Putting together monthly social media reports can feel like a daunting task. You can include loads of interesting analytics and insights, however, your client likely only cares about a few key things.
When onboarding a new client, you should ask them what their goals are so you have a better understanding of what KPIs to focus on in your reports. Below is a chart of social media KPIs you should be monitoring. This is what your reports should focus on and spend more time on your analysis.
Although the majority of your report should focus on those KPIs you've agreed upon with your client, it's still important to include these key metrics on every report:
Impressions
Impressions are the number of times your post has made it onto someone's screen. This number is often higher than reach because the post can be fed to someone more than once. It's important to note that impressions do not equate to views because, while the post may come across a person's feed, they may not necessarily be viewing the content.
Impressions are important to track for brand awareness. The more times your content is being fed increases brand recognition, even if the viewer isn't engaging with the content. In fact, they say it takes seven or more times before it becomes effective.
Reach
Reach, on the other hand, is the number of times your content was actually viewed (for at least 3 seconds). Reach is another important metric to measure for brand awareness. I find this metric a bit more important than impressions considering the viewer is actually taking in the content you're sharing rather than scrolling past. This means it's resonating with the viewer enough for them to pause and read or view it a bit longer.
Engagement
Engagement includes likes, comments, and shares. Engagement is the best metric to track to know what content your audience is interested in and what's resonating with them. Social media is about connecting with your audience and building communities. Engagement should always be tracked in order to understand and connect with your audience on a deeper level.
To calculate engagement rate, simply divide to the number of engagements by the contents reach. A good engagement rate starts at 1.5%, the higher the better.
Link Clicks
If your goal is to drive more people to your website and view content there then link clicks are an important metric to track. Link clicks are the number of times a person clicks on the link you've shared within your post. If you're selling a product or service on your website, you're one step closer to that conversion. Think of it as a funnel, the content comes across their screen (impression), they pause and view the content (reach), they engage with the post (like, comment, or share), they click the link that takes them to your website, then the final step is to make a purchase or book a service.
Followers
Your client is going to want to know if their audience is growing. Tracking the number of followers is an important metric to track to show your client that the content you're sharing is attracting more follows within your target audience.
Oftentimes a client will get caught up in the follower count. It's important to address other key metrics and their importance in addition to the number of followers. There are ways in which people can increase followers that aren't beneficial to the overall brand's success. Stick to your strategy and ensure your client that your goal is to attract follows from people who are genuinely interested in your content and product or service.
Audience Analysis
Understanding who your audience is is one of the most important things to evaluate when assembling your social media report. It's important to note any significant changes in your audience from month to month to ensure your content is attracting your target audience.
Top Posts
Analyzing top posts is the best way to understand what your audience is actually interested in. When there is a spike in engagements or followers on a specific day you're going to want to see what caused that spike and focus on creating more of that moving forward. It can be really interesting seeing what your top posts are! For example, you may expect lifestyle photos to outperform flatlays but interestingly enough your top posts end up being flatlays, so you'll want to capture and share more flatlays the following month.
Lowest Performing Posts
Did you suddenly lose a bunch of followers one day? What did you post that day? It's important to address these dips in your reports and analyze what may have been the cause so you can avoid that later on.
Summary
So you've collected all these important metrics, but what do they mean? For your sake and your clients, providing a summary of your findings will end up being the most valuable part of your report. A summary should include notes about your findings and how you plan to adjust and improve moving forward. Keep it simple and to the point. You'll want to be direct and avoid any fluff, this may be the only portion of the report your client will actually read. Don't forget to note any wins for that month in this section also!
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