It’s probably not a stretch when we say that social media reports are one of the most unexciting parts of being a social manager. Not only does it lack the fun of creating, unlike with content, but it also slaps you with data that demands to be analyzed and translated into tidbits of consumable information.
However, no matter how boring the process of creating a social media report is, it serves a very important role. Without it, you won’t be able to understand the effectiveness of your social media marketing efforts, specifically the performance of your digital marketing.
In addition, social media reports allow you to retrace your steps and see where you made a mistake or could have done something different. You can then use this opportunity to do better next time and make the appropriate adjustments to your promotional strategies.
But before we go deeper into the process of creating a social media report, let’s first define what it is.
What is a Social Media Report?
A social media report is a document that contains and presents statistical data—real-time and historical—sourced from social media platforms that are part of your company’s digital marketing strategy.
These reports show the effectiveness of your marketing activities, provide stats for key performance indicators (KPIs), and give insights on what needs to be done to further improve your social media marketing strategy.
Things You Should Include in Your Social Media Report
Depending on the scale of your marketing campaign, social media reports could be done monthly, weekly, or quarterly. Meanwhile, in contrast, its content is not as flexible. You should always include the following when making a social media report:
An Overview
Before diving into the specifics of your social media report, make sure that you familiarize your report’s would-be readers or audience with the social media strategy currently being employed for the business’s social networking platforms.
In this part, you should also make room to discuss the purpose of your social activities and how they impact the company’s overall business strategy.
Your Goals
For this portion of the report, you can now start going into specifics. Here, you break down the social media strategy you discussed in the overview into straightforward and measurable goals.
Metrics
You should not forget to add metrics to your social media report. After all, this will support everything that you’ve discussed and validate the goals that you’ve enumerated in your document or presentation.
For instance, if one of the goals you mentioned in the overview includes follower count, it’s imperative to include the number of new followers that the social media accounts gained.
Companies give different levels of importance to metrics, but here are some that are always ranked high and should always appear in your reports as they generate money for the business:
- Leads Generated
- Conversions Generated
- Revenue Generated
- Return of Investment (ROI)
- Ad Spend
Meanwhile, if your goals are focused heavily on social media influence and awareness, these are the ones that you should include:
- New Followers
- Website Foot Traffic
- Engagement (Likes, Shares, Comments, etc)
- Top Performing Posts
- Views (e.g. YouTube videos, Instagram and Facebook Stories and Reels, TikTok videos, and more)
- Page Visits and Profile Views
Strengths
Of course, don’t forget to bring your best foot forward. Highlight the positive events that occurred on your company’s social media for this monthly, weekly, or quarterly report.
For example, you gained a significant amount of new followers, generated more leads, and sold more products or services through social media marketing. Besides this, you can also include non-statistical outcomes like getting in touch with a new brand partner or influencer.
Improvements
Here, you present the things in your strategy that did not pan out the way you hoped for. However, do not use a very negative tone for this one. Consider it as a learning experience rather than a loss and as an opportunity to do more with your social media marketing strat.
Bring your new creative ideas to the front and offer solutions to the problems at hand.
Summary
Last on the list is the summary. Always end your presentations with an abridged version of your social media report, specifically what you achieved for this period and the things that you learned.
Put the focus on the huge developments and explain how they will guide your strategy from here on out.
Creating Your Social Media Report: 5 Steps to Follow
Now that we’ve listed down the things that you shouldn’t leave out in your social media report, let’s move on to making it! Here, we’ll be sharing 5 simple steps that social media management agencies in the Philippines live by when creating an effective social media report.
Step 1: Know Your Audience
The first thing that you should always do, when making a social media report, is to determine who will be the target of your output. Will this be for the marketing team, the company’s boss, or the PR team?
Always tailor your social media report to the audience that will be consuming it. Present the facts and insights that will be relevant to them.
Step 2: Get to the Specifics
When making a report, you must go straight to what you want people to know. Don’t go around in circles! Of course, this applies to social media reports as well.
Ensure that you always stay on track of what matters—the key performance indicators (KPIs), metrics, and other significant improvements on the performance of your social media strategy. However, don’t just pile on the stats, make sure that the data your incorporating are noteworthy.
Step 3: Collect Relevant Data
A social media report wouldn’t be complete without the appropriate data. Always make sure to include data that will back the claims and insights that you will be presenting in your report. After all, without these, your document or presentation will be akin to fiction instead of being based on actual, quantifiable, and verifiable results.
Step 4: Analysis
Data and stats, as it is, don’t speak much for themselves so you need to always attach an explanation to them. Of course, this has to reflect what they mean.
This way, you provide a picture of what works and what doesn’t in your social media strategy, which will help your reader or audience develop a better understanding of your report.
Step 5: Show Your Findings
After accomplishing steps 1 to 4, what you need to do now is present your findings! Do it as concise and clear as possible.
Also, you always need to think about the people that will be reading or witnessing your report. Tailor it in a way that they’ll be able to understand easily. After all, it’s for them that you’re making this report in the first place!
Go and Create!
Now that you know the essentials in creating a social media report, as well as our easy 5-step guide, you’re ready to create your own social media report!
Feel free to insert your creative flair into your report. Make it fun and visually stimulating while preserving its informative aspect.
Side Note: To make an effective social media strategy, you need to cover all aspects. Besides social media marketing campaigns and digital ads, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is something we recommend you dip your hands in.
It will not only help you stay at the top of Google’s Search Results but will also drive traffic to your website and your products. If you want help, you can reach out to SEO services in the Philippines, who are well-versed in the ins and outs of SEO for online brands and businesses!
