Most social reports are a wall of numbers that nobody acts on. A useful report answers three questions: did more of the right people see us, did they care, and did any of it turn into business.
The three questions a report should answer
1. Did we reach the right people? Reach and follower growth, but segmented — growth in your actual market matters, growth from a viral post in an irrelevant country does not.
2. Did they care? Saves, shares and profile visits. These are the strongest engagement signals because they cost the viewer something: intent to return, or willingness to put their name to it.
3. Did it produce business? Link clicks, direct message enquiries, and — where you can track it — assisted conversions.
Metrics that mislead
- Impressions — counts the same person repeatedly; always goes up, rarely means anything
- Follower count alone — a vanity total that says nothing about who or how engaged
- Likes — the cheapest possible signal, and increasingly hidden
- Engagement rate without context — small accounts always look better; comparing across sizes is meaningless
None of these are worthless, but none should lead a report.
Saves and shares are the honest ones
A save means someone intends to come back to it. A share means someone was willing to attach their reputation to it. Both are far harder to earn than a like and far more predictive of commercial outcomes.
If one format consistently earns saves, make more of it — that is your audience telling you what is useful.
What a monthly report should look like
- Three sentences: what moved, what did not, what changes next month
- The three questions above, with numbers and a comparison to last month
- Top three pieces of content, and a sentence on why each worked
- Bottom piece, and what you will do differently
- The one change being made next cycle
A report with no decision in it is a receipt, not a report. If nothing changes as a result of reading it, the reporting is theatre.
Attribution, honestly
Social rarely gets clean credit. Someone sees three reels over a month, searches your name, and arrives via Google — which claims the conversion. Use UTM tags where you can, ask "how did you hear about us" on your enquiry form, and accept that social is usually an assist rather than a last click.
The practical test: turn it off for a quarter and see what happens to enquiries. Most brands do not like the answer.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good engagement rate?
It depends on size and industry, but 1–3% of reach is typical for business accounts, and 3%+ is strong. Comparing your rate to a consumer brand with a million followers is not useful — compare to your own last quarter.
How do we track enquiries from social?
UTM parameters on every link, a "how did you hear about us" field on the enquiry form, and a note whenever a direct message turns into a conversation. None of these are perfect alone; together they give a reliable picture.
Should we report weekly?
Monthly for decisions, weekly only for active campaigns. Social data is noisy week to week, and reacting to seven days of movement usually means changing course for no reason.
