Likes feel like progress. They are easy to see, they move every day, and they make a report look busy. None of them can be spent.
What the usual numbers actually tell you
- Likes. Someone reacted. That is attention, not intent.
- Followers. A list of people who once pressed follow. Some are customers. Many are not, and some are not even people.
- Reach and impressions. How many times it was shown. Whether it changed anyone's mind is a different question.
- Views. The video played. That doesn't say whether they would buy.
These numbers aren't useless. They tell you whether people noticed you. They do not tell you whether it paid.
The four numbers that do
- Enquiries. Calls, DMs, WhatsApp messages and form fills that came because of social media, per month.
- Qualified enquiries. The ones from people who could actually buy what you sell. Ten right enquiries beat a hundred wrong ones.
- Sales from those enquiries. In rupees. This is the number that ends arguments.
- Cost per sale. Everything you spent (content, ads, tools, your own time) divided by the sales it produced. This is the ratio that tells you whether social media is an asset or an expense.
How to track them without buying software
- Ask every new customer how they found you, and write the answer down. It is free, and it works.
- Give social media its own way to reach you. A dedicated WhatsApp link, a separate number, or an offer code that is only ever used there.
- Tag the link in your bio. Adding a tracking tag (a UTM parameter) to the link tells your analytics which source sent the click.
- Keep one sheet. One row per enquiry: date, source, qualified yes or no, sale amount. Ten minutes a week.
What good looks like
We won't give you a benchmark. It varies by business, and any number we made up would be a guess dressed as a fact. Compare yourself with yourself: this month's enquiries, sales and cost per sale against the last three months. If those are improving, it is working. If likes are climbing and those are not, you are being entertained, not paid.
It is also how we judge our own work, and why our results page reports leads and sales, not likes. Here is how to read our numbers, including the parts we can't show you.
If you want help setting up the tracking, email 3WE4.media@gmail.com. Or start from the beginning: asset or liability, six tests.
Note
The metrics framework and advice above are our own opinion and experience. No third-party statistics are used in this post.