Definition: Social media ROI (return on investment) is the value earned from social media activity, minus what it cost, expressed as a percentage of that cost.
Also called: return on investment, social ROI
Updated October 11, 2026
ROI = (value attributed to social − total cost) ÷ total cost × 100ROI is only as honest as the cost side. Include more than ad spend.
Value is easiest to measure when social drives a tracked action: a sale, a sign-up or a lead with a known average worth. Tag every link with UTM parameters so your analytics tool can credit visits and conversions to the right network and post. Awareness goals (reach, share of voice) do not translate neatly into money, so report them next to ROI rather than forcing a value onto them.
A shop spends £1,500 a month on social (£1,000 of staff time, £200 in tools, £300 in boosted posts). UTM-tagged links show £4,200 in sales from social that month. ROI = (4,200 − 1,500) ÷ 1,500 × 100 = 180%.
Conversion rate is the percentage of people who completed a goal, such as a purchase, sign-up or download, out of everyone who clicked or visited from a given source.
UTM parameters are short tags added to the end of a URL (utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign and more) that tell analytics tools like Google Analytics where a visit came from.
Cost per click (CPC) is the amount an advertiser pays for each click on an ad, either as the price set in a pay-per-click auction or as total spend divided by clicks.
Vanity metrics are numbers that are easy to grow and look impressive, such as total followers, likes or views, but that do not show whether social media is meeting a business goal or tell you what to do next.
A social media KPI (key performance indicator) is a metric you have chosen to track against a specific business goal, with a target and a time frame, to show whether your social media work is succeeding.
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