Benchmarking

Social media benchmarking means analyzing and comparing how well a brand performs in social media against competitors, industry standards, or its own predefined goals. With social media being such a powerful tool for audience engagement, many brands are now using it as a primary way of directly connecting with consumers. The first thing you can do is see how well you're actually performing in the social media world.

You do this by looking at some key performance indicators (KPIs) that provide a good look at your stats. These are follower growth, engagement rate, reach, impressions, click-through rate, and other such metrics you may think of. But to really get a look at how well you're performing, not just in a vacuum but also against others in your space, you can start doing some benchmarking.

For even more insights, throw in some competitor analysis. Finally, the purpose of all this is to better understand your audience and in turn, figure out what the heck to do next.