5 Expert Tips for Effectively Presenting Social Media Data

I hope you’ve established the social media metrics that are most important to your business (and if not, we can help you do that).

Now you are thinking about how to present the results to someone else – your manager, a manager at the company or a client. To sell the value of social media, you need to know how to present data clearly in order to make a convincing case.

We spoke with Dan Piecuch, head of business insights and analytics for Moyens I/O’s top tips for presenting social media data.

5 tips for visualizing social media data

Know your graphics

Let’s take you back to STATs 101. Not all charts are created equal – each is designed to display data in a certain way, and some are better than others.
Here’s what you need to know about charts and what they’re used for.

• Scatterplot— To show the correlation.

• Pie chart– To show proportion. Piecuch recommends no more than five strips. If you need more, you’d better use something other than a pie chart.
• line chart—To show trends and patterns. This is sometimes known as a time series chart.

• Chart bar—To show comparisons.
• Table—To show exact values.

Let’s apply this to social media data. A pie chart can display how an ad campaign budget is spent. Because budgets add up to 100 percent—a precise value—a pie chart will clearly show what percent of the money is spent where.

Keep color in mind

One of Piecuch’s key words when he hosted Moyens I/O’s workshop on data visualization was “Let it be black and white”. Piecuch actually starts all of his graphics in black and white, then adds color if needed.

While tempting, using too many colors to make a data graph more appealing is not recommended. Too many colors in a chart can be distracting and unnecessary for your audience to understand the information presented to them.

Here are some clever ways to incorporate colors into data visualization.

• avoid red—Red has a negative connotation. For example, even if you’re emphasizing something good, like an increase in Instagram engagement, when our minds see red, we initially think something went wrong.
• Use color gradients to view a time series—Taking a shade from lightest to darkest can indicate from the past to the present. As the color fades, it can show how data from previous years may become less relevant.
• Emphasize—A strong hue can highlight a specific value you want your audience to pay attention to, such as an increase or decrease in clicks.
• Give each color a value—This is useful when you want to use color to represent a range. For example, blue for anything above 90 percent and orange for anything below 10 percent.
• Use color to group related data together—For example, you can use blue for Twitter, yellow for Facebook, and pink for Instagram.
• Use company colors—This will ensure you don’t go overboard with too many colors.

know your audience

Just like when it comes to delivering social media content, getting to know your audience is essential if you want to interact with them effectively. Tailor your presentation to your presenters, whether stakeholders, colleagues or managers.

According to Piecuch, senior managers often prefer a high-level overview of key performance indicators (KPIs). That’s why managers are busy. Do not overload them with information.

This report will differ from one created for a director who is likely to be interested in both top KPIs and the specific figures driving them.

In this case, you want a visual that compares very precise values. Piecuch suggests tables for this type of data, especially when you need to show decimal points. They may not be as aesthetically pleasing as an infographic, but what they do offer is precise data on metrics like leads, conversions, and more.

Make it easy to understand

Looking at data isn’t like using an app or navigating a website, but user experience is just as important. Piecuch insists on taking an audience-focused approach when it comes to data presentations to deliver data insights effectively.

There are a few things to keep in mind when considering user experience.

• The mind works from left to right—This is specific to charts that are meant to compare values. Make sure the values ​​are presented in ascending or descending order; you don’t want the user to go back and forth between values ​​just to compare.
• Do the work for your audience—This means taking the time to sort the data sequentially, grouping values ​​together when it makes sense, and highlighting important points.
• Don’t overly focus on aesthetics—Resist the urge to use too much color. Avoid using pie charts when writing numbers only.
• keep it simple—Avoid clip art, images, and logos that will complicate your presentation. Let the data speak for itself.
  use the right tools

We asked Piecuch and Moyens I/O production designer Brenda Wisniowski what types of tools are best for presenting data. Here are some of their favourites:

• table—Tableau makes it easy to take an enormous amount of information and turn it into a dynamic visual. They catered to all types of industries and businesses of different sizes. It also has a free version online.
• Adobe Illustrator—This is great for the designer on your team because they probably already use Illustrator in their role. With that in mind, it should be easy to get the most out of Illustrator’s graphics creation. The program offers nine customizable charts to suit your needs.
• Moyens I/O Analytics—You saw this coming. When reporting for business, the Moyens I/O dashboard takes your social media metrics and turns them into shareable visuals.
• Dashboards are good for live data— things like campaign management or social media listening. Reports are customizable documents, making them great for KPIs, campaign effectiveness or competitive intelligence.

Here’s a Moyens I/O Analytics report that visualizes our data team’s predictions for the 2017 Oscars.

And if all else fails, we’ll leave you with this handy quote from Moyens I/O’s data expert: “Go with the tools you’re comfortable with,” says Piecuch. “But if this is Excel, stay away from the defaults.”

Before you go ahead and visualize your data – you’ll need to collect it first. Try Moyens I/O Analytics to see real-time results on growth and performance on social media. Take everything you’ve learned about presenting data, pool your insights, and you’re on your way to selling the value of social media.

Learn more