The importance and relevance of the metrics varies according to each case, as are related mainly to four factors:  the  brand  or company,  the market, the  strategy  and  objectives. 

From there defined KPI’s which are the vital support to calculate the ROI which is about what actions business and marketing are measured, therefore, it is important to understand what they are each to achieve optimal performance in community management actions

Audience, popularity or community size

It is the number of people we have within each social channels like twitter followers, Facebook fans and LinkedIn contacts. The most basic, and sometimes the most obsessive metrics in social media, largely because many of the actions undertaken brands and companies in social networks seek to increase the size of their audience. Personally I consider important, but also on the social media worth. It is important to mention that if what is sought is that our profiles are used as a means to advertise, then the bigger is our community, announced potentiometer more with us.

Scope

Directly related to the previous one. The scope for the audience of our audience, ie, friends of friends, fans and followers of my contacts of my contacts is measured. It is a potential target audience, customers or influencers for our actions in social media.

Engagement

In recent times, this metric is being considered with great relevance for brands and community managers, measuring the degree of involvement that has our audience with our company and / or brand. This metric helps us understand the impact of our actions on social media

Interaction / Visibility

One of the metrics and elements involved more directly related with the engagement, and gives us valuable information to identify insights, the perception of our brand around the generated atmosphere, and many more uses. The interaction corresponds to all actions and reactions generated by our social content, such as comments, retweets, mentions networks, I like, file sharing, etc.

Influence

Despite being closely linked to the visibility and therefore the engagement, I consider it appropriate to name it for other, because basically this metric gives us an overview of the degree of “inspiration” or “motivation” that we generate our audience and within the social media to perform an action.This increases as an action is achieved  (retweet, mention, comment )  by a person with high number of contacts and / or high generation of interactions. One way to estimate the influence of each note is identifying the number of followers or readers for each influencer. If you achieve this level of exposure, you most likely represent greater visibility and engagement.

Conversion

Perhaps, from my perspective, this is the metric where all other metrics converge and align with the goals to which all efforts are directed. This metric is built from digital marketing and promptly refers to making our audience take the action we need. This action or actions differ according to the company or brand, even among each strategy, as it is directly linked to the objectives. It can range from getting follow us on twitter, get “Like” on Facebook, to make users download a file, book or record their data by filling out a form, reaching the sale or subscription to a service or product.

Finally, we should add that metrics are always looking to establish figures to help us establish a concrete and tangible way the success or failure of a campaign, because in the end in the business world what is sought is to generate value for the company. Will all Community Managers aware of this? What do you think?