The truth about vanity metrics (How to gather data that stakeholders REALLY care about)
Data. Metrics. Statistics. It all sounds scary and intimidating, right?
For many community managers, data is a standard (and regular) request from stakeholders and senior members.
Knowing what type of data to collect and the best ways to gather this information is essential.
What are vanity metrics?
Vanity metrics are statistics that look good at first glance but don’t really say much.
If we think about digital communities built on Facebook or WhatsApp, some of the common metrics you’ll see are:
Members
Reach
Engagement
Likes
While these metrics have their place, the statistics don’t reflect the success of an online community.
For example, using a metric like member count to judge a community’s health is not enough.
Why?
Because a community with 100 members could have more engaged members than a community with 10,000 members.
For vanity metrics to be useful, they need to be used in partnership with other data, not in isolation.
Building your perfect metric mix
There are three key steps every digital community can focus on:
1. Pinpoint purposeful data from the get-go
If you’re just starting out your community or switching from an off-the-shelf platform to a bespoke platform, think about what data will prove your community is working.
Every community has a different purpose, so it’s important to identify that from the start.
Maybe your community is for brand awareness, to increase sales, or to reduce support time.
Whatever the reason, the data you gather should align with the community’s objective.
2. Data from more than one source
Community managers can’t have all the answers, especially when the community’s purpose is for something like sales.
Let’s take an organic dog food community that has concluded its goal is to improve recurring dog food sales.
The community manager needs to understand if and how the community is helping to direct these sales.
Working with the sales department is a great way to ensure the data collection is as valuable and accurate as possible.
The sales department can gather data on whether returning customers are part of the digital community, helping to prove the community’s goal is being met.
3. Lifetime value of customers
Another great metric to track is a person’s lifetime value.
You want to look at three types of people and their corresponding spending habits:
Those who are a customer but not in the community
Those who are in the community but not posting
Those who are in the community and are regularly engaging
For the dog food company, what we’d hope to find is that engaged community members are buying the most dog food.
However, if the metrics show those outside the community are spending more money, then the community is failing to serve its purpose (increasing sales).
Value first, vanity second
The three steps above can provide your weekly/monthly/quarterly statistics with meaning.
As a community manager, this allows you to feel confident that the numbers you produce are relevant to your community’s goals and growth plans.
Once you’ve mastered the ‘meaningful metrics’ for your specific community, only then should you consider adding vanity metrics to the mix.
I’ll wrap this up with a quick reminder that value always wins.
Just as community members are more likely to engage and move up the participation ladder when they receive value from a community, stakeholders and senior leaders are more likely to see the benefits of an online community when they’re provided with valuable data.