Measuring success using data
Evaluation helps assess if your communication reaches the right audience, resonates with their needs, and leads to meaningful action. It also provides a baseline for improvement, allowing you to adapt and grow your communication strategy based on real impact on lives and behaviours. Evaluation is not all about data, but getting hold of some key metrics is a fundamental part of your evidence. It can also surprise you and remove any assumptions - for good and for bad!
A top tip in gathering your data is to be focused. It's so easy to fall into a rabbit hole, particularly with tools such as Meta Business Suite and Google Analytics. Be clear on what it is you want to collect information about and make a note of what you do and when.
If you have a page on A Church Near You, you will know how excellent it is at ensuring you have good result son Google. They have also published an article about how to make the most of their analytics function: Analytics and Statistics
Here are some general guidance notes:
Website Traffic
How to set up:
Create a free account at Google Analytics (GA4).
Add your website as a “property.”
Install the tracking code on your site (this is usually a copy-paste snippet or can be added through your website builder like WordPress, Wix, or Squarespace).
Key metrics to watch:
Sessions & Users: Total visits and unique visitors — tells you how many people are finding your site.
Pageviews: Which pages get the most attention. Look for high traffic on priority pages (e.g., events, about, contact).
Average Session Duration & Bounce Rate: Indicates how engaging your site is. A high bounce rate may mean visitors don’t find what they need quickly.
Traffic Sources: Shows where visitors came from (search engines, social media, direct links). This helps you see which channels are driving the most results.
Social Media Engagement
How to access:
On Facebook and Instagram, go to Insights in the menu.
On YouTube, open YouTube Studio → Analytics.
On TikTok, switch to a Business Account (free) to unlock analytics.
Key metrics to track:
Likes, Comments, Shares, Saves, Retweets: Measure interaction with posts.
Engagement Rate: (Total interactions ÷ Total reach) × 100. A higher percentage means stronger audience connection.
Top-Performing Content: Look at which posts gained the most engagement. This shows what type of content your audience prefers.
Audience Growth
How to track:
Record your follower/subscriber count once a month on each platform.
Calculate net growth: (new followers – unfollows).
Use a spreadsheet or dashboard to compare growth month by month.
Tip: Look at growth patterns around specific events, campaigns, or seasons. This will help you see what caused spikes in followers.
Reach & Impressions
How to access:
In most social platforms, “Reach” and “Impressions” are visible under post insights.
On Instagram: Tap any post → View Insights.
On Facebook: Go to Page Insights → Posts → Reach.
How to interpret:
Reach shows how many unique people saw your post.
Impressions show how many total times it was seen (including repeat views).
Compare these to engagement: High reach but low engagement may mean content is being seen but not resonating.
Conversions & Actions
What to measure:
Newsletter sign-ups
Event or program registrations
Video views and watch time
Online donations or sales
Contact form submissions
Downloads from your website
How to set it up:
In Google Analytics, set up “Goals” (e.g., when someone fills out a form, it counts as a completed goal).
Use UTM tags (Google’s free Campaign URL Builder) to track where clicks are coming from.
Review social platform insights for link clicks (e.g., “Website Clicks” on Facebook).
Why this matters: Conversions tell you whether your content is leading to real-world action, not just views.
Regular Reporting
How to do it:
Create a simple reporting template (spreadsheet or Google Data Studio dashboard).
Each month, record:
Website sessions, bounce rate, top pages
Social media engagement rates, top posts, follower growth
Conversions (sign-ups, donations, registrations, etc.)
Compare the data with previous months to identify growth or decline.
Next steps:
Repeat what works (content that consistently performs well).
Improve weak spots
Adjust posting frequency, timing, or content type based on results.
Top Tips!
Don't panic! It can feel overwhelming, so just look at some simple statistics and grow from there.
Make a note of how you find each metric you are measuring, as it's easy to forget between reports. Also you want to ensure you are comparing like for like.
If you choose to use a scheduling tool for your social media, you can usually access some great reports through them. Likewise, try and set up a regular automated report in GA4 as that will just appear in your inbox (result!).
Be prepared for social media insights and GA4 to change all the time. It can be really frustrating, so keeping on top of your data can make things easier.
Look for training and Google is definitely your friend, ie: