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Social Media Report Template (Monthly)

By PostMediaAI7 min read

A good social media report answers three questions on the first page: what happened, why it happened, and what we will do next. Everything else is supporting evidence. Most reports fail because they are 20 slides of screenshots that answer none of those questions.

What should a social media report include?

Before the template, a quick rule for deciding what belongs in it: include a metric only if someone will make a decision based on it. Follower counts go in because they show audience growth. A breakdown of reactions by emoji type usually does not.

The core sections:

  1. Executive summary: three to five sentences a busy reader can stop after.
  2. Goals and KPIs: what you were trying to achieve this period, and the number that tells you whether you did.
  3. Channel results: the same small set of metrics for each platform, compared with last month.
  4. Top and bottom posts: what worked, what did not, with a reason.
  5. Insights: patterns, not data. "Short how-to videos beat static graphics on every channel" is an insight; "we got 4,210 impressions" is data.
  6. Next month's actions: two to five specific changes you will make.

Metrics to leave out (or move to an appendix)

Reports get long because every number feels important. Move these to an appendix unless a goal depends on them:

  • Raw impressions with no comparison. A number without last month next to it says nothing.
  • Every post's metrics. Show the top and bottom three; link to the full export.
  • Vanity totals such as "total likes ever."
  • Metrics from a platform you have stopped posting on.

If a stakeholder asks for a number every month, it belongs in the main table. If nobody has asked in three months, cut it.

The monthly social media report template

Copy this structure. Replace the brackets.

Section 1: Summary

  • Period: [month and year]
  • Headline: [one sentence on the most important result]
  • What worked: [one sentence]
  • What did not: [one sentence]
  • Next month's focus: [one sentence]

Section 2: Goals and KPIs

  • Goal 1: [e.g. grow website visits from social] | KPI: [sessions from social] | Target: [number] | Actual: [number] | Status: [on track / behind]
  • Goal 2: [e.g. build an engaged audience on LinkedIn] | KPI: [average engagement rate per post] | Target | Actual | Status
  • Goal 3: [e.g. generate leads] | KPI: [sign-ups or form fills attributed to social] | Target | Actual | Status

Section 3: Channel results

One row per platform, the same columns every month:

  • Platform | Posts published | Followers (end of month) | Follower change | Reach or views | Engagements | Average engagement rate per post | Link clicks | Notes

Pull these from each platform's native analytics. LinkedIn Page analytics shows impressions, reach, reactions, comments, reposts, clicks and engagement rate per post [1]. Instagram insights show views, accounts reached and interactions for professional accounts [2]. TikTok analytics show views, likes, comments, shares and watch time [3]. YouTube Studio covers views, watch time and impressions click-through rate [4].

If you use a formula for engagement rate, write it in a footnote, for example "engagements ÷ impressions × 100, averaged per post." Our guide on how to calculate engagement rate explains the options.

Section 4: Top and bottom posts

  • Top 3 posts: [link or thumbnail] | Platform | Format | Key metric | Why we think it worked
  • Bottom 3 posts: [link or thumbnail] | Platform | Format | Key metric | Why we think it missed

The "why" column is the most valuable cell in the whole report. Fill it in even if you are guessing, and label guesses as hypotheses.

Section 5: Insights

  • [Pattern 1, with the evidence]
  • [Pattern 2, with the evidence]
  • [Anything external that affected results: a holiday, a product launch, a platform outage, a change in posting frequency]

Section 6: Next month's actions

  • [Action] | Owner | Due date | Which KPI it should move

Example summary (fictional brand)

Here is what a strong Section 1 looks like for a made-up coffee roaster, so you can see the tone:

"October: website visits from social rose compared with September, driven by two Instagram reels showing the roasting process. LinkedIn engagement fell after we cut posting from three times a week to once. Next month we will return LinkedIn to three posts a week and produce two more behind-the-scenes reels."

Notice what it does not include: a list of every metric. The reader can find those in Section 3.

How to build the report in under an hour

  1. Fix your reporting dates. Calendar months are easiest. Pull data on the same day each month.
  2. Export or copy the channel numbers into your Section 3 table. Doing this in one spreadsheet tab per month makes month-over-month comparisons a single formula.
  3. Sort posts by your main KPI and copy the top and bottom three into Section 4.
  4. Write insights before the summary. The summary is easier once you know the patterns.
  5. Write next month's actions and put them on the calendar right away, so the report changes what happens next. Our guide to creating a social media content calendar shows how to slot them in.

Spreadsheet, slides or doc?

People look for this template in Google Sheets, Excel, Canva, PowerPoint and PDF. The format matters less than consistency:

  • Spreadsheet (Google Sheets or Excel): best for you. Formulas compare months automatically and charts update themselves.
  • Slides (PowerPoint, Google Slides or Canva): best for clients and leadership who want to see the top posts. Keep it to five to eight slides.
  • Doc or PDF: best for a written monthly email update.

Many teams keep the data in a spreadsheet and paste the summary, charts and top posts into slides.

Reporting for agencies and multiple clients

If you report on several brands, use one template for every client and change only the goals. That makes your process faster and makes it easy to spot which client needs attention. Keep each client's raw numbers in its own tab or file, and never mix accounts in one table. Our guide to social media management for agencies covers the rest of the client workflow. For keeping many accounts tidy day to day, see how to manage multiple social media accounts.

Where PostMediaAI fits

PostMediaAI keeps your drafts, scheduled posts and published posts on one calendar across 30+ channels, and includes analytics for networks that share performance data, so you can see which posts and channels earn attention before you write the report. Coverage varies by platform, so for some metrics you will still pull numbers from native analytics. Team, Pro and Ultimate plans include unlimited team members, so the people who post and the people who report can work in the same workspace; plans are on our pricing page.

FAQ

What should be included in a monthly social media report?

A summary, goals and KPIs, the same set of metrics per channel compared with last month, top and bottom posts with reasons, insights, and next month's actions.

How do you write a social media report?

Pull the numbers into a fixed table, sort posts by your main KPI, write the patterns you see, then write the summary last. Keep the structure the same every month.

How long should a social media report be?

Long enough to answer what happened, why and what's next. For most small teams that is one or two pages, or five to eight slides.

What is the difference between a social media report and a social media audit?

A report covers a recent period, usually a month, against goals. An audit is a less frequent, wider review of every account, profile, content mix and process.

Related guides: Social Media Analytics for Beginners, How to Measure Social Media ROI and UTM Parameters for Social Media: A Guide.

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