Social Media KPIs That Actually Matter for Retail in 2025

A practical guide to proving value beyond likes with Brandwatch, Hootsuite, and YOUKNOW’s local expertise.

‍

1 | Vanity metrics are dead. Here is why your board no longer buys them.

‍

There was a time when “Followers are up three per cent” got polite nods in the Monday meeting.

‍

Now? Finance and merchandising teams want a clear line from post to profit.

‍

• 73 per cent of South African marketers say the C-suite demands proof that social drives revenue (Brandwatch Retail Pulse, 2025).
• Yet only 29 per cent feel confident in the metrics they present (YOUKNOW Benchmark, Q1 2025).

‍

The good news: most of what you need is already in Brandwatch Consumer Intelligence and Hootsuite Impact. You just need to surface it in a way that lands with the board.

‍

👉 Related: How Social Listening Transforms Retail Customer Experience

‍

2 | The five social KPIs every South African retailer should track

‍

‍

3 | Benchmarks: what “good” actually looks like

‍

• CTRevR: Fashion retail benchmark is 1.2 per cent (Brandwatch Retail Index, SA Q2 2025). Below one per cent? Check UTM tracking through checkout. Many lose attribution at payment gateways.
• pSOV: Stay at least +3 points ahead of your closest rival for four consecutive weeks. Use Brandwatch’s sentiment model to exclude neutrals.
• Stock-out alert ratio: Anything above 0.35 means replenishment cycles need tightening. Route alerts to Slack so merch teams act quickly.
• TTR: Leaders operate under fifteen minutes; most start at 25–30 minutes. Quick win: set up auto-assignment in Hootsuite Inbox.
• IABV: Look beyond clicks. Tie affiliate codes to order values to see if creators fill baskets or just your feed.

‍

4 | From zero to board-ready dashboard in 14 days

‍

👉 Explore more: Why Social Customer Care is More Than Just Replying to DMs: Essential Lessons for SA Businesses

‍

5 | Results from the shop floor

‍

• National grocer cut TTR from 28 minutes to 9 minutes and reduced call-centre volume by 18 per cent.
• Local fashion e-commerce doubled CTRevR from 0.7 per cent to 1.4 per cent in three months.

‍

👉 Read the full stories in our Success Stories.

‍

6 | Why YOUKNOW’s local touch matters

‍

• Rand-based invoices keep budgets predictable.
• On-site bootcamps from Johannesburg to Nairobi mean your teams get hands-on training.
• More than 140 certifications across Brandwatch, Hootsuite, and data-visualisation tools ensure your set-up keeps delivering long after launch.

‍

👉 See the full menu on our Solutions page

‍

7 | Three quick wins for this week

‍

• Set a Brandwatch alert for “out of stock” + 😡 (10 minutes).
• Add a fifteen-minute SLA timer in Hootsuite Inbox (5 minutes).
• Export weekly pSOV deltas to executive Slack (7 minutes).