Skip to main content

Has anyone else had a team push for year over year comps when looking at engagements within organic social (IG specifically)? The biggest issue is YOY often looks down as the data continues to compound, so we can't get a true look of what last year at months end looked like compared to this year. With engagements becoming the top channel priority and having a push for not just MOM but YOY, I haven’t been able to find an accurate way to report that without making it appear as if the channel is down. Any ideas? 

 

We consistently compare QoQ and YOY. We have to remind our clients that YOY is not the best indicator because of how the platforms change and users interact with the apps. For instance, people share things via DMs or stories, but previously, they might have liked and commented more. Look at the rise of video alone in the last year. 

 

We also have to remind our clients that content can be engaged and viewed long after they are posted and that this is just a snapshot of when we pulled reporting.

 

After talking with a Sprout CS rep, they gave me this breakdown for reporting that you might find helpful. 

  • You have profile-level data, which references actions that were taken on any posts available on your profile/page, actions that were taken within the reporting date range that you have selected. This means that these actions (impressions, clicks, likes, comments, etc) may have been on posts that were published outside of the reporting date range. For example, if you are reporting on profile level data for the month of May, and a social network user is viewing and engaging with posts published in March, April and May, then this user’s actions will be reported for the month of May. In a nutshell, profile level data tracks actions regardless of where these happened.
  • You have post level data, which references the lifetime metrics associated with posts published within a specific date range. This means that the actions (impressions, clicks, likes, comments, etc) may have happened anywhere along the lifetime of a post. For example, if you are reporting for post level data for the month of May (but you are doing this in July), and a social network user interacts with a post that was published in May, then this users’s actions will be registered in the lifetime metrics associated with the post, but not on the profile level data for the same date range (because this user’s actions were taken in July). In a nutshell, post level data tracks actions regardless of when these happened.  

I think sometimes the Board likes YOY but it’s not always the best indicator of growth. It’s usually important to consider both YOY and monthly analytics to get a full picture of how the social media program is performing.

Reply


The Arboretum Terms of UseCookie settings