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Marketing Data · Lesson 4 of 11

Social Media Benchmarks

Setting social media benchmarks requires a different approach from benchmarking other channels.

1 Learn the concept

Setting social media benchmarks requires a different approach from benchmarking other channels. Reach, engagement and follower growth behave differently by platform and content type. This lesson covers strategies for setting realistic benchmarks and how to compare your results fairly.

A table of social media metrics with what each showsSOCIAL METRICSMetricWhat it showsReachHow many people saw itEngagement rateHow many interacted compared to reachClick rateHow many visited your siteFollower growthWhether the audience is growing
Pick the measure that matches the goal.

2 See it in action

  • Benchmark each platform separately.
  • Compare engagement rate, not only follower counts.
  • Compare similar posts and similar time periods.
  • Review monthly and adjust.

Worked example

Calculating engagement rate

A post reached 2,000 people.

It received 60 likes, 12 comments and 8 shares: 80 interactions.

Engagement rate: 80 / 2,000 = 4 percent.

Compare: to your own past posts to see what is above or below normal.

Result to look for: a pattern across several posts, not a single result.

3 Study an example

Example scenario

A brand has more followers on one platform but a higher engagement rate on another. Its benchmarks show where to focus effort.

4 Apply it and download

  1. Pull the last three months of social data.
  2. Calculate engagement rate for each platform.
  3. Set targets.

Worksheet Marketing KPI dashboardOpen, print or save as PDF

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