Headquartered in Bangalore, Ittisa Digital Media Services is a full service Digital agency with proven excellence in the areas of Design, Big Data Analytics, Digital Media Strategies, Business Intelligence, Social Media, and Web Technology.

If you are a CXO at a company that has been investing in social media or is contemplating taking on social media, chances are that you are still looking at the isolated numbers of likes, comments, reach and engagement in the weekly/monthly reports shared by the agency. One of the major problems with this approach is that you’ll never be able to explore and use the channels as well as you actually can.

Facebook’s recent update states that organic reach of any content by a Facebook page will be nil, which means that the followers of your page will hardly see any of your content till you put some money into it. This essentially goes to show that these vanity KPIs (Key Performance Indicator) of likes, shares and views are useless.

While every one's marketing objectives will be different, this list comprises of the most important points that as a CXO you just can’t afford to miss.

1. What is your brand's authority in?
It is easy to get caught up in the social media world and end up diluting your content/campaigns only to ensure the reach and engagement shoots up. What marketers don’t understand is that it's a slippery slope which is hurting your brand more than helping it.

The first step that will help you assess 'Brand Authority' is actually figuring out where is it that the expertise of your company/product/service lies. The next step will be to make sure that you are able to disseminate that expertise well on social media through quality blogs/articles/infographics/posts. For eg.-when we think of good technology, 'GE' comes to mind. If you think of Political blogs, 'Huffington Post' comes to mind. These brands have worked hard in creating quality content and are at it constantly. Brand Authority is not a KPI that can be achieved overnight. It takes time.

Also keep in mind that just because you get more likes/comments on a motivating quote more than a quality blog article, it does not mean that you end up posting only quotes for the months to come. As a C level executive, the onus is on you to see to it that the content your brand is putting on social media is actually adding value to the consumer.

2. What is your quality of traffic?
Are you measuring the right KPIs when it comes to social media? Quality over Quantity, always! While those ads and posts might bring traffic to your blog or site,it is imperative to measure what is the quality of the traffic your site is getting. Measure the time spent on your site, bounce rates, conversions and conversion value of the traffic you are generating from social media.

As a company that is investing or contemplating social media, the bare minimum requirement is to keep reputation management and CRM on point

A better way to do is by having a few custom metrics that you want to track and constantly track it on a daily/weekly basis so you are able to exactly pinpoint what worked and what did not. Make sure that the team understands the user journey from social media to the website to checkout. The user acquisition funnel should be updated frequently to avoid going obsolete.

3. Are you using the same content & strategy across channels?
A very common mistake is when businesses use the same strategy and content across channels to promote their content. The marketing team and the C Level executives have to understand that each channel behaves differently and works differently. You can tweet as many times as you want during the day but if you do the same on Facebook or Instagram, people will certainly block you.

On the other hand,it is equally imperative to figure out which channel works the best for your brand and then make a conscious effort to invest and grow that channel. For eg: Instagram works brilliantly for a fashion store but that doesn’t mean they give up on their Facebook page or not upload videos to their YouTube channel. You audience is present on multiple channels and so should you.

4. ORM & CRM - What do the search engines tell about you?
Have you been putting in time yourself to review the CRM process? Have you done quick Google searches or Facebook searches to find out what people are talking about you? Moreover, if you are a big company, are you tracking the conversations that are going on about your brand? These are a few questions that you should ask yourself. As a company that is investing or contemplating social media, the bare minimum requirement is to keep reputation management and customer relationship management on point.

While you ask the team for a report every week, ask them also for CAT - Customer Acquisition Time and Response Rate or Average Response Time so you are able to define over time how the averages have become better.

5. Push the team to keep abreast with the trends!
Let’s face it – there is only so much time in the world and while your intentions are to keep abreast with all the tech and digital trends, chances are that you might not be able to. This is where the team should come in and help you with the recent digital developments. If you are a brand that defines itself as progressive and forward thinking, this is an unmissable step. This step is also important so as to decide the budgeting for the next quarter. Unless you have a plan and you are investing the money in right places,you’ll not be able to really speak to the audience. For eg: 2018 is dubbed to be AI’s year. On the business side, a lot of power remains in AI - from customer service and robotics to analytics and marketing. This would be the year where a brand can essentially use AI for a digital transformation.

This list is not absolute but these five points are the key starting points for all CXOs to help with their social media practice and in understanding how to ignore the Vanity KPIs and to focus on the KPIs(Conversions, Customer Acquisition Time) that really matter.