Which Metrics Matter for Social Media Now?
This article was published on November 21, 2025
Categorized in: Digital Marketing, Social Media
Sure, you can get a feel for how well your social media is performing by eyeballing your accounts manually to assess engagement. However, in order to take your social media insights to the next level, you should be analyzing metrics. Social media has changed over the years, and these days, measuring success only by the number of followers, likes, and impressions you have are long over.
Social media platforms have evolved, and user behavior has shifted, and brands now need to understand whether their content is creating real connection and measurable impact. To do that, we need to focus on the metrics that reflect genuine engagement and attention, and these go far beyond the simpler metrics that we are accustomed to. Here’s what to look at:
Social Media Engagement Quality
One of the ways to assess how your social media is performing is to not only measures your engagement, but you also need to take it a step further to analyze engagement quality. While likes and views still have value, they don’t reveal whether people are truly interacting with your brand. Metrics that show a higher level of interest include comments, shares, saves, and profile visits.
These actions require more intention from the user and signal that your message has resonated. When your audience responds with thoughtful comments, shares your content privately, or returns to your profile to explore more, you are building meaningful engagement. Simple engagement is not enough, you need the engagement quality to also be there.
Social Media Retention
Retention is a measure of how long people stay with your content. This is important whether you are posting an image, text post, or even a video. Find data on how long people are spending with your content, and this can help you learn if it resonates. For examples, if you have a video that is 30 seconds long and most people make it almost to the end, you know you have their attention. If people are only spending a second or two with your videos, you know they care clicking away because the video didn’t interest them or suit their needs.
The simple logic is this. If people stay with your video from beginning to end, it proves the content is compelling. High retention tells social media platforms that your pacing, messaging, and visuals align with what users want to see. This often leads to extended reach and higher visibility.
Social Media Audience Intent
These days, audience intent means a lot more than we may realize. Having a large following, for example, isn’t enough anymore. Your audience needs to be proven to interact and it’s the quality of the audience that makes the real difference.
Metrics such as return viewers, repeat interactions, and consistent profile revisits reveal whether you have cultivated a community that is genuinely invested in your content. These behaviors show that people are not only encountering your posts but deliberately seeking out more. When your audience repeatedly engages, it strengthens your brand’s place in their feeds and signals that your content satisfies their interests.
Social media these days requires brands to pay attention to more than just the simple numbers. People need to be proven to engage and your social media following should be of a high quality. By focusing on these deeper signals, brands can create a social presence that performs well, builds trust, and supports long-term growth across every platform.
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About the Author: Brick Marketing President, Nick Stamoulis
Nick Stamoulis is President of Brick Marketing and has over 25 of years digital marketing experience. He specializes in solving complex digital marketing challenges through SEO, content marketing, social media, PPC, email marketing, SEO for AI (GEO) and conversion optimization.
Listen to Nick Stamoulis speak at the AI Marketing webinar on 12/10/25
