🚩 The biggest red flag I’ve seen, even at “the leading global PR and comms agency known for strategy,” is when the agency (or whoever does your social) only emails the monthly report to the client as an FYI. No context, no color commentary, and no meeting scheduled to review.
Here’s what’s really weird. At the same agency, there is a dedicated person who creates the reports, but is not on client calls, is not technically on the team, and is not involved with social media at all. This doesn’t showcase the community growth, involvement or content preferences – nothing – it’s just a massive deck that’s a waste of everyone’s time and money.
This says a lot:
• The client doesn’t spend much time with the report; it’s saved somewhere when they need numbers for an exec meeting
• The client doesn’t understand the true value of community or content performance analysis
• The agency doesn’t understand reporting or the true value of community
• The agency is lazy; the client is just another source of income
You should WANT to present your report to the client - when else do you get to show off your work without sounding braggadocious? Get the recognition for your hard work and prove your worth.
Reports should be presented to the client LIVE so you can walk through the results, showcase your expertise, and be available for any questions or clarification.
PS: when we say, “I have no idea, Meta is acting up,” we mean it.
⚓️ Anchor Your Success
There are a lot of ways to approach reporting, and that’s between the agency and client to determine, but there are certain components that shouldn’t be overlooked:
🪩 Qualitative
Engage: dive into your community’s discussions for strong connections
Understand: know your audience’s feelings to help shape brand perception
Testimonials: collect and showcase valuable testimonials
📊 Quantitative
Monitor KPIs: track trends in these metrics for insights
Identify advocates: know who’s driving your numbers
Compare accurately: YoY or MoM? MoM is standard, but for seasonal campaigns, it should be MoM 2022 vs. 2023 not Oct vs. Nov 2023
Improve continuously: adapt and evolve based on data-driven insights
Replicate success: duplicate effective tactics for consistency and visibility
Response times: keep an eye on your community managers’ response times
✨My reporting finishing touch?✨The Advocate Appendix! Click here if you’d like the template.
🚨 You cannot have a meaningful report without HONESTY and transparency. This means that when numbers are down, you explain why - beyond saying "it's ABC season so [insert random ass reason here]" or "THe AlGorItHm AgAiN" etc (you know what you say)! But this also helps build trust and is what you were hired to do. When the client can understand why things are happening, good or bad, that works in your favor, you're given a little more trust, the client is a little more educated - the more they understand, the less you have to explain or get worried about going over.
If you're the client - ask questions. Don't be afraid to ask what the industry benchmark is or what your benchmark is. Ask if it's good that you're losing followers. Challenge your strategists.
🌊 Brain Waves: Would You Rather?
Note: The numbers below have been proportionately adjusted to not give away their actual data.
Let me know what you think. I’m leaving this one up to interpretation, but the answers are in the content, community management guidelines, and quality of conversation comparisons.
LOWEST PAID, HIGHEST KNOWLEDGE
Community managers typically are the lowest or one of the lowest on the marketing food chain. There’s no reason for that, and can be an entirely different conversation, but the knowledge they possess is invaluable. They know things about your community you don’t know because you haven’t thought to ask 0 why would you; you’re not on the front lines.
Before you launch a new product, make a drastic change, or even just continue on with business as usual, include your community manager in conversations, data analysis, brainstorming, content creation direction, etc - they know exactly what your community wants.
🤯 OVERWHELMED?
Let me spend time with you and/or your team and I’ll create the most impactful, concise, and easy-to-understand (no matter who the client shares it with) report that is tailored to your needs and what actually matters.
↩️ Hit reply and let me know what you don’t feel confident about when it comes to reporting OR what you want to learn next week OR straight up send me links to things I should buy (happy to return the favor) 😂🎄 After all, word of mouth is GOAT.
🐡 Seas and greetings,
Chelsea
My content is timeless ⇢ read previous issues here
|
|
Let's Connect - Seriously.
My personal and professional success and happiness depend on you–my community.
|
