If you can’t pinpoint which social media platforms and posts work best for you, then this post is for you.

When it comes to social media there’s no standard rule except one: Test every idea!

Don’t believe those who tell you there’s a full-proof formula. There are formulas that relatively work with most business lines, but that’s different from finding the right equation that will work wonders for you.

When it comes to social media, always test different types of posts, topics, and posting times across all your platforms. This helps you find what your target audience and potential clients (yes those are two different groups) will respond to.

It’s important also to keep in mind the difference between popular content and content that converts into sales.

For example, informative content about the brand may generate 20 reactions and five sales, while a funny reel may have over 10,000 views and secure 100 new followers. Both are important but for different reasons and should be utilized at different times.

Now, let’s jump to what matters: What is your one specific goal from your social media?

“Followers” is the right answer only if you are an influencer, content creator, or a news-media hybrid business that’s going to sell sponsorship deals and therefore needs the traffic.

You can always have several goals for your channels, but there’s always one ultimate goal that shapes your strategy and drives your decisions.

If you are selling products or services then your main goal is to develop posts that create a content marketing funnel. Put simply, this is where your posts guide your followers through the process of making the decision to buy your products; but that’s a whole process for another article.

On the other hand, if you are a consultant or a freelancer, your core goal could be sharing value and thus building brand recognition. One way to measure that is through monitoring organic reach and engagement.

Now that you know what’s your main goal, the next step is to define the metrics that help you measure it.

Always, always, always keep things simple. You don’t have to overwhelm yourself by creating—and more importantly maintaining—something super complex. If you include all data options, you could be investing more time than the value you’ll get at this point.

For example, if you are adding all 23 metrics I included in the sheet, while you only need three, you will invest a whole lot more time and still base your decision on the three points.

Create something that provides the information you need in the most direct, time-saving, and easy-to-maintain manner.

What does that mean exactly?

If your social media accounts offer a lot of valuable tutorials to market your business services, for example, then your top 2 metrics would be: the number of saves and profile visits. In my opinion, the former is the best indication of value. It shows you how valuable a given piece of information is and, in many cases, means strong potential for organic growth.

Profile visits are also an early sign of a successful content conversion funnel. It means your social media followers are becoming customers.

Of course, you can’t build decisions only on two metrics. You need to know which platform is best for you, which hashtags lead to more organic engagement and so on. But again, you don’t need much, especially if you are a small business.

To help you save time, I created a sheet for you with all standard metrics. Download, customize, and you’re ready.

To download excel copy and paste this link in the address bar: http://www.business-storyteller.me/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Template-Social-Media-Planner-.xlsx 

My own version is customized to my needs, so here it is also for reference:

http://www.business-storyteller.me/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/My-Own-Template-Social-Media-Content-Planner.xlsx

Working on the sheet:

• Create a tab for every month. I also add to the same sheet tabs with my yearly traffic performance.
• Start with the basics: Publish date, topic, type, platform, description, and caption.

Description here is for your explanation of your idea. I usually use this column to explain how I see the post design, background track ideas, and even add links to similar posts I saw.

• Metrics that help you make your decisions. Always ask yourself: What exactly do I need to make an informed decision? The answer is the points you will include in your sheet.

Why is reach divided into several criteria?

You will notice that there’s total reach, and then a breakdown by:

• Organic reach
• Paid reach
• Reach from Hashtag
• Reach from Followers
• Reach from Non-Followers

Not all reach is created equal—excuse the pun. If an event-specific hashtag like Mother’s day, for example, pushed the organic reach of one of your posts higher than your average levels, that doesn’t necessarily mean that your followers respond well to this specific post type.

Another example, if a post is boosted for $100 over 5 days performed better than an organic post by around 45%, that indicates that the organic topic appeals more to your audience, and so on.

By time you will see specific trends that create more reach and that’s what we are looking for.

A small helpful tip I learned is to discuss this sheet monthly with other team members from sales, research, business development, or even tech. Almost always someone notices an overlap in another business trend. Or at least, looks at the data with fresh eyes and offers a fresh perspective.

If you have any questions or need advice drop me a message and I will get back to you.

Don’t forget to download the template!

http://www.business-storyteller.me/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Template-Social-Media-Planner.xlsx