To find the posts that drive sales, tag every post with a way to trace the buyer, then rank posts by orders per 1,000 people reached. Likes will not tell you which posts sell. A post with 40 likes and 6 orders beats one with 900 likes and none.
TLDR: Build a four-column sheet (post, reach, clicks or leads, orders). Add a tagged link or promo word to each post. After 30 days, rank by orders per 1,000 reach and make more of the top five.
Why likes and sales point in different directions
Likes measure approval. Sales need something else: a reason to act, a clear offer and a path to it. Posts that entertain often get the likes. Posts that show a result, answer an objection or name a price get the orders.
If your numbers disagree, our checklist for when analytics diverge from sales data walks through the usual causes.
Give every post a trail the buyer leaves behind
You cannot rank posts by sales without a trace. Pick one or two of these and use them consistently.
- A tagged link per platform and per campaign, so clicks arrive labeled.
- A promo word, such as "say SPRING in your message," for sales that happen in DMs.
- A "how did you hear about us" field at checkout or booking, with the platform and post type as options.
None of these is perfect. Together they catch most sales. Mydrop's link-in-bio pages give you a link per profile, and trigger-word automations can reply to a keyword in the comments and log who asked.
Build the four-column sheet
One row per post. Four columns that matter, plus the date and format.
| Column | What to record | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Reach | People who saw the post | Makes posts comparable |
| Clicks or leads | Tagged clicks, DMs with the promo word | The middle of the path |
| Orders | Sales traced to the post | The real outcome |
| Orders per 1,000 reach | Orders divided by reach times 1,000 | The ranking number |
Fill it weekly for 30 days. Thirty to forty posts across platforms is enough to see a pattern.
Read the sheet in three passes
First, sort by orders per 1,000 reach and look at the top five. What do they share: format, offer, topic or time of day? Second, look at posts with high reach and zero orders. These are your "wasted attention" posts, and they often lack a clear next step. Third, look for posts with low reach and good orders. They deserve a second airing to a bigger audience.
A caution on formats: in Mydrop's September 2026 data, carousels ran 10% above typical engagement and a link in the caption cost 7%. That is engagement, not sales. Check whether the pattern holds for orders in your own sheet before you change the plan.
Repeat the winners, then test one change
Take the top five posts and write down the pattern in one sentence: "Customer result in a carousel, price range in the last slide, link in bio." Make three new posts that follow it. Compare their orders per 1,000 reach to the old top five.
If the pattern holds, schedule it weekly. If it does not, the earlier posts may have won on timing or luck, and you have saved yourself from building a strategy on one hit. For a faster version with seven metrics, see social metrics that predict sales.
Report it so a client or boss reads it
A one-page report with the top five posts, the pattern and the next test is more useful than a deck of charts. Mydrop's white-label PDF reports can pull post metrics into a shareable report, so you add the orders column and send it.
Handle the sales you cannot trace
Some buyers will never click a tagged link. They see a post, search your name later and buy. Do not try to trace every order. Instead, watch a second signal: when your top-five posts go out, does branded search or direct traffic rise a day or two later? If it does, count those posts as sales drivers even without a click trail. Keep a short note beside the sheet with the dates, and look at it once a month.
Start the 30-day sheet today
Create the four columns, add a tagged link to tomorrow's post, and note the promo word. In 30 days you will know which posts earn their place on the calendar. You can connect your profiles and see per-post analytics free at app.mydropai.com.
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