Let's talk vanity metrics.

While KPIs are important metrics to track your content performance and drive strategy, it’s important to remember how they fit into your overall marketing efforts and digital presence.

It’s easy to get caught up in what we call “vanity metrics,” like follower count. But

#keepingsocialmediasocial is about connecting online via genuine conversations and quality engagements.

A new follower is great, as it gives you the opportunity to continue to nurture their conversion journey...so while, theoretically, the more followers you have, the more impressions and engagements you can get, this only works if your followers are real people (not bots) who are genuinely interested in connecting with you and your brand.

Kpi

Follower count

Follower

Impressionsincrease/decrease

Engagements

Top-performing post(s)

Web traffic

Web sessions from social glossary

Where to Find it

On platform

Sprout/Hootsuite/reporting software

Sprout/Hootsuite/reporting software

Sprout/Hootsuite/reporting software

On platform (e.g., Instagram Insights)

Google Analytics

The number of individual users (followers or non-followers) who saw your page or post for the tracked time period. Reach differs from impressions because while one person may have viewed your post 3 times, they could only ever have been “reached” once. (This is why your impressions should always be higher than your reach.) These fans may or may not have engaged (like, comment or share) with your media but were served your content.

Impressions: The number of times that users (followers or non-followers) who saw your page or post for the tracked time period. These fans may or may not have engaged (like, comment or share) with your media but it is the number of times your content is displayed, no matter if it was clicked or not.

Link clicks: The number of times users have clicked on a link in your content and/or social profiles.

CTR (click through rate): The number of times users have clicked through on the link in each individual post to your website. This is a great measurement of unique landing pages as well.

Engagement: An interaction an individual makes with a post. This can be a like or reaction, comment, share, save, click, and/or view.

Engagement rate: This number, calculated as total engagements ÷ reach, indicates how many people who see your content choose to interact and engage with it.

A conversation about race in America, aligned activism, and going viral on Facebook by Amanda

McLernon & David Gamble Jr.

David Gamble Jr. June 13th 2020

I grew up in Reno, Nevada. In third grade a boy confidently tells me and my brother that his mom said black people cannot swim because our muscles are different than those of white people.

In middle school, standing among a group of white classmates talking video games, I am the only black child. One classmate expresses surprise that my family has enough money to afford a PlayStation.

In high school, I am the only black kid among a group of friends. When sharing drinks in my presence they frequently tell each other not to “niggerlip” the bottles. Even though I object, they continue to use the phrase.

In high school, my brother is at a teen house party that gets broken up by police, a common occurrence. The kids at the party scatter, also a common occurrence. My brother, the only black child in attendance, is the only one on whom a police officer draws a firearm to get him to stop running away. He is 14.

In high school, a group of my white friends frequently sneak on to the outdoor basketball courts at an athletic club to play. They can usually play for hours, including with club members. On the two occasions I attend, club members complain and we are ejected from the club within minutes.

In high school, I am excited about black history month and am talking to a friend about black inventors. My friend snorts and says, “Black people have never invented anything.”

In high school, as graduation approaches, many of my white friends tell me that I am lucky. They tell me that due to my skin color, I will get into any college I want.

I remain in Reno for college. During college an employer keeps food for employees in the break room refrigerator. One morning I decided to have microwaveable chicken wings for breakfast. The employer tells me I might not want to eat that for breakfast with my skin color. The employer immediately apologizes.

In college I am standing in a group of white friends on campus. A white acquaintance of one of my friends approaches to chat. The acquaintance tells a story about something that frustrated him and then reels off a series of expletives ending with the word, “nigger.” None of my friends corrects him.

In college I visit an antique shop in Auburn, California with my girlfriend, who is white, and her parents. The shopkeeper follows me around the store whistling loudly as I browse, until we leave.

I move to San Diego, California for law school. In law school, during a discussion in my criminal law class, a white classmate suggests that police officers should take a suspect’s race into account when determining whether there is reasonable suspicion to believe that an individual is committing a crime.

The weekend of my law school graduation my family comes to San Diego. I go to the mall with my brother and sister and visit the Burberry store. Two different employees follow us around the store – never speaking to us – until we leave.

After law school, I return to Reno. A co-worker jokingly calls me “King David” upon seeing me each day. I joke that I’m not treated like a king. The co-worker then begins to call me “Slave David” each time we encounter one another. When I ask the co-worker to stop because it is hurtful, I am told by my co-worker that this is a problem that I have in my head.

I attend a pub crawl with friends. We end up at a party in a hotel suite in downtown Reno. I am greeted by a white man at the door who loudly expresses surprise that I am an “educated negro” upon hearing me speak.

17k Comments 152k Shares 123K

Hi, Amanda here. David Gamble Jr., a public defender in Reno, NV, has been a colleague and friend of mine for years, and when I read the post he published last year, I stopped cold.

This year, many of us have been focused on unlearning and confronting racist beliefs, behaviors, and institutions that are central to our society and communities.

There is much work to be done, and we need to continue to look inward and outward as we actively and intentionally unwind ourselves from racist systems, institutions, and aggressions on a daily basis.

Though David’s post was shared on social media, our intent with this article is not to encourage us to do more on social media…in fact, for many people, I advise the opposite.

It’s time to do more work offline to permanently eradicate racism from our schools, churches, businesses and government.

This work is not easy, and it is not a journey without guilt, shame and hurt. No matter our age, race, religion, or gender, the feelings we may feel on this anti-racism journey can be difficult. This is deep inner work, and it is not easy. This work impacts our psychological journey and if we are in a difficult place with our own mental health, this work can be even more difficult.

We need to consider our own mental health and psychological wellbeing and explore some of our thoughts and feelings with a trusted therapist, family member or friend. Then, also consider someone of a different age, race, gender, or religion’s mental health and psychological well being, and have empathy for them wherever they are on their journey.

Keeping social media social means acknowledging one another as people online and getting offline to better connect with people of different geo-locations, ages, races, religions, genders, and backgrounds in the real world.

Here are a few new ideas to keep “doing the work” in real life.

Church: Attend a different “church” than your own. Churches of many religions are open and welcoming to all, regardless of race, religion, sex or age.

Look for a church in a new neighborhood or part of town and go attend a service. Go with an open heart and mind, and do not look for judgment or to be judged.

If the word “church” currently represents a concept that does not align with you, substitute the word “church” with any other place that people in communities gather and communicate, such as a hiking trail, bar, or restaurant.

School: Actively connect with people who do not look, think, talk or speak like you do. Make new friends by inviting them to do something together!

Government: Attend a community meeting. Search on google any of the following statements to find one in your area. Be sure to read the agenda, or even look at ways to get on the agenda if you wish to speak at your meeting.

• [Name of neighborhood] community government meetings (e.g., Tennyson community government meetings)

• [Name of city] government meetings (e.g., Denver government meetings)

• How to get more involved in [city name] community (e.g., how to get more involved in Denver community)

Personal: Reflect on any time you may have said something similar to what others said to David. If you remember a specific instance, privately apologize for it directly to the other person or people involved, and to yourself for committing that mistake. (This is also known as repenting, and is a big part of the emotional process. You can repent to others and yourself.)

We can remember to mind our words and to consider others before you speak—online or off—ever again. We alone are responsible for the words we choose to use whether we are online or off, sober or not, happy or sad. Sometimes we get it wrong, and we need to apologize, but we need to take responsibility for our words and actions, in both the physical and digital worlds.

On Facebook, David wrote:

To be black in America is to be told over and over that you are not good enough, that you do not belong, that you are genetically unfit, that your physical presence is undesirable, and that everything about you – right down to your lips – is wrong.

It is absolutely true that everyone experiences hardships in life, but the psychological weight of being told both explicitly and implicitly, on a daily basis, that your very existence is objectionable can at times feel unbearable.

The protests in the streets of America are certainly about the killing of George Floyd, but not just about George Floyd. They are about countless black men, women, and children for whom the punishment did not fit the crime – if indeed there was a crime at all. We live in a country where, in order to recall what life under Jim Crow felt like, many white Americans must pick up a history book. Meanwhile, many black Americans need only pick up a telephone, and call their parents.

When we as people of color share our experiences, we are not doing so to score political points, “play the race card,” get sympathy, assign blame, or to make you feel bad about yourself. We are asking you for help.

We are asking you to join us in the ongoing fight against racism in our country, because we cannot do it alone. It will take Americans of every stripe to eradicate racism from American society. I am now asking for your help. Please seek truth and knowledge. When sharing information, please check your sources and make sure that they are reliable. Try to place what is happening today into a historical context.

David’s post resonated with his community not only in Reno, but throughout the nation, and provided many with new perspectives on his experience as a black man in America. Since it was published on June 13, 2020, his post has generated more than 123,000 likes, 17,000 comments, and 152,000 shares, fully going viral.

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