Just because you have 500,000 followers on Twitter doesn’t mean your organization has 500K people who are advocating for your issues. I would much rather see organizations have 5,000 people who were committed to their campaign then 500K people who weren’t really engaged on the social justice issues your organization was advocating.
The other problem with relying on vanity metrics is that it dilutes social media’s real purpose – to be social. These days I’m seeing a lot less socializing and conversations and more promotional content such as blog posts, press statements, fundraising appeals, etc. This is one way communications and there is nothing social about it.
Is your organization caving into vanity metrics like focusing your social media goals on generating FB Likes
Are we fostering meaningful conversations with target audiences?
Do the people we seek to reach look to our organization as a leading authority? Do they come to us first for the latest information and resources?
Do the people we have relationships with on social media trust our organization and the information and resources we share? This also relates to our influence, which we highlighted above.
Do people feel committed to our organization and the work we do? Are we moving people up the ladder of engagement and getting them to take an important action on behalf of our organization because they feel passionate about our mission.
Are we measuring engagement based on our organization’s mission and key goals.
What other goals and metrics do you think organization's should focus on?