Here’s the bare minimum stack of site + social metrics I’d tell any client to keep their eyes on. Anything less and you’re basically driving blindfolded with your hands off the wheel.
Google Analytics (GA / GA4)
- Users / Sessions – how many people are showing up.
- Traffic Sources – where they’re coming from (search, social, email, direct).
- Bounce Rate / Engagement Rate – are they sticking around or bailing instantly.
- Pages per Session / Time on Site – quality of traffic and content stickiness.
- Conversions / Goals – form fills, purchases, consult bookings (whatever matters to you).
- Facebook Insights
- Reach – how many people saw your posts.
- Engagement Rate – likes, comments, shares vs impressions.
- Top Performing Content – know what resonates.
- Follower Growth – steady climb = healthy brand.
Instagram Insights
- Impressions vs Reach – how many eyeballs total vs unique.
- Profile Visits & Website Clicks – your content pulling them closer.
- Engagement Rate per Post – saves, shares, comments (gold dust).
- Stories Completion Rate – how many stick through your Stories.
Tech You Must Install (Non-Negotiable)
- GA4 – your all-round site analytics backbone.
- Google Tag Manager (GTM) / GAQ – makes managing tags cleaner and scalable.
- Facebook Pixel – retargeting, conversions, lookalike audiences.
- Hotjar (or similar) – heatmaps + session recordings so you see where users rage-click or drop off.
✅ With just that setup, you can:
- Track where traffic is coming from.
- See what content works on social.
- Follow the path to conversion.
- Watch where people get stuck on your site (and fix it).
Anything beyond that (like advanced attribution, CRM integration, LTV modelling) is luxury tier.
