As marketers, we went from not having enough data to having too much. Just a couple of decades ago, a marketer running an ad in a magazine would only have a general idea of how many people saw the ad and their most basic demographic information.

Today you can measure your marketing in precise detail. Want to know how people in your target audience clicked on your ad and then converted into a customer? Not only can you find that out with a click, you can also see which combination of headlines, images, and CTAs in your A/B testing was the most effective at getting them to your landing page.

But there’s one problem with having hundreds of metrics at your fingertips: you have to track hundreds of metrics. That’s where KPIs come in.

A KPI, or Key Performance Indicator, gives you, your team, and your boss the single number you need to know how your marketing is performing. Rather than try to absorb every data point, a handful of KPIs can give you all the information you need to make fast decisions and take advantage of new opportunities.

How many KPIs should you track? While there’s no right answer, remember that these should be the numbers you use to judge success or failure and drive your work. One KPI is ideal — three to six give you a well-rounded view of your marketing. If you find yourself with dozens of KPIs, then you’ll find it impossible to figure out what is moving the needle. Limit your KPIs to cut through the clutter of your data.

While there are a number of common Twitter KPIs, keep in mind that your KPIs should be what you consider key. While conversions might be considered key for an e-commerce company, Retweets might be considered key for a brick and mortar retailer or company trying to build thought leadership. While you most likely have an idea of what your KPIs could be, ask others in your business what KPIs they use. Finance, Sales, Operations, IT and other departments all have KPIs that tie into business performance that a marketer might not think of.

With that said, here are a few ideas for determining which KPIs to prioritize:

• Engagement: This can be defined as anything from clicks to Retweets to replies to even how many times a branded hashtag was Tweeted. Pick the level of engagement that is truly meaningful to your business.
• Performance: Impressions are important, but performance is the name of the game. Look at your engagement rate, not just your impressions, to track how your audience is reacting over time.
• Growth: You have to grow your following if you’re going to reach new customers. But the number of followers isn’t always important —measure the number of engaged followers in your key demographic to make sure you’re getting quality with your follower quantity.
• ROI: This KPI is the one that keeps your department funded and gets you a raise. Instead of just tracking clicks, tie Tweeting to revenue by tracking the sales or conversions from your Tweets and Twitter Ads.
  

Try out these tips by creating Twitter Ads of your own. Create a campaign today. Planning to create campaigns large enough that you need a customer success representative? Request for a Twitter customer representative here.

Additional reading:

• Budget series pt. 1: How to determine your paid social media budget
• Budget series pt. 2: How to allocate your paid social budget
• Agency resources