Creating social media reports for government leadership can be a daunting task. One of the most important factors in designing a social media report is your audience or end-user. When designing your report consider who will receive your report and how they will use it.
Below are 4 Social Media Report End User Personas that will help you to understand your users’ needs, behaviors, and goals in order to create a report that encourages your user to actually read and understand your report while still proving social media ROI.
How to Use the Personas: Most members of leadership will fall into two categories, for example, Skeptic/Beginner or Enthusiast/Intermediate. Pair the reporting approaches below to create a report that works for your end-user. Your end-user only has to exhibit 2 -3 of the persona attributes to fall under that persona.
Pro Tip: Keep revising or editing your report based on your users’ feedback and your department goals until you have a report that works for you both.
The Skeptic
Mindset/Behaviors:
- Doesn’t believe social media is an effective tool for communication
- Often doesn’t include social media in their initial planning meetings
- Speaks flippantly about or disregards social media’s impact
- Claims they just “don’t get it”
- Has no interest in learning about social media
- Often downplays or rejects your social media ideas
- Believes social media is too much of a liability
The Skeptic’s Reporting Goal: To get through your social media report or meeting as quickly as possible.
Your Reporting Approach: Create a report that is 2 -3 pages maximum, with the most important information upfront. Put all supporting materials in the Appendix.
Most Social Media Report End Users fall into two of four categories: Skeptic, Enthusiast, Beginner or Intermediate. Notice there is no expert level. Why? Because in your organization YOU’RE THE EXPERT. Click To TweetThe Enthusiast
Mindset/Behaviors:
- Is excited about using social media as part of communications
- Often wants to use or learn about social media innovations
- Is open to new ideas regarding social media use
- Enjoys the opportunity to communicate with the community/constituents
- Gives praise to the social media person or team
- Has an interest in social media performance
- Is interested in digital technology communication tools overall
The Enthusiasts Reporting Goal: To learn as much as they can about social media’s performance and how it can be used more effectively. Because they are an enthusiast they are excited to learn how about social media progress and want to discuss social media strategy.
Your Reporting Approach: Create a report that communicates your social media performance quickly and place it toward the front of your report. Consider creating a Month Over Month performance slide or page that allows your user to view social media performance at a glance.
The Beginner
Mindset/Behaviors:
- Doesn’t use social media often or at all
- Doesn’t understand social media jargon
- Understands social is important but doesn’t know how it should be used by the agency
- Isn’t familiar with social media metrics
- Believes that executing social media work is tactical, not strategic
- Doesn’t understand social media’s full potential
The Beginner’s Reporting Goal: To learn as much as they can about social media performance in the simplest way possible. Most beginners are intimidated by social media metrics because they are not very familiar with them and don’t understand their meaning or how they are calculated. Because of this, beginners may be more focused on performance than strategy.
Your Reporting Approach: Create a report that communicates social media performance easily using imagery and color-coding. Consider incorporating a Glossary of Social Media Metrics in the appendix of your report to help with understanding the metrics and their calculations.
The Intermediate
Mindset/Behaviors:
- Posts to social media or at least one social platform on an ongoing basis
- Understands how social media impacts communications goals
- Has a general understanding of social media metrics and why they are important
- Follows or engages with the agency’s social media
- Follows or engages with other agencies on social media
The Intermediate’s Reporting Goal: To learn as much as they can about social media performance and the strategy and tactics behind achieving social media goals. The intermediate user knows a lot about social media and is interested in learning more about the approach and methodology behind social.
Your Reporting Approach: Create a report that communicates your social media POV and focuses on telling the story behind the metrics. Create a Learnings and Insights slide or page in your report that allows you to share the most important metrics paired with your specific POV on how the metrics impact your social media strategy and the agency’s overall communication and citizen engagement goals.
Interested in learning more about social media reporting for your government agency? Contact us today to learn more about how your agency can participate in our How to Create Social Media Reports Your Agency Can Understand workshop.