How to Create a Social Media Report - Template Inside!

Crafting engaging memes and clickable content is 'the fun part' for most social media managers. Creating a social media report, however, is about as painful as listening to a 10-hour loop of nails scratching a chalkboard.

Or it would be if you didn't have a team here at Madgicx ready to help you out. :)

In today's post, we're taking a deep dive into the world of social media reports—including a breakdown of how to make a report that doesn't put your coworkers to sleep and a handy template you can customize and use right now.

What is a social media report?

A social media report is a complete overview of your social media efforts across all channels. It includes performance metrics, objectives and goals, and a summary of your findings. These reports are typically sent to various stakeholders within the organization monthly, quarterly, and annually.

What is in a social media report?

Creating a social media report can seem like a daunting task, but it's easier than you may think! Let's take a moment to cover what's typically in a report, and then we'll explore setting one up step-by-step.

Executive summary

The executive summary is the TL;DR of your social media reports. This is for senior management (and other stakeholders) who may not have the time to dive into the full report but need to understand its performance and impacts.

Your executive summary should be a concise overview that summarizes the most important findings and insights from your report.

Objectives and goals

While a 5% engagement rate might not look impressive on its own, if it's displayed next to your goal of 2%, that might make some stop and take notice. As with most things, context is key.

All of your social media reports should include your objectives and specific goals (KPIs and key metrics) so you can clearly communicate what you're looking to achieve and how close you are to doing so.

Metrics and KPIs

Your social media metrics are the "meat and potatoes" of your report and will be the most important part. These measurements provide tangible evidence of how well your social media strategies align with and contribute to your business objectives.

Performance analysis

Numbers on a page are just that—without context, they might as well be shouted into the void. Your performance analysis section is the place for you to provide additional insights as to what these numbers mean for your bottom line and how they may impact your strategy or other teams in your organization.

Recommendations for the next steps

No social media report would be complete without a section on the next steps. This is where you would provide recommendations on what to do next based on the report you just presented to your team.

How do I report social media stats?

Since we know what should be in a social media report, let's dive a bit deeper into each of the topics at hand.

1. Determine your stakeholders

First off, you need to determine who should receive this report. While you may think only marketers would be interested in this data, the reality is that several other departments can get key insights from social:

• Customer success/product teams: Customer sentiment, complaints, and success/failure stories can help them monitor how your customers feel about your product.
• Growth/revenue teams: While they're less interested in engagement and likes, knowing the amount of traffic and revenue generated from social media is vital information any revenue team wants to know.
• Executive teams: If you've ever had a boss who didn't 'get' marketing, you're not alone. By showing them your social metrics and tying the results to business objectives (like revenue growth), you can help ensure that marketing always gets a seat at the table.

2. Choose reporting frequency

This question is a bit harder to answer and depends on the recipients, the content, and your social strategy.

For the social media team, it's more likely that they'll want to keep tabs on the results more frequently and would prefer a weekly report so they can make tweaks to their strategy.

Customer success, product, and executive teams are a bit more hands-off on the day-to-day issues, and a monthly report is usually more than enough for them.

Instead of sending a weekly mass update, tailor your reports to the recipients' preferences and interests.

3. Choose your metrics

Like with the frequency, we also want to tailor our reports to include the social media data that would be important to our recipients. This can be anything from actual post performance to actions that happen on your website after a click.

While the exact metrics will differ from team to team, here's a list of some of the top social media analytics you might think about adding to your report:

• Likes/reactions: Number of likes or reactions your posts receive
• Comments: Number of comments and the nature of interactions
• Shares/retweets: How often your content is shared
• Clicks: Number of clicks on your links, posts, or ads
• Engagement rate: Percentage of people who interacted with your content compared to the total reach
• Reach: Number of unique users who saw your content
• Impressions: Total number of times your content was displayed, regardless of whether it was clicked
• Follower count: Growth in the number of followers or connections over time
• Audience demographics: A breakdown of your audience by age, gender, location, industry, etc.
• Referral traffic: Amount of traffic driven to your website from social media platforms
• Conversion rate: Percentage of social media visitors who take a desired action (e.g., signing up for a newsletter, making a purchase, or requesting a demo)
• Leads: Number of leads generated from social media efforts
• Sentiment analysis: Analysis of the sentiment (positive, negative, or neutral) in user comments and mentions
• Customer service metrics: Number of customer inquiries, response rate, and resolution time through social media channels
• Social media ad analytics: Data from your social media campaigns, like Facebook ads, TikTok ads, or other social platforms
• Share of voice: Your brand’s visibility and mention frequency compared to competitors
• Social media ROI: Overall return on investment from social media activities
• Customer acquisition cost (CAC): Cost associated with acquiring a customer through social media channels

You can include dozens of other metrics in these reports, but we recommend finding a balance between too little data and information overload. Remember, these metrics should also align closely with the social media goals we set at the beginning of this article.

4. Gather data and analyze performance

Next up, we need to gather our data and analyze our performance.

There are dozens of top-tier social media management tools that can help you combine the metrics above from every social platform into one handy dashboard. In reality, there is no 'perfect' tool—the software you pick should be based on your reporting needs and budget.

If you don't have the budget for a tool yet, you can grab the data directly from the native platform (like the Meta Business Suite) and insert them into our handy template below!

After you have all your social media analytics at your fingertips, you need to make sense of it all. While some tools have features that will help you determine things like the best time to post, there's no substitute for human brain power here.

For example, let's say you're looking at your monthly report and notice that a post announcing your newest jewelry line underperformed. Could it be that it was posted on a Friday at 4:30 PM? Was the offer not exciting for your audience? Was the static image format not engaging?

Any (and all) of these answers could be true, but ultimately, it's up to you to make the call about your results.

Editor's note: Some social media teams are also responsible for reporting on social advertising metrics, such as those from Facebook Ads Manager or Google Ad Manager. You can include (or exclude) these depending on your team's needs.

5. Visualize the results

Some people have the gift of imagination, where numbers can seemingly come alive in front of them. Others might be more inclined to doze off when staring at rows and rows of percentages.

In any case, using visuals like charts and graphs in your reports makes it easier for others to understand your social media reports. For example:

• Line graphs make it easier to see how trends evolve over time (like follower count or leads generated)
• Pie charts show proportions and percentages and are perfect for showcasing demographic breakdowns, device usage, etc.
• Infographics can combine data and graphics to tell a story or explain processes

Regardless of which options you choose, it's important to use clear data labels, limit the number of data points, and focus on key insights. The goal is to make the data as accessible and easy to understand as possible.

6. Compare with previous periods to see trends

You can't see how far you've come without looking behind you—and that's precisely what comparison views help us with.

Comparing your current performance to previous periods allows you to set benchmarks and track progress over time. It lets you know whether your social media strategies are improving, stagnating, or declining.

Additionally, historical data provides a solid foundation for setting future goals. By understanding past performance, you can set more realistic (and attainable goals) for the future. This helps manage expectations with the executive teams and supports more accurate forecasting and planning.

7. Provide competitive analysis for context

It's okay to take a peek at what your competitors are doing. In fact, it's a necessity in 2024. Enter in competitive analysis.

A competitive analysis looks at your social performance against that of your competitors. On most social networks, you can access data like the number of posts within a given timeframe, followers, engagement, brand sentiment, and even share of voice.

By looking at your performance alongside the competition, you can set more accurate benchmarks and see where you stand in the overall landscape. You can then use this data to create an action plan to improve your results by finding gaps in your competitors' plans.

One special thing to note here is to choose your competitors carefully. If you're a small indie clothing company, comparing yourself against mass retailers like Amazon won't be helpful. Instead, use a competitive intelligence tool to find companies at a similar stage of growth for the most accurate insights.

9. Add your recommendations and make an action plan

You've done all the hard work creating content and presenting the results. And, like most marketing activities, there's still more to do.

This is why the final section of your social media report should always be a 'recommendations and next steps' section. This piece acts as a final summary of our findings and lays out our plan for fixing any issues or moving forward with our marketing goals.

Make sure to:

Be specific. Your recommendations should have a clear path and avoid vague language. Instead of “increase engagement,” a more actionable recommendation would be, “Increase the number of interactive post formats to twice per week to boost engagement, focusing on user polls and Q&A sessions.” Adding a timeline to this portion is also helpful for planning and resource allocation.

Prioritize your recommendations by impact. If the first recommendation on your list won't help your bottom line, it's best to leave it at the end (or off entirely). This helps the team focus on what actions can be taken immediately and what should be planned for the longer term. Most teams with small budgets prefer quick wins over strategies that might require more time and resources to implement.

Back up your action plan with data. If you're asking for more resources, your executive team might ask you to show proof that your recommendations can achieve the goals you're setting. Whenever possible, include the expected outcomes of your recommendations using your own historical data or industry benchmarks.

Ask for what you need to succeed. Recommendations often require resources, be it time, money, or staff. If you need additional resources, include these in your report and let teams know when there are blockers that will prevent you from moving forward.

Types of social media reports

Since we're now seasoned social media reporting experts, we can look at some common reports we might see in an organization.

Monthly reports

Monthly reports are the most common (and frequently sent) social media reports. These act as regular snapshots of social media performance, capturing data month over month. They are more used to track short-term performance, monitor ongoing campaigns, and quickly adjust strategies based on recent data.

These reports often focus on key metrics like engagement rates, follower growth, and content performance and provide a more detailed view of social media activities than quarterly and annual reports.

Quarterly reports

These reports compile social media performance data over a three-month period (aka every quarter). Since the timeline is longer than your monthly report, quarterly reports are useful for examining trends, making strategic pivots, and aligning social media efforts with broader marketing goals.

Compared to monthly reports, quarterly reports often include more strategic analysis, such as competitor performance and changes in the market and current trends. They balance detail with broader strategic insights, making them less about immediate tactics and more about alignment.

Annual reports

Annual reports provide an overview of social media performance over an entire year, making them a crucial part of the strategic planning process. They aid us in setting yearly goals and evaluating the success of long-term strategies. More specifically, these reports help us understand the overarching impact of our social media efforts on brand growth and ROI.

These typically feature year-over-year comparisons, a detailed analysis of what worked or didn’t, and strategic recommendations for the future. They generally focus less on day-to-day performance and more on high-level outcomes.

Campaign-specific reports

While the rest of these reports are done at regular intervals, you might find yourself in a situation where you want to focus on the performance of a specific marketing campaign. That's where campaign-specific reports come in handy.

Unlike periodic reports, campaign-specific reports are not tied to a schedule but are triggered by the start and end of campaigns. Campaign-specific reports analyze the effectiveness of a particular marketing campaign and focus on success metrics like campaign reach, engagement, conversion rates, and ROI.

Here, we're looking to break down how this initiative performed, if it was successful, and what next steps we'd like to take (further testing or discarding it altogether).

Free social media report template

And finally, the moment you've been waiting for...

your free social media report template!

You can download this report, change metrics, and voila! You're ready to present all your findings to your stakeholders with ease.

Conclusion

Today, we've explored the key components that should be included in a comprehensive social media report and even included a social media report template so you can get started today.

Whether you're reporting to stakeholders, adjusting your strategy, or planning new campaigns, the principles and practices outlined here will help ensure that your social media reporting is comprehensive, insightful, and, more importantly, one that will help get the attention you need to keep marketing at the forefront of your organization.