Who doesn’t love a good “like”? For destination brands, likes are often the sole measurement of your social media efforts. The problem? Things like fans, likes, page views, shares, and website visits are considered “vanity metrics” – data that makes us feel good but offers no real meaning. On the other hand, “actionable metrics,” like bounce rates, click-thru rates, and conversion rates are considered the far more worthwhile numbers. Say it ain’t so!

The truth is, actionable metrics are more useful in the long run. If you rely solely on vanity metrics, you’re not really getting any measurable info on the health of your business. And social media strategies that chase only this type of data may not translate to real life customers and visitors. That doesn’t mean all those likes are meaningless, however. Let’s break it down:

What vanity metrics are good for:

1. Building an audience.  Your followers are your audience. It goes without saying then, that without them, no one will see your content. And the more they share, the bigger your audience becomes.
2. Offering social proof. A business page that has 20K fans looks a lot more legitimate than one that has 20.
3. Measuring non-transactional marketing goals, like brand awareness.

What they’re not good for:

1. Understanding engagement. Social media algorithms favor profiles who’s audiences comment on and share their posts. You may have 300K followers, but if they’re not engaging in your content, there’s a good chance you won’t be coming up in their feeds in the future.
2. Measuring lead generation or ROI. To actually understand if your efforts are making a difference, you’ll need to focus on more tangible data, like bounce rates (people who visit one page on your site, then leave) click-thru rates (folks that come into your funnel through your social media content), and conversion rates (the percentage of visitors to your website that convert to customers).

Finding The Perfect Mix

The trick is finding the right balance. Yes, you want likes.  And if you want to increase brand awareness and get more eyes on your content, vanity metrics can certainly guide you along. But if you want to see how your efforts are making a difference to your bottom line (read: getting those turnstiles turning) you’ve got to measure your actionable data.