After the metrics have been defined, the report has been designed and the processes have been nailed down to an easy repeatable system, there is still something more that you can be doing with your analysis besides tracking & acting on your business objectives. That is improving the way you do your analysis.  But how do you do this? How do you use your reporting meant to dictate your business objectives, to improve the same reporting?

Evaluate Metrics
While you want to make sure to nail down a good set of KPI’s and metrics you’ll compare week over week, don’t be afraid to take an objective look at your metrics every once in awhile to make sure that what you are looking at is still important and relevant to you. Are you still looking for keywords around an old campaign? Reconsider and determine if this information is still valuable.

Shift as you Mature
When you are just starting out in social media, the metrics that may affect your strategy like “number of overall mentions” might no longer fully fit the bill once you move in to a fully engaged stage. Be sure to shift your metrics as you evolve so that they are still giving you the information you need. Perhaps you will move from “number of overall mentions” to begin to dig in to mentions in specific areas, or to evaluate the type of mentions that they are. Be sure to always be watching for opportunities to shift your evaluation metrics as your strategy matures.

Give the People What They Want
If everyone tells you how much they hate the look of the 90 day graph because it’s too hard to read, then definitely consider switching that view. In the same respect, if everyone loves the summary page make sure to keep that one around in your reporting. If you give people what makes sense to them, not only will they like reading the reports but they’ll make it a habit to do so.

Evaluate Yourself
If you are the only person that has built out your organizations metrics and you are the only person who works on the analysis side, you need to be completely honest to yourself about your capabilities. We all get caught up in thinking the way we do something is the best, but let’s be honest, it might not be. Take some time to evaluate how you do your analysis from the process you use right down to where you put the plus sign in a formula. If you can manage it, grab another set of eyes and walk them through your processes. It’s a great way to get new ideas and keep you on track.

What ways do you keep your analysis on point? What time frame do you use when you do reviews? How many people help to keep your analysis on track?

Tags: Analysis, reporting