Are you paying attention to the right social media metrics in 2026?
Social media is always changing, and with so many different metrics, tracking what is working and what isn’t can be overwhelming.
Here are the stats to actually pay attention to in order to grow your visibility on socials this year.
Vanity Social Media Metrics
Most of us have heard of the term “vanity metrics”. But what does it actually translate to in 2026?
Followers aren’t as important as they were five years ago. With a big shift to closer knit communities, particularly on Substack and private memberships, having a following and chasing those big numeric goals isn’t the main thing to focus on.
In addition, things like email open rates, views from paid ads and even views on your latest TikTok aren’t where your real lessons lie. Sure, they show you that your content is being viewed, but is it converting? Keep customer attention? Sparking conversations.
These are the social media metrics that are actually going to give you the keys to growth in 2026.
What Metrics Are Actually Important?
For Video Content: Skip Rate
Especially on Instagram, video content is pushed out to larger audiences when there is a low skip rate. This applies to trial and standard reels, so the first three seconds of your social content are vitally important.
A good skip rate is anything under 40%, so check through your most recent video content and compare the skip rates to find hooks that work. This can also apply for TikTok.
For Static Content: Share, Save & Repost Rates
For the majority of other content on Instagram, Facebook & LinkedIn, it comes down to the share, save and repost metrics.
The more your content is being saved and shared, the more authority it holds as good content, allowing it to be pushed out further into the algorithm.
LinkedIn has a lower user post rate, giving the 10% of users who do post 100% of the feed space. On Instagram, this is 50%.
For All Socials: Profile Visits
Profile visits directly from video, static and story content can tell you what your strongest pieces of converting content are.
If you’re preparing for a new launch, this is the social media metric to pay attention to and replicate.
For Email: Unique Click Rate
Open rates show that your hook is working, but what about the contents of the email? Are customers actually clicking through and making bookings?
Tracking the unique click rates instead of the click rate will show you how many individual users clicked a link. A 5% click rate sounds initially better than a 2% unique click rate, until you realise the 5% was 10 users clicking the same link 5 times each, versus 12 users clicking the same link once.
For Paid Ads: Conversion Rate
Views on paid ads can show you what hook is visible, but if there is no conversion, the audience is reading but not buying.
Ways To Improve These Social Media Metrics
Social media metrics pave the way for brands to grow their social presence, but it can be difficult to focus on the most important ones in an ever changing digital space.
If you want support tracking your growth and setting your brand up for success, you can apply to work with us for Q4 here.