I’m no great fan of numbers, I’ve always felt more comfortable with words. But metrics are part of the job description and so numbers play a big part in what we do.

That said they can end up being a real distraction at the outset of a project and scare away a lot of new users to social media. We’ve seen the terrified looks when company presidents see their blog readership in the first month. Or the dejected sigh of a new Twitter user whose followers just aren’t materializing as fast as he or she would like.

I’ve even fallen prey to numbers, finding myself consumed with how many eyeballs are hitting these pages. And while it’s an important part of the plan, it’s still only one part.
 
There’s no doubt in my mind that tracking numbers is integral. If you’re smart, you’ll find out which blog posts were successful (and which ones weren’t) or see where you’re getting traffic from and how influential it’s been.

However, when it comes to crunching numbers here are some of my suggestions:

Be patient and give your numbers time to grow. If you’re an established brand or company it may only take a few months. If you’re not, it’ll be a lot longer. Keep posting good content and relevant information and people are bound to find you eventually.

Ignore your numbers for the first weeks or even months of most digital campaigns. Consider this your time play around and find your niche. If you’re concentrating on how many readers or followers you have you’re bound to get discouraged, so relax and find a rhythm that works.

Don’t confuse numbers with engagement. Just because 50 people visited your site doesn’t mean 50 people did anything more than look at your post’s title. Measuring engagement is a different animal all together, and has been covered in detail here, here and here – to name a few.

What do you think? Would you treat numbers with more weight than this?