Social Media Reporting: Showing Your Boss More Than Just Results

Marketer gathers laptop, reports, calculator and coffee to create social media report for boss

Did you know that 73% of executives don’t believe that marketers are focused enough on results?

Uh oh!

Showing Your Boss More Than Just Results

At Move Digital, we manage all sorts of social media campaigns with different goals and objectives. Regardless of the client’s campaign, there are four things that guide our reporting:

  1. Goals
  2. Audience
  3. Results
  4. Recommendations & Action Items

GOALS

Social media can drive brand awareness, assist with customer service or R&D, build leads, and more.

Before your campaign begins, make sure all of your stakeholders agree on common goals. Then, stay focused on the metrics that matter most to your campaign.

AUDIENCE

When crafting your slides or document, consider who the report is meant for.

  • Yourself
  • Your Direct Boss
  • The Marketing Team
  • VP’s
  • Board of Directors

Focus on what is important to your audience instead of having them skim through the pages to find what’s relevant to their position.

Note: The higher up you go in the organization, the more concise your report needs to be.

RESULTS

Remember the goals you established with your team and key stakeholders? Now is the time to report on the numbers and facts that support your agreed-upon goals.

Make sure that you use numbers that your entire audience will understand. Don’t just talk about Facebook engagement and other “soft” (vanity) metrics that they don’t understand.

Instead, use numbers that:

  • led to new customers
  • lowered customer acquisition costs, or
  • increased customer lifetime values

Discuss what worked well and not so well. If there is a need to include information on how you got your results, put it in your report’s appendix. Remember, keep your report as concise as possible.

It is also very important not to hide your mistakes. Everyone makes them. Instead, show your boss(es) that you can learn from and improve on data.

RECOMMENDATIONS & ACTION ITEMS

Finally, explain how you plan to repeat any successes and make recommendations for moving forward. Note any action items for the upcoming reporting period.

While social media reports are valuable to your boss, they are even more valuable for you and your team’s growth. The report you create is a great opportunity to learn what is and isn’t working.