June 10, 2010
5 Questions You Need to Ask Yourself When Creating a Social Media Report Template
By: Katie Morse
Social media is not a band-aid approach for the brands you work with and for. Strategy, tactics, objectives, and reporting are specific to the client and their particular needs, and which outcomes are most relevant to goals presented.
However, you can base your reporting off of five simple questions and cultivate to specific cases. In elementary school, many of us were taught the 5 Ws of the introduction paragraph — all items that needed to be addressed at the start of any paper. The 5 Ws are: Who, What, Where, When and Why. These serve as a solid foundation of questions you should automatically ask when creating a reporting template.
Every brand and C-Suite wants to see results and proof of those results. This is where reporting comes in and why it is so important.
Your brand and company should determine the capacity and resources necessary before asking these questions and throughout implementation. Also, figure out which departments will be handling these questions, delving into who the point person will be.
1. Who: is your report going to?
Tone, semantics, and the way information is presented play an integral role in the beginning stages of reporting. If it takes a couple reads for the person to digest the first impression of information, change the approach. Overwhelming brands with reports will only cause further questioning and bewilderment at what you do all day. Crafting it in language that is easily understood is key.
2. What: information should be conveyed?
Depending on the brand and size, you could be reporting any number of qualitative and quantitative metrics. The type of information shared should be reflective of the brand’s objectives and end goals. This should also include any benchmark information that a brand can utilize.
3. Where: will it be distributed?
Chances are that this report won’t just stop with the direct contact of the brand or, if on the corporate side, your boss. Customer service, the C-Suite, Sales, and General Marketing might see it as well. That consideration should also play into the “What” — information is great, but if it doesn’t apply to them, they won’t get it.
4. When: does it need to be delivered?
Each brand has different needs and wants. Most will ask for weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly reports. A healthy compromise can be daily monitoring and alerts for any big positive or negative mentions, with monthly reports as well. Be prepared to insert this information into quarterly reports.
5. Why: is the specific reporting beneficial?
If the report is a jumble of numbers, it will mean zilch to the company. Value and quality play a major role in this question, because it’s a waste of time otherwise. Questions will be asked no matter what, and a person must be prepared to answer them. Presenting solid proof and results for why things are happening to a brand is just as important as the information you are providing. If there is no value behind the numbers, it loses its pull.
How would you answer these specific questions? Are there any you’d like to add? What makes sense for your brand?
Let’s chat.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Lauren Fernandez, coryhartlen, Damien Steiner Smith, Gwen McIntyre, Teresa Basich and others. Teresa Basich said: Look, it's @cubanalaf's first post on the @Radian6 blog! http://bit.ly/9xDjJB [...]
Lauren – This is a really useful guide. Thanks so much for sharing this. My only addition would be to the "What."
It's important to understand what (a) types of venues need to be monitored and (b) in which languages. Broadly speaking, we break up the former (a) into multimedia (eg youtube and blogtalkradio) and text-based (eg twitter and linkedin) conversations. Also, we separate public conversations from what we refer to as non-public conversations. Most conversations occurring on linkedin, for instance, are not public. Do we need to monitor and report on those conversations. It's imperative that there is a clear understanding as to whether and how the content of non-text based communications (videos, photos, podcasts, etc…) and non-public conversations are monitored. Equally important (b) is deciding what languages (just English or other languages too?) are going to be monitored and scored for sentiment. Thanks for your thoughtfulness in creating this useful guide. I hope you find my suggestions helpful.
Lauren – This is a really useful guide. Thanks so much for sharing this. My only addition would be to the "What."
It's important to understand what (a) types of venues need to be monitored and (b) in which languages. Broadly speaking, we break up the former (a) into multimedia (eg youtube and blogtalkradio) and text-based (eg twitter and linkedin) conversations. Also, we separate public conversations from what we refer to as non-public conversations. Most conversations occurring on linkedin, for instance, are not public. Do we need to monitor and report on those conversations. It's imperative that there is a clear understanding as to whether and how the content of non-text based communications (videos, photos, podcasts, etc…) and non-public conversations are monitored. Equally important (b) is deciding what languages (just English or other languages too?) are going to be monitored and scored for sentiment. Thanks for your thoughtfulness in creating this useful guide. I hope you find my suggestions helpful.
Hugh – Thanks! This is a great suggestion. Clear understanding of the type of conversation plays well into the reporting realm. I especially like how you used specific examples of platforms, because the approach has to be different.
Thanks for stopping by!
Lauren Fernandez
Community Manager, Radian6
@cubanalaf
Lauren,
Congrats on your first post. Simple, direct, and to the point. This type of mindset is common in consultative selling as well ("What are my prospect's needs and how can my product/service satisfy said needs?"). The more you come off as a consultant who solves problems (by asking the right questions), the more you'll be perceived as an expert (and the more you can charge for your services!). Well done.
PS – Don't be fooled by the "filmmaker" career – I had a very successful 10-yr career as Director of Sales & Marketing in the special events industry in NY & FL before starting my video production business.
PS2 – Don't be afraid to throw some "spice" into future posts – shake things up a little. Make your posts stand out from the many "Social Media does this. . ." posts circulating the internet. Vamos!
Posts can vary on the spice front – but I'm sure it will come out now and then!
For this type of topic, it needed to be simple and direct – your template varies dependent on who it is and the 5 W's.
Thanks for stopping by!
Lauren
Lauren,
Congrats on your first post. Simple, direct, and to the point. This type of mindset is common in consultative selling as well ("What are my prospect's needs and how can my product/service satisfy said needs?"). The more you come off as a consultant who solves problems (by asking the right questions), the more you'll be perceived as an expert (and the more you can charge for your services!). Well done.
PS – Don't be fooled by the "filmmaker" career – I had a very successful 10-yr career as Director of Sales & Marketing in the special events industry in NY & FL before starting my video production business.
PS2 – Don't be afraid to throw some "spice" into future posts – shake things up a little. Make your posts stand out from the many "Social Media does this. . ." posts circulating the internet. Vamos!
Posts can vary on the spice front – but I’m sure it will come out now and then!
For this type of topic, it needed to be simple and direct – your template varies dependent on who it is and the 5 W’s.
Thanks for stopping by!
Lauren
Great stuff, as always, Lauren!
One question to add:
How: can we use the report to improve ourselves?
A properly-designed report, especially in the social media realm, should also be able to serve as a partial road map for where to go next. We can learn a lot about the future by studying the past. In my company, our weekly social media reports are designed to teach us just that, using charts, graphs, short- and long-term analytics, anecdotal evidence and more.
Right on point, Mike. And, as I'm sure you know, How plays just as much into the 5 Ws as others do.
I really think you can use benchmarks the most on the How – don't they help determine the road map and what will happen in the future? It's a great question, and I'm glad you brought it up.
Thanks!
Lauren
Great stuff, as always, Lauren!
One question to add:
How: can we use the report to improve ourselves?
A properly-designed report, especially in the social media realm, should also be able to serve as a partial road map for where to go next. We can learn a lot about the future by studying the past. In my company, our weekly social media reports are designed to teach us just that, using charts, graphs, short- and long-term analytics, anecdotal evidence and more.
Right on point, Mike. And, as I’m sure you know, How plays just as much into the 5 Ws as others do.
I really think you can use benchmarks the most on the How – don’t they help determine the road map and what will happen in the future? It’s a great question, and I’m glad you brought it up.
Thanks!
Lauren
Hi excellent small post the following, was just wondering if i could quote some of it inside a post im accomplishing (I will credit and hyperlink back again the following!). Drop me a message if thats not ok. you possibly can quote any of my stuff as prolonged as you hyperlink back again to it
Also superb template you use below would you thoughts telling me in which you got it 
. Sorry for my english 
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by . said: [...]
[...] leggere il post originale clicca qui. ShareThis var shared_object = SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: document.title, url: [...]
[...] to not only prove qualitative metrics, but quantitative metrics as well. We chatted last week about basic reporting templates, which goes hand in hand with what you need to measure and best [...]
[...] To help you break it down, here are some steps to help you get started with your marketing and communications-focused reporting plan: [...]
This is definitely a very useful guide. However, it would be best if you have an actual template?
Thanks a lot.
This is definitely a very useful guide. However, it would be best if you have an actual template?
Thanks a lot.
Posts can vary on the spice front – but I’m sure it will come out now and then!
For this type of topic, it needed to be simple and direct – your template varies dependent on who it is and the 5 W’s.
Thanks for stopping by!
Lauren
Right on point, Mike. And, as I’m sure you know, How plays just as much into the 5 Ws as others do.
I really think you can use benchmarks the most on the How – don’t they help determine the road map and what will happen in the future? It’s a great question, and I’m glad you brought it up.
Thanks!
Lauren