Like beauty, did you know metrics can run skin deep? If you look up the term "vanity," you'll find another definition..."lack of real value."
Vanity metrics can have the same affect as dating a beautiful but vain person...they are nice to show off in public but lack any true depth that offers you real insights and growth.
The separation of "vanity metrics" into "web ROI"
Vanity metrics are those key performance indicators that marketers and companies typically use to gauge digital success:
Number of Clicks
Social Shares
Views
Sessions
Likes
Comments
Appearances can be deceiving (yes I'm using the dating analogy again). So let's say you have a Facebook page that has over 2,000 likes! Okay great...but ask yourself these questions.
1. Are these "fans" true customers?
2. Out of 2,000 Likes, how many "fans" will actually buy my product or service?
3. Are these the TYPES of customers I really want to target?
4. Why did they "Like" my page to begin with? What did our company post or advertise that equated to those metrics?
Digging deeper beyond your vanity metrics will reveal more about how this impacts your business model. Because at the end of the day you are marketing to potential customers to get potential sales.
Bottom line.
Okay let's look at another scenario...
You dive into Google Analytics and see you have over 500k page views this month! So I guess you could deem your web marketing a success right?
But what are you doing to convert that traffic? Where are those 500,000 visitors in your customer journey process? You may be losing a significant amount of revenue by not knowing how to convert that 500k traffic into customers.
That's where vanity metrics can blind you. Instead, focus your attention on your diigital's return on investment metrics. These are metrics that tie back to attribution (how did they find us) and then conversion (lead goals).
Overall, move away from VANITY and focus on VALUE!
Would you like our help in analyzing your web data to help drive sales?
