To truly understand how your content is performing—and how to refine your strategy—you need to track more insightful metrics. Here’s what to focus on instead of follower growth this year.
For years, follower growth was the gold standard for measuring social media success. A bigger audience meant more reach, more engagement, and more potential customers—at least in theory. But as platforms like Instagram and TikTok continue to evolve, that old-school approach is quickly becoming outdated.
Thanks to increasingly sophisticated algorithms, social media feeds are no longer dictated by who a user follows. Instead, they prioritize content that aligns with individual interests and behaviors. Users don’t need to hit “follow” to keep seeing a brand’s posts—they just need to engage. A single like, share, save, or even profile visit signals to the platform that they want more of that content.
The result? Follower count is now a weaker measure of brand impact. A high follower count doesn’t guarantee visibility, nor does a lower count mean your content isn’t resonating with the right audience.
So, if follower growth is no longer the best indicator of success, what is? To truly understand how your content is performing—and how to refine your strategy—you need to track more insightful metrics. Here’s what to focus on instead in 2025.
1. Sentiment Analysis: How do people feel about you?
Social media isn’t just about what people say—it’s about how they feel when they talk about your brand. Sentiment analysis goes beyond surface-level metrics to measure whether conversations about you are positive, negative, or neutral.
Tracking sentiment can give you an early warning system for your brand’s reputation. If you roll out a new social media strategy and notice sentiment shifting more positively over time, it’s a strong indicator that your approach is resonating with your audience. On the flip side, if you launch a new product and sentiment suddenly turns negative, it could signal a misstep—giving you a chance to course-correct before the damage spreads.
Beyond evaluating individual campaigns, sentiment analysis helps you gauge the overall perception of your brand. By keeping a pulse on how your audience feels, you can make more informed decisions, address potential issues proactively, and refine your messaging to build deeper brand trust.
🔍 How to track it: Use a social listening tool (like Sked Social’s Sentiment Analysis feature) to monitor audience sentiment in real time, identify trends, and respond before small shifts turn into bigger problems.
2. Engagement Rate: Are people interacting with your content?
Engagement rate is one of the most powerful indicators of how well your content is performing. It measures how actively your audience interacts with your posts—through likes, comments, shares, and saves—giving you a clearer picture of content effectiveness than follower count ever could.
Since social media algorithms prioritize engaging content, a high engagement rate means your posts are resonating with your audience and are more likely to be surfaced to new users. On the other hand, a low engagement rate suggests your content isn’t grabbing attention or prompting action, signaling that it may need a tweak in format, messaging, or timing.
By focusing on engagement rather than vanity metrics, you can refine your content strategy to create posts that spark meaningful interactions—whether that’s starting conversations, encouraging shares, or prompting users to take action.
🔍 How to track it: Engagement rate is calculated as (Interactions (such as likes+comments+shares+saves/ Reach) x 100. Most social analytics platforms (including Sked Social) calculate this automatically, so you can easily monitor trends and optimize your content accordingly.
3. Shares: Is your content spreading organically?
Shares are one of the strongest signals that your content resonates with your audience. When users share a post, they’re not just engaging with it—they’re actively endorsing it and amplifying its reach. Unlike likes or comments, which keep interactions within your existing audience, shares help your content break out of its bubble, exposing it to new people who may not follow you (yet).
Even Instagram chief Adam Mosseri has emphasized the importance of shares, noting that they play a key role in how the platform’s algorithm ranks content. The more your posts get shared, the more likely they are to be pushed to a wider audience, increasing your organic reach without requiring ad spend.
For brands, tracking shares can provide insight into what types of content inspire action—whether it’s educational infographics, viral trends, or emotionally compelling stories. By identifying the themes and formats that drive the most shares, you can double down on what works and refine your strategy for maximum impact.
🔍 How to track it: Most social media platforms provide insights into how many times a post has been shared. Regularly monitor this metric to spot trends, understand what drives organic reach, and fine-tune your content accordingly.
4. Reach: Who’s actually seeing your content?
Reach measures how many unique users have seen your post—making it one of the best indicators of your content’s actual visibility. Unlike impressions (which count multiple views from the same user), reach tells you how effectively your content is spreading beyond your immediate audience.
A post with high reach means it’s performing well in the algorithm, getting shared widely, or being surfaced to new users via recommendations. A low reach, on the other hand, suggests your content isn’t breaking through, which could mean it’s not engaging enough, poorly timed, or facing algorithmic limitations.
Tracking reach over time can help you understand what types of content drive the most exposure. Are carousels outperforming single-image posts? Are certain topics more likely to be boosted by the platform? With this insight, you can optimize your strategy to ensure your content gets in front of the right people.
🔍 How to track it: Platforms like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and LinkedIn provide native reach analytics. For a more comprehensive view, social media management tools (like Sked Social) can track reach across multiple platforms, making it easy to compare performance over time and spot trends.
5. Competitor Performance: Are you keeping up?
Keeping an eye on your competitors isn’t just about comparison—it’s about learning from their successes and missteps. Tracking their engagement, reach, and audience sentiment can give you valuable insights into what’s working in your industry and help you refine your own strategy accordingly.
If a competitor is seeing high engagement on a particular content format, it may be worth testing something similar. If they experience a drop in sentiment after a certain type of post, you can avoid making the same mistake. Competitive analysis also helps you gauge whether your brand is leading the conversation or falling behind.
By benchmarking your performance against others in your niche, you can set realistic growth goals, identify opportunities to differentiate your content, and make data-driven decisions that keep your brand ahead of the curve.
🔍 How to track it: Sked Social’s Competitor Analysis dashboard lets you monitor up to 20 competitors, giving you real-time insights into their top-performing content, engagement trends, and audience growth—so you can stay one step ahead.
Summing up
Follower count is a vanity metric of the past. In 2025, real social media success isn’t about how many people follow you—it’s about how many people care about your content. Brands that want to stay ahead need to focus on the metrics that actually matter: engagement, reach, sentiment, and competitive insights. These are the indicators that reveal whether your content is resonating, sparking conversations, and driving real impact.
