At #SMDayADL I presented on the topic of social media reporting, sharing tips on establishing suitable goals, aligning them to relevant metrics, and employing reporting best practices.

1. Social Media Reporting
Erica Stacey // Scout Digital Training // @ScoutSocial

3. We need to consider where we put all this content and data we’re creating…
Microsoft is exploring this; experimenting with underwater data centres:
https://www.citylab.com/life/2016/02/microsoft-cloud-ocean-project-natick/459318/

4. The role of data is changing. It’s value is increasing, along with the ability to
interpret data and make informed decisions. It’s a skill that is growing in demand.

5. The internet isn’t as simple as diagrams
like this would have you believe though…

6. It’s more like this…

7. Don’t just look at data. Chase the metrics that are most valuable to you…

8. Why report?
Regularly review historical and real-time
data
Better understand how people are really
interacting with us online
Make informed, strategic, results-focused
decisions

9. Why report?
Justify our roles
Improve our ability to do our job

10. Effective reporting relies on
Knowing what to track (having a strategy)
Using appropriate tools
Having a regular process
Making people want to read our reports…
Implementing relevant results-based actions

11. Don’t put the cart before the horse.
It’s easy to focus on "sexy" metrics, however
business goals should drive online goals,
which then relate to relevant metrics.
Dig deep to find the real, underlying goals;
what is really important to the organisation
and its key stakeholders.

12. Business
Goals

13. Business
Goals
Online
Goals

14. Business
Goals
Online
Goals
Relevant
Metrics

15. Business
Goals
Online
Goals
Relevant
Metrics
Relevant
Tools

16. Context is key though. In the HBO TV series Silicon Valley, Pied Piper’s funders
didn’t care when they hit half a million app installs…

17. The metric they care about is Daily Active Users. People who regularly use the
app, not just download it once.

18. However DAU’s is a metric that can be gamed by click farms, so other metrics like
time in app are also incredibly important.

19. Common Business Goals
Increase brand awareness
Increase brand loyalty
Increase enquiries (especially "cold" leads)
Increase sales

20. Look for those unique goals, relevant to your organisation…

21. Examples of Online Goals
Sales/Bookings
Leads
Trial signups
Account creations
Newsletter subscriptions
Downloads e.g. PDFs
Online enquiries
Clicks on telephone number
Clicks to social accounts
Engagement goals
Watching videos
Triggering live chat

22. “The end goal is action,
not eyeballs.”
–Jay Baer

23. Return on Investment was simpler to measure when we had a simple Ad/Marketing budget
in, single point of sales out process. Today’s approach is much more complex.

24. Consumption Metrics Sharing Metrics
Lead-Gen Metrics Sales Metrics
How many people viewed,
downloaded, or listened to this
piece of content?
How resonant is this content,
and how often is it shared with
others?
How often does content
consumption result in a lead?
Did we actually make any
money from this content?
By Jay Baer

26. Value Metric
Data points that can be used to take action

27. Value Metric
Data points that can be used to take action
e.g. analysing retweet data can help identify
content topics and formats that drive social
sharing and brand reach
However if RTers have small followers or are spam/bot profiles, it’s no longer valuable. Context is everything!

28. Vanity Metric
Data points that indicate engagement but have
limited wider impact

29. Vanity Metric
Data points that indicate engagement but have
limited wider impact
e.g. likes on Twitter may indicate popularity but
increasing likes doesn’t increase content reach like
retweets do

30. It all comes down to one thing:

31. It all comes down to one thing:
Does the metric help you make decisions?
When you see the metric, do you know what
you need to do? If not, you’re probably looking
at a vanity metric.

32. You can still use "vanity" metrics such as likes/followers to gain a useful overview
of the spread of your online community though. It’s how you use the data.

33. Aligning Goals with Metrics
Brand awareness
Brand loyalty
Engagement
Conversions

34. Aligning Goals with Metrics
Brand awareness
Brand loyalty
Engagement
Conversions
Impressions/Reach

35. Aligning Goals with Metrics
Brand awareness
Brand loyalty
Engagement
Conversions
Impressions/Reach
Likes/Follows

36. Aligning Goals with Metrics
Brand awareness
Brand loyalty
Engagement
Conversions
Impressions/Reach
Likes/Follows
Clicks/Likes/Comments/
Retweets/Shares/Views

37. Aligning Goals with Metrics
Brand awareness
Brand loyalty
Engagement
Conversions
Impressions/Reach
Likes/Follows
Clicks/Likes/Comments/
Retweets/Shares/Views
Enquiries/Sign Ups/Sales

38. If you want to know which topics
resonate best with your audience

39. If you want to know which topics
resonate best with your audience
Examine clicks, retweets/shares and other engagement
signals, such as likes and comments

40. If a goal is to increase customer
website retention using social media

41. If a goal is to increase customer
website retention using social media
Monitor Returning Sessions from Social Media sources
in Google Analytics

42. If you have a specific
target demographic

43. If you have a specific
target demographic
Monitor the growth and engagement of these users
specifically as well as your whole social community

44. Sprout Social
By examining the demographics data for one organisation, we saw a definite split
in gender preference for particular channels. Facebook = Female…

45. Sprout Social
Twitter = Male
We used this to influence the content and tone of our updates on these channels.

46. Minimum metrics to track
Community size (Likes/Followers)
Quantity/types of updates published
Reach/Impressions
Engagement (Clicks, Likes, Comments, Retweets, Shares, @mentions etc)
Conversions
Top Posts
Top New Followers/Likes
Top Engagement

47. Also consider tracking
Averages and trends, e.g. Likes/Comments
per post, new Followers/Likes per day
Engagement Rate % = Total Engagement
Traffic to website from social media
Total Reach

48. Choosing the right tools
(unfortunately there’s no magic answer)

49. The right tools depend on:
Business goals
Online goals
Key metrics
Budget
Personal preference

51. Using the right tools
Native analytics and insights
Learn what insights each tool offers
Link tracking tools, e.g. bit.ly or UTM campaign URLs
Google Analytics, Clicky etc
Social media management tools, e.g. HootSuite, Sprout Social
Real-time tracking/dashboards, e.g. Cyfe, Klipfolio, Dasheroo
Custom tracking tools, e.g. hashtracking

52. Twitter Analytics

53. Sprout Social

54. Google Analytics

55. Google Analytics
While the proportion of visits from social might be small, they can often be highly
engaged. So a report recommendation would be to try and attract more.

56. Google Analytics

57. Cyfe (dashboarding tool)

58. Anyone can show the
numbers…

59. Anyone can show the
numbers…
The value comes from interpreting what they mean,
and what relevant actions should then follow.
And again, there’s no magic to improving analysis skills.
It takes time, attention and practice.

61. Analysis questions
Has there been a significant increase or decrease in followers?
Has there been an increase or decrease in engagement with content?
Have we attracted any new "epic" influencers (people with large, engaged
follower bases and major influence on other people)?
Has there been an increase in activity for relevant #hashtags?
Have any of our key competitors had a noticeable shift in key metrics like
followers?
Has there been a shift in brand sentiment e.g. positive to more negative?

62. Reporting Best Practice
The best approach is to
focus on your own
performance and growth…

63. Report recommendations
Identify important goal-based metrics
Report regularly, e.g. monthly, or quarterly
Extract relevant data into a separate file e.g. XLS
Identify significant changes / spikes / decreases
Delve deeper where required

64. Report recommendations
Highlight key changes, with explanations why
Admit and own any decreases / negative results
Don’t include data you can’t explain
Use data visualisation to complement the numbers
Screenshot top posts and important new followers/
engagement examples

65. Report recommendations
Include a short, useful executive summary (get to the point)
Tie back to business goals
Use results and change trends to influence strategy
Continue regular management and reporting

66. Erica Stacey // Scout Digital Training // @ScoutSocial