Social media report template: what to include, with a layout

Social media report template, section by section

Page one is a summary: the client, the period (a week, a month or a quarter) and three or four sentences in plain words about what happened. Write this last, even though it comes first.

Page two lists what went out: each post with its date, platform and a link to the live post. This is the part a client checks first, because it proves the work was done.

Page three holds the numbers, one small block per platform. Page four is a short note on what worked, what did not and the plan for the next period.

An example layout

Header: client name, period, who prepared it. Block 1: posts published, by platform. Block 2: likes, comments and shares where the platform reports them, with the previous period beside them for comparison.

Block 3: the two best posts and the one that fell flat, each with a one-line reason you think so. Block 4: next period's plan, three bullet points at most.

Rules that keep a report credible

Leave a number out rather than fill it with a guess. A blank with a reason (“this platform did not give us the figure”) reads as careful; an invented figure ruins the whole report when a client checks it.

Keep reach and views apart. Reach counts people; views count plays or impressions. Mixing them makes growth look bigger than it is.

Compare like with like: the same length of period, and the same platform against its own past.

Doing it without rebuilding it every month

In Dripost you pick a client and a period and choose one of 7 templates. The report downloads as PDF, Excel (with a Dashboard sheet and charts), PowerPoint, CSV or Markdown, can be emailed or shared as a phone link, and can repeat weekly or monthly at 9 AM in your time zone.

A number appears only when the platform supplied it; otherwise the report says “Not measured” and gives the reason. Reports are on the Pro plan, with white-label on Agency.

A social media analytics report, and which numbers go in it

A social media analytics report has one table per platform and says plainly where a platform gave no data. Put reach as reach and views as views, and never fill a gap with a guess. A reach report is the same layout with reach as the headline number.

A monthly social media report template

For a monthly report, keep the same sections each month so the numbers compare: what went out, the platform tables, three observations and the plan for next month. Change the month, not the layout.

A social media listening report

A listening report tracks mentions of a brand across the web. Dripost does not track mentions, so leave that section out unless you use a listening tool, and say so in the report.

Reach report: what reach means, and why it is not views

A reach report counts how many different people saw your content, which is a smaller and more honest number than views, so the two should sit in separate columns.

Reach and views, side by side. Reach is people. If one person sees your post four times, that is a reach of one. Views (or impressions) count every showing, so the same person adds four.

How to lay out a reach report. One row per post: date, platform, link to the live post, reach. Underneath, a total for the period and the same total for the previous period.

What to say about it. Describe change in plain terms: reach went up on the posts with video and stayed level on text. Avoid a cause you cannot prove; say what you noticed and what you will try.

Sources

• Dripost client reports
• Dripost pricing