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Blog / Style & trends / 20 TikTok Metrics You Should Be Tracking in 2024

Style & trends

20 TikTok Metrics You Should Be Tracking in 2024

20 TikTok Metrics You Should Be Tracking in 2024
Agnese Zimele

By Agnese Zimele

7 min read

When TikTok first entered the app market, it seemed like another short-lived social media platform that wouldn’t outperform giants like Instagram or Facebook. Yet its captivating short-form videos quickly evolved it from a niche platform into an important marketing and sales channel.

Millions of users worldwide now use TikTok daily to discover new brands and engage with their favorite creators. So, leveraging the platform can help you reach numerous potential buyers and skyrocket your business. But how can you know you’ve made it when there are so many TikTok metrics to track?

If you’re unsure whether your efforts on TikTok are paying off, don’t worry—this guide will walk you through the key TikTok metrics that make a difference and the ones you should monitor in 2024 to maximize your impact on the platform.

What is a TikTok metric?

A TikTok metric is a quantifiable data point that measures your post performance and provides insights into audience engagement. It’s an essential part of TikTok analytics tools, and tracking these metrics can help you refine your TikTok strategy.

From video views to follower demographics, regularly tracking important TikTok metrics is crucial to staying on top of new trends, quickly spotting changes in your audience behavior, and optimizing your own content for better results.

Pro tip: If you’re just starting your print-on-demand business on TikTok, discover different marketing and sales strategies in our guide How to Sell Merch on TikTok.

a hand holding a cell phone

Source: Unsplash

Top 20 TikTok metrics to track

You don’t need to download or subscribe to third-party tools to be on top of your TikTok game and access TikTok analytics. All you need is a TikTok account and the native TikTok app. Just switch to a business account (if you haven’t done that already), and you’ll get access to essential TikTok metrics.

The app’s analytics dashboard is split into four sections: Overview, Video, Audience, and Live. Depending on your goal, it may be enough for you to look at the summary of your TikTok performance. However, learning about all the key metrics available to help you create successful content is beneficial.

Let’s go through the metrics one by one.

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1. Key metrics

TikTok key metrics are all the data related to your posts and profile displayed on the first Overview page of the TikTok analytics tool. The main categories here are:

  • Video views—the number of times your TikTok videos have been watched. This metric is crucial because it indicates your content’s reach, relevancy to your target customers, and potential for virality. High view counts mean your content is engaging and appealing to a broad audience.

  • Likes—a direct indication of user engagement. A large number of likes means that users appreciate and resonate with your content, which can help you understand what type of videos have the potential to produce similar results in the future.

  • Comments—similar to likes, comments are another TikTok metric that shows how users interact with your videos. Having many comments per post indicates that your audience feels connected with your content, inspired to share, and ready to engage on a more personal level. However, a sudden spike in the comments can also indicate spam, so keep an eye on these trends.

  • Shares—a metric indicating how often your videos are shared across the platform. High share rates suggest that your content is compelling and worth spreading, which can ultimately result in larger reach and visibility.

  • Profile views—often left out of the list of essential metrics, profile views give a good indication of the true impact of your videos. It shows how many people have gone to view your profile after watching a video and are, therefore, interested in seeing what else you’re doing on the platform.

  • Followers—a metric showing the total number of users following your account. You can see changes in the follower count—how many have recently joined or unfollowed. Again, a sudden spike in the numbers can either indicate your videos have gone viral, your campaigns are working well, or most new followers are bots. Monitor this number carefully for your account’s safety.

a graph showing a line and a number of followers

Source: TikTok

2. Content metrics

The key metrics can give a good overview of the general situation. However, you need more data to gain deeper insights, a better understanding of what holds your viewers’ attention, and ways to improve your video performance.

TikTok content metrics can be found under the Video tab in the analytics tool, and there you can access the following data for each individual post:

  • Video posts—here you can see all your videos chronologically over a specific period of time (last seven, 28, 60 days, or other) and monitor your consistency over time.

  • Trending videos—these are your top-performing nine videos over a specific time based on the fastest growth in views. This metric can help you spot popular and effective videos, and adapt your further content strategy to align with current trends and preferences.

  • Average watch time—this metric shows the average time viewers spend watching a particular video before moving on. A higher average viewing time often indicates that your videos are engaging and hold viewers’ interest.

  • Engagement metrics—for every single video, you can also check total video views, likes, shares, comments, and playback time, which all indicate how well your content resonates with TikTok users.

a screenshot of a social media post

Source: TikTok

3. Follower metrics

TikTok analytics also give you a detailed overview of your followers, allowing you to learn more about their demographics and activity on the platform:

  • Total number of followers—a straightforward metric that indicates the size of your audience. A growing number of followers is a positive sign suggesting increased brand awareness and your content’s appeal to a broader audience than just your existing follower base. Be aware of sudden drops, as these can result from negative PR or other harmful activities.

  • Gender and age—your follower distribution across genders and age groups. This is an important TikTok metric, as understanding the demographics of your followers can help tailor your content to better match the interests and preferences of your target audience.

  • Top countries and cities—like gender and age, the location of your followers can help you better understand the cultural specifics, as well as which areas to target most in your ad campaigns.

  • Follower activity—one of the most important TikTok follower metrics as it shows when your followers are most active on the platform. Knowing peak activity times can help you find the optimal posting frequency and schedule posts for maximum visibility and engagement.

a graph with a line

Source: TikTok

4. Other important metrics

The native app allows you to access many important TikTok metrics and get a sufficiently detailed overview of your post performance. However, you may also benefit from using other analytics tools like Sprout Social or Socialinsider and TikTok Ads Manager to better understand your efforts.

These tools give you access to the following TikTok metrics:

  • Impressions—a metric showing how often your content has been displayed on users’ screens for the first time or repeatedly. It helps you understand your post visibility and how often they’re seen.

  • Reach—the total number of unique users who have viewed your content. Reach helps you assess the exposure of your videos more objectively, as you can compare it with your follower count.

  • Hashtags—monitoring the performance of hashtags related to your business and content can help you identify new trends and understand which tags drive the most engagement and discoverability.

a screenshot of a graph

Source: Socialinsider

  • CPM—a key TikTok metric if you’re running ads. CPM, or the average cost per thousand impressions, helps you evaluate the efficiency of your ad spend. The lower the CPM, the more users can be reached for the same amount of money.

  • Clicks—an essential metric in the TikTok Ads Manager as it shows the number of clicks from your ads to a specified destination and, therefore, indicates how persuasive your ads are. In third-party tools, clicks may also track how often users click on links in your videos or bio.

  • Conversions—another key ads metric that measures the number of times your ad resulted in the desired actions, such as a website visit, subscription to a newsletter, or a purchase.

There are several other data points related to TikTok ads you can track, so in case you want to optimize your promotional efforts, be sure to read TikTok’s ultimate list of ad campaign metrics.

a screenshot of a video

Source: LSEO

Conclusion: Why are TikTok metrics so important?

Tracking TikTok metrics is essential for understanding how your videos perform and how you can improve your TikTok marketing strategy to further your business goals. Without real data, you can only guess and hope that your efforts will bring decent results.

By now, you should be able to crack TikTok metrics like a pro. Even if you still feel slightly puzzled, start small and focus on the key user and post metrics like follower count, views, likes, and comments. Use this data to fine-tune your content, engage more effectively with your audience, and ultimately enhance your TikTok presence in 2024.

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Frequently asked questions

You can access TikTok metrics in the native TikTok app. Just go to Profile, switch to the business account, and go to Analysis to get all the data at your disposal.

There are more than 15 metrics that help track TikTok ad performance with clicks, conversions, cost per 1,000 impressions, and CTR being among the most important ones.

author

By Agnese Zimele on Oct 22, 2024

Agnese Zimele

Guest author

Agnese is a seasoned content specialist with a passion for running and traveling. She discovered her love for writing in high school and has helped multiple brands and individuals craft their stories ever since.

Agnese is a seasoned content specialist with a passion for running and traveling. She discovered her love for writing in high school and has helped multiple brands and individuals craft their stories ever since.