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Vanity Metrics — If you think they are worthless, you don’t know your work.
When referencing social media, a vanity metric is broadly defined as any analytics measure that is not a signifier of real performance. Common examples are the number of followers, likes, and comments. More important than these, are numbers such as reach, click-through rates, and visitor-to-lead conversions. So yes, by this definition, vanity metrics by themselves are worthless.
Unfortunately, social media algorithms rely on these vanity metrics to decide which content to amplify. Facebook’s Meaningful Social Interaction algorithm prioritizes interactions such as comments and likes. The intent being to give more weight to content that people find relevant. Thus, without engagement, the content will be de-prioritized and will not show up on news feeds. If you are lucky, a small percentage of your followers will get to see the content. So no, vanity metrics are not worthless.
