A digital marketer has to deal with an enormous amount of data, most of which is irrelevant to the cause. They need a manner through which they sift through this data, storing only those aspects which are relevant and tracking and analyzing the key metrics. This not only helps them grow as marketers but also proves to their clients an appropriate ROI.
Most marketers struggle with social marketing data. This article aims to make this aspect easier. The following aspects of social media marketing are covered in this article:
✅ What data should be included in your social media report?
✅ Where can you source this data from?
✅ How to effectively present this data?
But before beginning, here are some aspects to be understood clearly.
What Exactly Is a Social Media Report: A Working Definition
A social media report is a document that lays bare various aspects of social media marketing (SMM) activities. It helps you understand the results of your social media marketing efforts tangibly.
A social media report could be a simple spreadsheet or a snazzy slideshow with analysis. In the end, there is a free template for a social media report. Use it to help you kick off your next report.
Creating a Social Media Report: The Prelude
Before you create your report, you must figure out who it is for. Is it being sent out to the VP of marketing, your entire marketing team, or the SEO guys?
Each end-user of a social media report is unique. You will have to take into account which elements of the report are useful to whom, and tailor each report to each unique recipient for maximum impact and accuracy. If you are creating a report for the CEO, for example, you should keep it concise, highlighting only the most important aspects of the information packed in.
Make sure you include all the information that is pertinent to your business. Some key performance indicators (KPIs) matter more to your business than others. Prepare your report based on the stakeholder who will be viewing your report. Don’t report unnecessary stats, report statistics that are essential to current understanding and future growth.
Follow the 5-step process to flesh out a valuable social media report:
1️⃣ Define the end goal
2️⃣ Define the report’s user
3️⃣ Define the time frame for reportage
4️⃣ Choose the KPIs
5️⃣ To design the report
A good social media report has the following three qualities:
1️⃣ It is easy to share
2️⃣ It is easy to understand
3️⃣ It is visually appealing
Elements of a Social Media Report
✅ Introduction
✅ Campaign summary
✅ Comparison with previous campaigns
✅ Tabular representation of performance
✅ Other standout results
✅ Strategic analysis
✅ Takeaways
Introduction
Begin your report with a quick summary of the goals set at the beginning of your campaign. Then touch upon the high-level strategy and low-level tactics that follow. Note some of the KPIs used within this report.
Campaign Summary
Next, provide a snapshot of the campaign summary. Let the viewer know some notable results of the campaign. List down high-level data like big increases in likes, comments, or followers. Follow color codes—green for net increases and red for net decreases. You can make infographics specific to your use case and visually depict the same. Using infographics will ensure easy understanding as well as accuracy. The purpose is to provide the viewer with a quick overview. Use the next sections to give the details.
Comparison With Previous Campaign + Tabular Representation of Performance
This is the “numbers” section. Here, you can lay out various metrics of the current campaign. You can also compare it with previous campaigns. By doing so, you can pick out trends in the data. If you want to discount seasonal trends, you can compare the metrics with the same period of the previous year.
The data you track within this section will depend on the goals you have outlined earlier. Some of the common metrics you should be tracking across social media networks are listed below:
➡️ Number of comments
➡️ Number of shares
➡️ Post reach
➡️ Number of likes
➡️ Net gain/loss in followers
➡️ Number of posts
➡️ Top-performing posts
➡️ The number of video views
➡️ The number of story views
➡️ The number of post links clicked
➡️ The number of bio links clicked
➡️ Leads generated
➡️ Conversions
➡️ Revenue earned
➡️ Social sentiment
➡️ Social share of voice
➡️ Total ad spend
Depending on the situation, some of these metrics will be more relevant than others. Choose those metrics which matter to your end product and users. Also, make it a point to note the period of the metrics and compare data points, like net gain or loss in followers, with previous data points.
Other Standout Results
Sometimes figures are not enough to express a social media report correctly. There may be some standout results that need to be noted. You may find different levels of success relevant to your goals. It may be a compelling review or a new and potentially profitable influencer relationship. You must note these standout results and highlight them appropriately.
Strategic Analysis
In this section, you attempt to make sense of and derive meaningful insights from the data you have gathered. Here, qualifying is as important as quantifying. Why are certain posts more engaging? This type of analysis may help you understand why some posts work better than others. Beyond mere reportage, you should also try to understand how much social marketing is critical for your website traffic. Compare results to previous campaigns for context. The key here is to determine why you got these results. Understanding such aspects will help you move into the future with a better understanding of your campaigns.
How Do Social Media Reporting Tools Work?
You now know the framework of your social media report. This section focuses on sourcing the data.
Click Insights in the menu on the left-hand side of your Facebook page. It will represent the data of major metrics visually. Click on the reporting options in the left menu for more information on each metric. On the Insights page, the Export Data button on the top right allows you to export data in .xls or .csv formats.
In your Twitter profile, click the three dots next to “more,” then click on Analytics. The main analytics screen will present the key data. Get detailed information by clicking through the top menu options. Export data as a .csv file to use in your social media report.
On your Instagram profile, tap the icon with three bars. Click on Insights—>View the data overview on the first screen. Tap on any of these data points for further details. You can’t export this data from Instagram. So, you can either enter this data manually or use a third-party tool like Hootsuite. If your Instagram account is not a professional account, you will have to set it up as one because only professional accounts are enabled to access Instagram Insights.
Click Analytics in the top menu of your company page. You will gain access to key metrics like new followers, engagement rates, impressions, and page views. On the Followers’ analytics page, you can compare your company with its competitors. The blue Export button on the top-right allows you to export the data.
Through Konnect Insights
Leveraging Konnect Insights, you can fetch data and create beautiful reports on its dashboards. Once you have added and integrated all your social media profiles, all the analysis of your brands would be in a single place and you would be able to understand the performance of your brands in one view with the help of creating dynamic dashboards. Additionally, for your own brands, Konnect Insights also provides Smart Suggestions to quickly analyze the performance of your brand with respect to parameters in the form of small cards or denotations and would portray this to you in the form of a story.
Conclusion
Creating a great social media report is a logical step-by-step process. You can get better at it with time. Don’t crunch too much data. Sift and identify the essentials for your report. Add insights that can be put to practical use. If used well, a social media report can be a scientific tool to not only understand the performance of your SMM but also improve it in measurable terms. Now that you know how to make a successful SMM report. You can create beautiful and easy-to-understand reports on Konnect Insights dashboards.
Free social media report template
Use the following template as a starting point for your social media report.
Part 1: */ This identifies and begins the report*/
Social Media Report For [Company Name]
Dated: [Report Date: MM/DD/YYYY]
[Name, Designation, Email ID]
[Logo]
Part 2: */ This serves as a report introduction */
- Goals at the beginning of the campaign
- High-level strategy follows
- Low-level tactics used
- Key performance indicators
Part 3: */ This is used to give a birds-ey view of the campaign */
Summarise the campaign performance. This provides a quick overview of notable results. For example, if you have scored a big increase in followers or likes, list it here. Use the color code: green when you have reached your target and red when you have missed it.
For the time period [date] to [date], we achieved the following metrics:
New followers {xxx} Target Set {xxx}
Comments {xx} Target Set {xx}
Likes {xxxx} Target Set {xxxx}
Part 4: */ This is used for a quick campaign comparison against another time period*/
It might be a good idea to compare important KPIs of the current campaign to previous campaigns. It lets you know if you are doing better than before, on what KPIs, and by how much.
Part 5: */ This is a tabular representation of performance*/
Use the following format to represent your performance across social media channels quickly.
Instagram’s performance for [date range] compared with [date range]
| Number of Posts | |
| Followers Gained/Lost | |
| Total Likes | |
| Total Comments | |
| Total Shares | |
| Total Saves | |
| Clicks on Bio | |
| The Number of Story Views | |
| Engagement Rate |
LinkedIn performance for [date range] compared with [date range]
| Number Of Posts | |
| Followers Gained/Lost | |
| Number Of Shares | |
| Number of Likes/Reactions | |
| Number of Comments | |
| Page Views |
Twitter performance for [date range] compared with [date range]
| Number of Posts | |
| Followers Gained/Lost | |
| Number of Likes | |
| Number of Retweets | |
| Engagement Rate |
YouTube performance for [date range] compared with [date range]
| Number of Videos | |
| Subscribers Gained/Lost | |
| Number of Likes | |
| Number of Comments | |
| Number of Views | |
| Number of Shares |
Facebook performance for [date range] compared with [date range]
| Number of Posts | |
| Followers Gained/Lost | |
| Number of Likes | |
| Number of Page Views | |
| Number Of Video Views |
Part 6: */ Use this to report outstanding non-figure data*/
Sometimes figures don’t tell the whole story. You may have achieved a unique benchmark of social media marketing performance. It may be a compelling testimonial or contact with a key influencer. Record these results here.
- Key Standout Result 1
- Key Standout Result 2
- Key Standout Result 3
Part 7: */ Use this for strategic analysis */
Use this portion to discuss past, present, and future strategies.
- Event
- Reason for event
- Learning from an event
Page 8:*/ Use this part to document key takeaways*/
Learnings
Future Strategies
Actions
Tags: Brand strategy, Content Marketing, Data Analysis, Data Analytics, Digital marketing strategy, Instagram marketing, Marketing, Marketing strategy, Social Analytics, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Strategy