The Importance of Reporting & Social Data for Business Success

Social data is publicly shared information by users that display metadata including user’s location, searches, likes and dislikes, biographical data, shared links, and much more. Through this we are able to see how users engage, view, and share content. It is one of the key components that can change the trajectory of a business. This means that understanding how to utilize this data and report it is necessary for ultimate success and optimization.

The goal of most brands and businesses is to increase customer loyalty and profits. Social media reporting is important because it allows companies to gain insight into competitor analysis, future trends, and consumer behaviors. Thus, brands will better understand what their customers want and stay relevant in the market. Here are a few ways you can utilize social data reports to increase overall business success!

social media reporting - consumer behaviors

  1. Understanding Consumer Behaviors

Social data allows for you to understand the needs and wants of your customers. By compiling data of their social engagements and content interactions, we are able to recognize what type of products they are looking for, their consumer buying behaviors, and so on. This can provide insight for companies to readjust their marketing strategies to align with consumer preferences. 

For example, if you were a potato chip company looking into the social media reports of your customers and saw that there is a large handful of buyers searching up dill pickles and dill pickle flavored products, then pitching the idea of a dill pickle potato chip flavor could be a successful idea. Furthermore, social data can help businesses with more than just product ideas. It allows for brands to be aware of whether people enjoy their packaging, see other consumer goods people are buying, and what patterns they have on social media in terms of liking and disliking content. 

social media reporting - competitor analysis

  1. Competitor Analysis

Being aware of your competitors is one of the most important factors that can determine the success of your business in this competitive market. Consumers aren’t always 100% loyal to a brand they buy from once or twice. From a customer’s viewpoint, they want the best product out there. For this reason it is necessary to constantly be analyzing competitors’ social media and their marketing strategies. This is where social data can come into play.

Social data allows for companies to understand how their customers view competitors and buy into their products. For example, social media reporting can let you see if customers are buying into competitors’ collaboration products. If you were a clothing company and your competitor just released a new line for the Barbie movie and reports saw a large engagement from customers, then this could help you understand a little bit more about what your customers are looking for!

  1. Future Trends

Trends eb and flow and there is always a hot new topic in the media. Social data can help in predicting these future trends and keep your company up to date. A great example of utilizing social data for trends was the clothing brand, Urban Outfitters. Social media data showed reports that corsets were coming back into style for 2021. Urban Outfitters understood this and produced different colors and styles of corsets right when the trend was circulating over social media. They have sold thousands of corsets and have profited immensely!

It is necessary to understand the market and predict trends so that you don’t fall behind competitors. Trends can be short lived and you do not want to miss the opportunity to market an up and coming product. Social data is the best way to predict these by looking into consumer preferences and see what content is slowly popping up on social media!

social media reporting - how to report

There are many ways in which social media reporting can aid the success of one’s business. It is understanding what to look for within the graphs and charts that will create the greatest optimization. Whether it be using the data to understand consumer behaviors, analyze competitors, or predict future trends, it is necessary for elevating and growing a brand’s presence in the market and on social media.

How to Report & Optimize Using Social Media KPIs

Social media has become one of the key components in successfully marketing and expanding your business. To be prosperous, it is important to understand what your business goals are for your social media platforms. A great way to make sure you are on track with your growth is to align your goals with social media key performance indicators (KPIs).

KPIs are metrics that allow you to see the effectiveness of your social media strategy. Reporting and optimizing your social media performance requires tracking and analyzing your specific KPIs. This helps evaluate whether or not your strategy is working.

social media KPIs - identifying KPIs

Before picking out your KPIs, it is necessary to set your social media goals. Depending on what growth stage your company is in, goals will differ whether it be growing an audience or driving sales performance.  After these are set, the next step is to recognize your KPIs. There are many different KPIs you can track including ones for engagement, reach, conversions, and customer loyalty. Picking the ones that align with your objectives will be of the most value.

Here are a few specific KPIs for each category: 

Reach:

Reach helps to see how many people are coming across your account and noticing your posts. These KPIs can be helpful for seeing if your platform and message are reaching an audience.

KPIs for reach can include –

  • Follower count
  • Impressions
  • Share of voice
  • Web traffic

Engagement:

Engagement is helpful in seeing if your audience is interacting with your posts. It is important to know if people are just scrolling past your feed or liking and sharing it with others. Good engagement is necessary to optimize and grow your platform.

 KPIs for engagement include –

  • Clicks
  • Likes
  • Shares
  • Comments
  • Mentions

Conversions:

Conversions provide you with seeing if your viewers are becoming customers. It is essential that your audience is buying into your product or service. You want to overtime see who is valuable to your community and makes purchases.

KPIs for conversion include –

  • Lead conversion rate
  • Sales revenue
  • Non-revenue conversions

Customer Loyalty:

Customer loyalty KPIs aid in seeing who values and repurchases products from your brand. Loyal customers are the people who share your product online and through word of mouth. This is necessary for growing your audience and keeping a clean reputation.

KPIs for customer loyalty include –

After your initial social media KPIs are chosen, you can begin tracking them. Setting specific accounting periods is essential to compare data and make thoughtful analyses. Consistency in tracking periods plays an important role in optimizing a business. Depending on your specific KPIs, you can track weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, or quarterly.

There are a multitude of social media management platforms that focus on watching your analytics and reporting back with detailed analysis. KPI reports are most commonly shown in the form of an interactive dashboard.  An interactive dashboard allows you to evaluate real-time and past-time data all in one screen with structured graphs and charts showcasing your KPI statistics.

Using the KPI reports, you can watch patterns and trends that consistently show throughout the metrics and draw conclusions as to if they are performing in the capacity you desire. Comparing them with past data and as well as competing businesses is essential in reassessing your social media KPIs for future growth.

The final step in optimizing your business using KPIs is to share findings with your team and adjust your goals to fill in the gaps where needed or make new goals if current ones are met. If you are tracking KPIs for engagement such as watching likes, comments, and shares and they are performing well over a set period, making new goals for conversions could be beneficial.

social media KPIs - communicating goals

Social media KPIs are essential for improving your social media strategy and platform overall. Knowing which KPIs to focus on is what will impact the optimization of your business. All KPIs are not perfect for one company, so make sure yours are in alignment with your specific needs and goals.