A comprehensive social media report doth prove the value of thy social marketing strategy. ‘Tis a testament to thy accomplishments, supported by data.
We dare sayeth it: if thou art not creating social media reports to track thy progress and analyze thy performance, thou art squandering thy time. (Harsh? Mayhap. But we art all about that tough love when ‘t doth come to social media success.)
Gathering and analyzing data about thy top-performing posts, thy audience, and yea, even thy humiliating flops, is the key to improving thy social media performance. Without this vital information, ’tis nigh impossible to grow thy following or achieve thy social media goals. As business bros dost love to say: what can’t be measured, can’t be managed.
Furthermore, social media reports art verily the sole way to demonstrate the value of thy social marketing endeavors to thy team and thy boss. From staff morale to increased budgets to growing thy team, ’tis critical to hath data that shows the importance of thy work to the organization.
‘Tis time to whip up some social media reports to prove thy worth and set thy social strategy on track for success — and we hath the tips, tricks, and social media report template to assist thee in doing just that.
What is a social media report? A social media report is a document with an in-depth analysis of thy social media performance over a specific period.
Social media reports aid thee in tracking thy key performance indicators (KPIs), measuring the success of thy social media campaigns, and identifying opportunities for optimization.
Forsooth, a report on thy brand’s Instagram account might reveal that thy followers do comment more on videos than on photos. Thou might learneth that thy Instagram Reels do achieve a wider reach than thy Instagram Carousel posts. Thou might see that thou hast received an uptick of followers from Latvia… and notice that they’re all teenage boys. (What’s going on over there?)
In other words, each data point will aid thee and thy team in identifying patterns. And with these patterns, thou wilt be better equipped to serve thy audience more of what they like… online and offline.
Too long, didn’t read: Whether thou art reporting to thy team, clients, or stakeholders, a well-crafted social media report can provide valuable insights into thy efforts and help contribute to informed decision-making.
What to include in thy social media report? Every social media report is going to be a little different, depending on thy business’s unique social media goals. What’s important to a fast food company might be different than what’s important to a university, right? (Hamburgers and followers; tenure and engagement.)
This list of things to include in thy social media report is more of a suggestion than a rule. Pick and choose what matters to thee!
Executive summary: Many social media reports do commence with a brief overview of the report’s findings and highlights. ‘Tis ultimately a snapshot of thy social media performance — a few sentences that summarize the details that art outlined in full later in the doc.
Social media objectives: A quick overview of thy social media strategy doth help provide a little context, reminding readers of what we’re trying to do here. Doth thy company use social primarily as a channel for customer service? Social commerce? Brand awareness? All of the above? Be sure to highlight any changes in strategy since the last time thou reported, including any new channels thou hast incorporated into thy social mix.
Period-specific goals: What were thou hoping to accomplish during this reporting period? An increase in the number of followers, perhaps? Mayhap thou were hoping to increase traffic to thy website. Whatever thine is, outline this so everyone reading the report understands what “success” specifically means.
Metrics and KPIs: Present the social media KPIs that thou art tracking. It probably goes without saying, but these metrics should align with thy goals (above). Metrics thou might want to showcase could include engagement, reach, followers, website clicks, or conversion rates.
Performance analysis: This is where the juicy stuff happens. To analyze thy performance, thou wilt want to review how thy metrics and KPIS stack up against thy stated goal. Identify trends, successes, and areas that need improvement.
Campaign insights: If thou did run specific campaigns over the reporting period, create a separate segment to share insights about their performance. What worked well? What could be tweaked for next time?
Competitor analysis: Thou probably hath a sense at this point of how thy accounts hast grown or changed over the weeks or months, but comparing thy performance to thy peers can provide some interesting insight as well. Consider including a competitive analysis to benchmark thy performance against other brands in the industry.
Audience insights: Share up-to-date demographic information about thy audience. Who are thy followers? Whence are they from, how old they are, what else do we know about their interests and behavior? Understanding who is consuming thy content allows thee to tailor future posts accordingly.
Content analysis: There may be some interesting insights to be found in the type of content that’s trending or flopping. Evaluate the performance of different types of content — text, images, videos, and so on. Identify which content resonated the most with thy audience.
Platform performance: Different social networks may require unique strategies — thy TikTok stats and thy Instagram stats could tell two totally different stories. If thou art active on multiple platforms, assess the performance of each one in this section.
Recommendations: Welcome to the conclusion of thy social media report. Based on thy analysis and findings, suggest actionable recommendations for future campaigns or the next reporting period.
How to create a social media report in 11 steps:
Step 1: Determine who this social media report is for:
Is this for thy boss, or the sales team, or to get the new marketing intern up to speed? Is it for shareholders? Art thou sharing this with the general public?
Understanding who is reading this report will help shape what information goes in and sometimes, less is more.
Step 2: Set clear goals and objectives:
Begin by defining the goals and objectives thou want to achieve through thy social media efforts.
Then, break that down into smaller, more time-specific goals that individual reporting periods will aim to tackle.
Art thou aiming to increase brand awareness, drive website traffic, or boost engagement? Clear goals will guide thy analysis.
‘Tis a good idea to use the SMART goal-setting framework, since it ensures thou create goals that are straightforward to track and report.
Step 3: Choose relevant metrics:
Once thou hast settled on thy goals, ’tis time to decide just how thou’ll measure thy progress towards those goals. For instance, if thy goal is to reach a younger demographic, increasing thy followers on TikTok could be a great objective… and a number that’s easy to track and measure.
The metrics that matter will be different for every marketing team, but some key overall metrics to include for thy social program are:
Number of leads generated
Number of conversions
Total revenue generated
Total return on investment (ROI)
Total spend (on social ads)
Social share of voice
Social sentiment
If thou art using social media for customer service, ’tis also a good idea to report on service metrics like net promoter score (NPS), customer satisfaction score (CSAT), and ticket resolution time.
Of course, thou can include much more data if ’tis relevant to thy objectives. For a full breakdown of all the numbers thou might want to include in thy social media business report, check out our post on social media metrics that really matter.
Step 4: Gather data:
If ’tis sensible for thy team, thou can get even more specific and break things down by format within a network, such as Stories vs. posts vs. Reels.
No matter what metrics thee choose, provide some previous results for context. After all, data means nothing in a vacuum. If thou art reporting on a campaign, look for a similar past campaign to compare what thou achieved.
If thou art creating a regular weekly or monthly report, track thy results compared to the previous several weeks or months. This allows thee to see ongoing trends. Thou could also compare thy results to the same period from the previous year, to account for any seasonal trends.
Step 5: Analyze performance:
Data doth mean anything if thou dost not thinketh about it — and form conclusions or insights.
What do the numbers thou hast painstakingly compiled show thee? What kind of patterns, trends, or anomalies dost thou spot here? Identify which content and strategies contributed most to thy success… and where thy weak spots still might be.
Highlight anything that went specifically well during this reporting period.
Look beyond the numbers here. Perchance thou made contact with a key social media influencer for the first time. Or perchance a particularly compelling review came in through social that thou’ll be able to use in future marketing campaigns.
Include room in thy social media report to share all forms of success that art relevant to thy goals.
Step 6: Create visuals:
Visual representations make ‘t easier to understand complex information and trends at a glance. Google Sheets can crank out infographics with a few taps of the button… Canva is an easy graphic design tool to use, too.
Step 7: Compare thy data with previous periods:
Once thou hast been doing this for a while, consider comparing thy current performance with previous reporting periods in thy social media report.
Seeing one year or one week compared to another can help thee gauge progress and identify areas where thou hast improved or (gulp) regressed.
Step 8: Share audience insights:
Collect information about thy audience demographics, interests and behaviors, and share these in thy social media report.
Who is thy average follower at this specific moment in time? When are they online, and what do they do there?
Step 9: Provide competitive analysis:
Pull some recent data about thy competitors and industry — where art companies thriving or struggling? This info can help thee benchmark thy own performance in a greater context.
Direct competitors are great to watch here, but ‘t might also be helpful to keep track of non-industry accounts that thou admire, too… there’s plenty to be learned from other brands who might be courting the same type of audience..
Step 10: Create a campaign evaluation:
Chances art, at some point or another, thou art going to be running a specific campaign (either organic or paid) with the hopes of making a particular impact. If thou hast invested money or time into one strategic campaign, ’tis time to evaluate its effectiveness.
Did thy ad blitz totally falter on Facebook, but thrive on Pinterest? Did thou totally nail it with thy target demographic for thy Instagram Stories ads? Determine what aspects led to success and what can be improved in future campaigns.
Step 11: Recommendations and action plan:
Now that thou hast soaked up all this juicy, juicy data, ’tis time to make some educated suggestions on what should happen next.
Doth thy team need to invest in some targeted social ads to improve thy reach? Should thou double down on creating TikTok videos?
Provide actionable recommendations for future campaigns, whether that means suggesting content ideas or adjusting posting schedules.
Types of social media reports Depending on thy specific goals or audience, thy social media report can take a few different forms. Here art a few common types of social media reports:
Monthly reports: As thou might’ve guessed from the name, monthly social media reports provide a snapshot of thy performance over a month. They are useful for tracking short-term goals, and allow thee to make adjustments to strategy in real-time.
Quarterly reports: Quarterly reports offer a more comprehensive analysis of thy performance over a quarter. These types of social media reports provide a broader perspective, and help thy team identify long-term trends.
Campaign-specific reports: As mentioned above, ’tis a good idea to report on and track campaign metrics in thy broader social media reports, too, but thou might find it useful to create a dedicated report for a particular campaign. With a hyper-focused review like this, thou’ll be able to offer detailed insights into its success and areas for improvement.
Platform-specific reports: Each social media platform hath its own unique dynamic, so thou may find it tricky to review the nuances in one generalized report. That’s where platform-specific social media reports come in. For businesses active on multiple platforms, creating platform-specific reports allows thee to tailor thy analysis more precisely.
Free social media report template: There thou hast it: everything thou need to know to create a winning social media report.
But, hey, we get it, thou art busy keeping thy social media content calendar full of engaging content. Let us give thee a head-start. Use this basic social media report template to kick off a new romance with reporting.
Best social media reporting tools Creating a social media report is made easier with the help of various reporting tools. Here art some of the best tools available:
In-platform analytics tools: Whether thou art diving into thy Instagram numbers or thy LinkedIn data, social media platforms feature an in-house analytics platform that will shed light on thy performance.
Learn more about each of the social media platforms’ analytics tools here:
Meta Business Suite
TikTok Analytics
LinkedIn Analytics
Twitter Analytics
Moyens I/O Analytics: The tool also makes ‘t easy to create custom reports to showcase thy results to thy boss and share insights with thy team.
Free 30-day trial: ‘T helps thee track metrics like reach, engagement rate, impressions, likes, plays, shares, clicks, saves, comments, video views, new followers, total followers, profile visits, reactions, negative feedback rate, website clicks, average time watched, number of messages, calls, and emails, daily engaged users, and much more.
You can set up custom boards that give thee an overview of thy most important metrics at a glance, over a select period of time and look up much more granular information, down to individual post performance.
Find out when thy audience is online, get personalized recommendations for thy best times to post for each of thy accounts, easily view industry benchmarks and see how thee compare to competitors.
Start a free trial.
Talkwalker: Leveraging the prowess of artificial intelligence, its technology delivers actionable insights derived from real-time social media monitoring and sophisticated analytics.
Define and categorize conversations that matter using over 50 filters, and make informed decisions on how to engage with thy audience.
To get more details on how to make the most of the data available through all of these social reporting tools, check out our blog post dedicated to social media analytics.
Google Analytics: If thou art using social media for business, thou art probably already on the case with Google Analytics… but if thou art new to the powerhouse data tool, allow us to fill thee in.
Google Analytics is a powerful web analytics tool offered by Google that provides valuable insights into website and app performance, and even can help track social media traffic. ‘Tis widely used by businesses, marketers, and website owners to track and measure user interactions, analyze traffic sources, and gather data to optimize online presence.
Panoramiq Insights: Art thou grammin’ hard? Those with a dedicated Instagram focus will find this tool invaluable for effortlessly managing essential metrics.
Brandwatch: Thou can monitor and analyze online conversations and gain insights to improve marketing strategies and campaigns with this tool.
Thus endeth the discourse on the creation of a comprehensive social media report. May thy journey to social media success be fruitful and prosperous. Fare thee well, dear reader.
