Template 02 - Reporting
Free Social Media Reporting Template
RecurPost’s social media reporting template is written for someone who will not open the spreadsheet behind it. It runs nine sections, from a three-line headline through what worked and what did not to a commitment for next month with a number against it. This page shows every section, one completed report for a three-restaurant group, and how the closing commitment becomes scheduled posts.
1. THE READER
Who the Report Is For, and What Makes It Believable
The report covers one client and one month, and it is read by a person who does not use the platforms daily. That reader wants to know what happened, whether it hit the number, and what is being done about it.
TWO ARTIFACTS, ON PURPOSE
The report and the analytics workbook are two artifacts on purpose. The client sees nine sections; the account lead keeps the file where the arithmetic happened.
THE RULE
TRACEABLE
One rule holds the whole document up: every number in the report traces back to a row in the working file.
MERGED INTO ONE
NEITHER WORKS
Collapsing them into one document produces a report nobody reads and a spreadsheet nobody trusts.
2. THE SECTIONS
The Nine Sections of the Report
The report runs nine sections, and it is built to be read in order and skimmed out of order. The lengths below matter as much as the headings, because a report nobody finishes reports nothing.
WHY THERE IS AN APPENDIX
The appendix exists so the body can stay short. A report that puts every number in the body asks the client to read like an analyst, and a report with no appendix cannot answer the one detailed question that always arrives two days later.
BUILT FOR
Someone outside the team who has to understand the month without opening the working file.
SKIP IF
The only reader is the person who did the work, because the workbook in RecurPost’s social media templates library already holds everything they need.
SECTION
WHAT IT HAS TO SAY
HOW LONG
01 Cover
Client, period, who prepared it
One block
02 Headline
What happened, in plain language
Three lines
03 Against target
The number committed to, and the number that arrived
One table
04 What we published
Volume by account and format
One table
05 What worked
The posts that carried the month, and why
Two or three items
06 What did not
One thing, with a cause attached
One item
07 What we learned
The pattern worth acting on
Two or three lines
08 Next month
What changes, with counts
A short list
09 Appendix
The full detail behind every figure
As long as it needs to be
3. WORKED EXAMPLE
One Completed Monthly Report
A completed May report for a three-restaurant group fits on two pages and ends in a number.
THE UNTIDY ARITHMETIC
The shortfall traces to one restaurant and one cause, and the arithmetic is deliberately left slightly untidy: 61 of the 70, not all 70. The other 9 sat elsewhere and the report says so. A month whose numbers resolve perfectly is a month somebody has tidied, and clients can tell.
NO TARGET, NO SECTION
A month with no target has no against-target section. The report says that plainly rather than inventing a comparison to fill the space.
SECTION
FILLED CONTENT · MAY, THREE RESTAURANTS
Headline
Bookings from social came to 430 against a target of 500, and the shortfall sat almost entirely in one restaurant
Against target
Target 500, actual 430, variance minus 70, which is minus 14%
What we published
34 posts across three accounts: 18 Instagram, 10 Facebook, 6 Google Business Profile
What worked
A Reel of the kitchen pass during service, and a Google Business Profile offer for a set lunch. Between them they produced 168 of the 430 bookings.
What did not
The third restaurant published 4 posts against a planned 12, and its bookings fell short by 61 of the 70
What we learned
At this scale, publishing volume tracked bookings almost one to one
Next month
Return the third restaurant to 12 posts, which is 8 more than May, taking June to 42 planned posts
Appendix
The full post list with the figures behind every number above
4. THE HONEST MISS
The Section People Delete
The what-did-not-work section is the one people cut, and cutting it is what stops a report being believed. A client can see the accounts. A report that never reports a miss is contradicted every time they scroll, and around month four it stops being read as evidence and starts being read as marketing.
THE MAY EXAMPLE
The May report says the third restaurant published four posts against a planned twelve, and that sentence costs nothing because it is the sentence that justifies June’s plan.
HOW MANY MISSES
ONE
One miss per report is the right number. A report that leads with three is a different conversation, and it is a conversation to have on a call rather than in a document.
THE TEST
A CAUSE
State the miss when you can attach a cause to it, and leave it out when you cannot: “engagement was down” with no cause is not honesty, it is an unanswered question handed to the client.
5. THE ARITHMETIC
What the Report Commits You to Next Month
The next-month section is a commitment, which means it carries counts rather than intentions. May’s report commits June to forty-two planned posts: the thirty-four that went out plus the eight the third restaurant owes.
Those forty-two posts get dates in RecurPost’s social media calendar, which shows the month in Month, Week or List view so a restaurant drifting behind is visible in week two rather than in the next report.
INTENTIONS DO NOT COUNT
A next-month section that reads “increase engagement” commits to nothing and leaves the following report with nothing to report against.
ONE UPLOAD
RecurPost then loads the month in one pass with bulk scheduling, which accepts CSV and Excel files, sets no hard cap on posts per upload, and works best at around 100 posts a batch.
ACCOUNT
POSTS IN MAY
18
10
Google Business Profile
6
Published in May
34
+ 8 OWED
→
JUNE PLAN
42
posts across three accounts
Forty-two is what June’s report gets measured against, which is the whole point of writing the number down.
6. THE FILE
File Format, Access and What Happens When You Submit the Form
RecurPost gives the social media reporting template away free. The file is a Google Doc, and you take your own copy and edit that copy, which is also where you add your own logo and colours before it goes to a client.
The form below asks for six details and requires one. Business email address is the only required field, and full name, organization, employee count, country and company URL are optional.
RecurPost sends the document to the business email address you supply, and the confirmation on this page tells you it is on the way.
FORMAT
One Google Doc, nine sections, with the detail in an appendix.
ACCESS
You take your own copy, and your logo and colours go on that copy.
PRICE
Free, one required field, no card.
FREE TEMPLATE
Get Your Free Template
Business email address is the only required field.
The commitment a report closes on gets dated and scheduled across every client account from one calendar.
7. FIT
Which Template to Use Instead
Two documents cover measurement, and the difference is who reads them.
THE LIBRARY
All three sit in RecurPost’s social media templates library alongside the calendar, campaign and proposal documents.
WHAT YOU NEED TO DO
USE
WHY
Explain a month to a client
This social media reporting template
It is written for someone who will not open a spreadsheet
Work out the numbers in the first place
The social media analytics template
It holds the data tab and the formulas this report quotes
Diagnose an account set you have just inherited
The social media audit template
It runs once, at the start, and ends in a priority rather than a period
TRY RECURPOST
RecurPost’s Agency plan covers 20 social accounts and includes 3 team members. RecurPost prices an extra teammate at a flat $20 per month on any plan instead of multiplying the plan price by every seat.
RecurPost is the social media management software agencies run their client publishing on.
No credit card required
Frequently Asked Questions
What the report holds, why it names a miss, how long it runs, and how it reaches you.
What goes in a monthly social media report?
A monthly social media report runs nine sections: cover, headline, performance against target, what was published, what worked, what did not, what we learned, next month and an appendix. The body stays short and the appendix carries the detail, so the client can read the whole thing and still find the number behind any line in it.
Should a client report include what did not work?
A monthly report carries one honest miss with a cause attached, because a client can see the accounts the report describes. A report that never reports a miss is contradicted by the thing it is reporting on, and it stops being read as evidence. One miss with a cause is also the sentence that justifies whatever the next month’s plan changes.
How long should a social media report be?
The body runs to about two pages, and everything longer goes in the appendix. The headline is three lines, performance against target and what was published are one table each, what worked is two or three items, and what did not is one. A report nobody finishes reports nothing.
How do I get the template, and what do I receive?
RecurPost sends the social media reporting template to the business email address you supply on this page. The file is a Google Doc, it is free, and you take your own copy and edit that, including adding your own branding before it goes to a client. Business email address is the only required field on the form.
Discover your must-have Social Media Templates
The report packages the month for the client. These are the documents that sit beside it and underneath it.
01
PLANNING
Social Media Strategy
Map a client’s goals, audience, and posting plan.
02
PLANNING
Strategy Presentation
Pitch the strategy to a client in slides.
03
PLANNING
Social Media Marketing Plan
Set a client’s channels, cadence, and owners for the quarter.
04
PLANNING
Social Media Audit
Assess a client’s current accounts before you start.
01
CALENDAR
Social Media Content Calendar
Plan a month of posts across networks.
02
CALENDAR
Instagram Content Calendar
Plan an Instagram grid and feed in advance.
03
CALENDAR
Google Posts Calendar
Plan Google Business Profile posts ahead.
01
CAMPAIGN
Social Media Campaign
Build out a time-boxed campaign’s posts.
02
CAMPAIGN
Campaign Proposal
Pitch a campaign to a client for sign-off.
03
CAMPAIGN
Paid Social Media Ads
Plan paid ad sets, audiences, and budgets.
01
REPORTING
Social Media Analytics
Track post and account metrics in one sheet.