Personal Branding

Vanity Metrics

The numbers that feel good on a Tuesday and mean nothing by the end of the quarter.

Definition

Surface numbers like likes, follower counts, or impressions that look impressive but don't reliably show whether content is actually generating leads or revenue.

A post can get thousands of likes from people who will never buy anything, while a quieter post reaches the twenty right people and books three calls. The fix isn't ignoring engagement entirely, it's tracking it alongside pipeline-linked numbers like profile visits from ICP-matching titles and inbound DMs that turn into conversations.