provide a place where you can interact with your client base in a way that is authentic and builds trust.
Pro Tip: Select one or two social networks to focus your efforts – this will allow you to create consistent content that your followers will be more likely to engage with.
Website Analytics: Bounce Rate & Page Traffic
Website analytics is probably your most extensive data source – Google Analytics gives you access to thousands of metrics for your website and any pages associated with your domain. Hence the hair pulling you may be doing when you dive into the abundance of information. A good place to start when understanding this information is the bounce rate and the top pages that get you traffic.
The bounce rate measures how often visitors landed on one page and then exited without navigating to any other page. The other side of the coin is the pages that visitors are landing on and navigating to. Both of these metrics can be used together to give you clues to how users experience your site. Optimizing your website to the user experience will help you to maximize your website’s potential.
Pro Tip: If your bounce rate is consistently over 70% it may be time to update your website!
Each of these metrics is invaluable to your business, but they are only the tip of the iceberg. Diving in and understanding what the data is telling you will help you make better decisions and reach your ultimate goals. If you need help understanding your numbers, reach out for a conversation. We are more than just another marketing firm, we love data and have a pretty awesome team to help you make sense of it all!