As a marketing professional, reading and understanding your LinkedIn metrics is crucial for measuring the success of your company’s LinkedIn strategy. LinkedIn provides a wealth of data on your page and post performance, follower growth, engagement levels, and more. However, with so many different metrics to analyze, it can get confusing trying to interpret what they all mean and how they relate to your goals.
In this comprehensive guide, we will walk through the key LinkedIn metrics you should be tracking, explain what they measure, and provide tips for benchmarking your performance against industry standards. With the right knowledge, you can unlock the full potential of LinkedIn analytics to optimize your approach, demonstrate ROI, and propel your business growth.
Follower Growth Metrics
Let’s start with follower growth metrics, which track how well you are expanding your LinkedIn audience. These include:
Followers
This shows the total number of users who have followed your LinkedIn Company Page. Aim to continually grow your followers month-over-month. Benchmark against competitors or industry averages.
New Followers
The number of new followers gained over a specific period of time. Look at daily, weekly, and monthly trends. Set goals for new follower acquisition.
Follower Demographics
Analyze follower demographics like job role, seniority, location, industry, age, and gender. Identify your target audience segments and optimize content accordingly.
Follower Sources
See where your page visitors are coming from – LinkedIn search, shares, ads, your website, or other referrals. Double down on the highest referrer channels.
Engagement Metrics
Engagement metrics demonstrate how well your content resonates with your audience. Key metrics include:
Post Impressions
The number of times your posts have been displayed to users on LinkedIn. Aim for increased reach over time.
Post Clicks
How many times users clicked on your posts to read more or access the linked content. Higher click rates indicate engaging content.
Reactions, Comments, Shares
These metrics directly measure user engagement. Benchmark reaction and share rates against industry averages. Prioritize content that drives more quality comments.
Click-Through Rate (CTR)
Post clicks divided by post impressions. Benchmark your CTR against the industry standard of 0.025-0.05%.
Engagement Rate
Total post engagement (reactions, comments, shares) divided by reach. Aim for 1-3% or more.
Top Content
Identify your best-performing content by engagement metrics. Replicate this content style and topics.
Audience Growth & Interaction Metrics
These metrics reveal how your audience is evolving and interacting with your brand on LinkedIn.
Page Views
Number of times your Company Page was viewed over time. Growing page views signal an expanding audience.
Unique Visitors
The number of unique users who have visited your page. Useful for determining reach and repeat visitors.
Page Follower Demographics
Analyze your current page followers by seniority, job role, industry, company, location, and other attributes. Identify gaps between your target audience and current audience.
Updates Shared by Followers
How many times your followers actively reshared your content to their own networks. This amplifies your reach and indicates strong content.
Audience Interests
See the interests, skills, and professional expertise of your page visitors and followers. Use it to tailor content.
Traffic Sources Metrics
Traffic source metrics reveal where your website visitors are coming from. Important metrics include:
Direct Traffic
Visitors that arrive at your site by typing in the URL directly. Indicates strong brand awareness.
Organic Search Traffic
Visitors referred from search engines like Google. Highlights good SEO and relevant keyword targeting.
Social Traffic
Visitors referred from social media sites. Benchmarks your social media marketing success.
Referral Traffic
Arrives via links from other websites. Measures brand mentions and partnerships.
Email Traffic
Traffic generated from links in marketing emails and newsletters. Track open and click-through rates.
Lead Generation Metrics
For businesses selling products or services, tracking lead generation is crucial. Key metrics include:
Connection Requests
The number of users requesting to connect with your Company Page. Signals engaged visitors and sales prospects.
Contact Form Submissions
Submissions from website forms are strong sales leads. Track submission volume and response rates.
Demo Sign Ups
Users signing up for a product demo indicate promising leads. Monitor daily/monthly demo sign-ups.
Content Downloads
Whitepaper, ebook, or other content downloads show user engagement. Track total downloads and post-download conversions.
Lead Conversion Rates
Actual lead conversions divided by total site visitors. Can also calculate Leads from LinkedIn/social actions specifically.
Competitive Benchmarking Metrics
To provide context for your metrics, benchmark against competitors and industry averages. Useful benchmarks include:
Industry Follower Baseline
Average followers for companies in your industry. Gives follower count guidance.
Competitor Engagement Rates
Engagement levels of key competitors’ LinkedIn content. Benchmark to aim higher.
Industry Content CTR Average
Average click-through rate for your industry. Context for your own CTR goal-setting.
Competitor Website Traffic
Monitor competitors’ website traffic sources and volumes. Identifies their best marketing channels.
Tracking Metrics Over Time
While individual metrics provide insight, the key is tracking trends over time. Some best practices include:
Measure Consistently
Use the same metrics definitions and calculation methods consistently. Enables accurate trend analysis.
Set Goals
Determine metrics-based goals for follower growth, engagement, lead generation. Gives focus for improvement.
Analyze Trends
Identify upward and downward metric trends. Diagnose the reasons, positive or negative, behind trends.
Optimize Strategically
Use learnings to strategically optimize your LinkedIn marketing. Double down on what works.
Report Regularly
Circulate regular metric reports to stakeholders. Demonstrates progress and keeps everyone aligned.
Using Tools for LinkedIn Metrics
While LinkedIn provides its own analytics, using additional tools can help streamline metric monitoring. Some top options include:
| Tool | Key Features |
|---|---|
| Google Analytics | Connects LinkedIn data to overall website analytics. Tracks engagement, traffic, and goals. |
| Sprout Social | Centralized reporting across social platforms. Benchmarks performance against competitors. |
| Simply Measured | Converts LinkedIn data into visual reports. Scheduled report automation. |
| Tableau | Transforms LinkedIn metrics into interactive dashboards. Customizable visual analytics. |
| Rival IQ | Compares LinkedIn performance against competitors. Identifies content gaps. |
Conclusion
There are many LinkedIn metrics to choose from, but focusing on the key ones outlined here will provide invaluable insights. Set goals based on industry benchmarking. Analyze trends over time. With the right metrics approach, you can showcase the ROI of your LinkedIn marketing and make data-driven optimizations to boost results.
