How to Develop a Social Media Reporting System

Are you responsible for reporting your social media results?

Do you need to develop a reporting system?

Knowing who you report to and what metrics they need will help you streamline the process and ensure you’re delivering reports on time.


#1: Identify Stakeholders and Goals

The first step is to do a quick audit of your current reporting process and find out which stakeholders receive your reports. If you know whom you’re reporting to and why, you can ensure your reports will be useful to everyone involved.


#2: Decide What Metrics to Track

When deciding what to include in your reports, find metrics you can use in multiple situations and have some business benefit for your stakeholders. Just because you can report on something doesn’t mean you should. And the more metrics you include in your reports now, the more metrics you’ll have to keep supporting in the future.

#3: Choose the Right Tools

There are many social media measurement and analytics tools you can choose from. However, only a few tools will help you get the precise information you need.

Keep in mind that no tool is going to be exactly what you’re looking for. There are so many ways to analyze social media that every tool has a different perspective. Plus, social data is far from perfect and the kind of information that you can pull from a particular social media channel will vary depending on the channel.


#4: Select an Optimal Reporting Timeframe

Finding the right cadence for reporting can be tough. It makes sense to generate some reports monthly, and others more or less often. And you’ll definitely be asked for end-of-year reports every December or January. So how can you meet all of these needs without spending 40 hours a week creating reports?


#5: Consider Special Requests

You may get requests from stakeholders for data that doesn’t make a lot of sense. You don’t always have to honor these requests, at least not exactly how they’re asked.

Think carefully about what the stakeholders are asking for and look for something you already measure that can answer the question. You likely already do something similar, but maybe not in the way you’re being asked. See if you have existing alternatives before committing to something new.



Conclusion

If you work in social media marketing, you probably spend considerable time reporting on your results. With a social media reporting system, you can streamline this process. To do that, assess your current situation, make smart choices about tools and metrics and be selective about how you report from now on. You’ll thank yourself in a few months!