The Power of Social Media Marketing Metrics

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Happy New Year!

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I hope you had a great holiday that left you feeling refreshed, recharged, and ready for 2026.

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During the early days of a new year, your nonprofit team is likely super busy with planning and strategizing for a brand new year of marketing opportunities.

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Part of the marketing planning process typically includes budgeting and figuring out where to put this year’s resources…

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But it’s not always easy to determine where your team’s time, effort, and budget should go, especially when it comes to constantly-changing areas of marketing like social media.

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Luckily, this is where metrics come in to save the day.

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You can use social media metrics to guide your resource allocation efforts, making decisions based on what the data tells you (instead of guessing or trying to predict the future).

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What social media metrics can help you understand

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Your social media marketing metrics — like followers, clicks, and engagement — can tell you a lot about how your organization is doing financially, mission-wise, and operationally.

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Here are several different things you can use these metrics to measure and better understand.

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• What was your return on ad spend?
• How many tickets did you sell after promoting an event?
• How many people signed up for your mailing list after posting about it?
• How many new people followed you and learned about your organization?
• Does your team feel confident setting up social media ad campaigns?
• Do you have the right software/tools to design professional marketing materials?

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Decision-making and proving ROI with your metrics

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Then, once you have that information in hand, you can use it to improve! You might use social media metrics to help you decide:

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✓ Where to shift ad budgets, based on which platforms have the highest click-throughs

✓ Which platforms to increase staffing on, based on where you’re seeing the highest traction

✓ Where to change your strategy, or platforms to cut out based on low response or engagement

✓ Where to put your content creation efforts, based on which platforms have the best engagement

✓ Whether you want to outsource to fill any gaps, whether that’s in staffing capacity or tech abilities (like video editing)

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You can also present your metrics (and the conclusions you made) to your team and board to prove the ROI of your social media and help with higher-level strategy.

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That might look like “showing your work” and demonstrating the data that goes into social media decision-making, or how efficient your efforts are in terms of cost per impression/per click.

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Success stories also make great case studies or proof of concept for new ideas!

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Remember that social media is always changing

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And, because of how quickly those things change, it’s not always easy to show ROI.

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Plus, your time and effort are valuable! With limited resources, budget, and staffing power, you want to make sure you get the best return on your efforts you can.

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That’s why it’s so important to look at (and use!) your metrics.

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The definition of “good” social media performance or ROI may change, but if you’re letting the data guide your decisions, you’ll always be looking at what’s actually working - not just guessing and hoping for the best.

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See you in two weeks!

Catrina

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P.S. If you’re ready to improve your social media marketing efforts this year, I can help you start making the changes you want to see. Reply to this email and let’s chat about how I can help!

Catrina Ossmann, Clever Ideas Marketing®, works with nonprofits and community organizations to increase awareness and reach with consistent and effective marketing.

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© 2025 Catrina Ossmann - Clever Ideas Marketing®