You can be a rather successful community manager or conversation manager without analyzing data.
That said, I believe that analyzing data is the next big step. An analysis of social data will help you during conversations with management, resource distribution, it will allow you to become more efficient and correct slight mistakes. Overall it will make your job more fun. (at least if you like data)
First of all, make sure you measure and keep the data. It is a real waste if you just let that pass you by. It seems like a no-brainer. It also tends to be not the case in a majority of companies that do community management.
One of the obvious uses of this data is your work schedule. It doesn