Social media reports go wrong in two predictable ways. They drown the client in every metric each platform offers, or they add numbers together that were never meant to be added. Here's a simple monthly structure, and the rules that keep it honest.
What to report for each platform
| Platform | Headline | Worth adding |
|---|---|---|
| YouTube | Views, watch time | Subscribers gained, top videos, average view duration |
| Facebook Page | Views or reach, followers | Interactions, top posts |
| Views or reach, followers | Interactions, saves and shares, top posts and reels | |
| TikTok | Video views, followers | Likes, comments and shares on top videos |
Watch time matters more than views on YouTube, because it's closer to whether people actually watched. On every platform, saves, shares and comments say more about content quality than likes do.
Three numbers you should never add up
Views across platforms
A YouTube view, a TikTok view and a Facebook view are counted differently, and the platforms have changed their definitions over time. Adding them gives a big number that doesn't mean anything. Show views per platform, side by side.
Followers across dates
A follower count is a snapshot: how many followers there were on a given day. Adding daily counts across a month multiplies the audience by 30. Report the count at the end of the period and the change since the start, such as "Instagram +214 to 4,409".
Reach across platforms or weeks
Reach counts unique people. The same person reached on Monday and Friday, or on Facebook and Instagram, is counted in each. Totals that add reach together overstate the audience, sometimes by a lot.
Define engagement rate once
"Engagement rate" has no single definition. Some tools divide interactions by followers, others by views or reach, and the results can differ several times over. Pick one, write the formula in the report, for example "interactions ÷ views", and use it every month. A consistent number you can explain beats a flattering one you can't.
Keep paid and organic apart
Boosted posts and ads inflate views and reach. If the client runs paid social, report it in its own section with its spend, so organic growth isn't credited to money, or the other way round.
A monthly social media template
- Summary: two or three sentences on the month. What grew, what didn't, what you're changing.
- Platform cards: one per platform with views, followers at month end and the change, and one engagement metric.
- Top content: the three to five best posts or videos by views, with titles and dates. Add a line on what they had in common only if you can see it in the data.
- Audience growth: followers gained per platform, compared with the previous month or the same month last year.
- Next month: one or two experiments, such as posting time, format or topic.
- Notes: platform limits or missing data that affect the numbers.
Want to see the finished thing? Here's a sample monthly report built this way, with its PDF and spreadsheet.
Know each platform's limits
- Instagram shares insights only for professional (business or creator) accounts, and only for accounts connected through a Facebook Page or Instagram login with the right permissions.
- Some platforms only provide current totals through their APIs, not day-by-day history. Past daily views may need an export from the platform's own analytics.
- Platforms revise recent numbers as late views and spam removals are processed. Report on complete days, a few days after month end.
- When a number is missing, say so. Showing a blank as zero tells the client their content had no views.
Weekly or monthly?
Monthly is right for most clients. It smooths out the day-to-day noise of algorithms and gives you enough content to see patterns. Add a short weekly snapshot only when the client posts daily or is running a time-limited campaign. Even then, keep the analysis for the monthly report.
Social reporting in Metriclune
Metriclune connects YouTube, Facebook Pages, Instagram and TikTok with read-only access, and shows each platform's views and followers side by side without adding them together. Follower change is calculated between snapshots, top content is listed per platform, and anything a platform doesn't provide is marked in the report's notes. Scheduled monthly reports include written highlights, such as "Followers: YouTube +42 to 19,487", ready for your commentary. See all integrations.