Which Metrics Belong in a Social Media Report, and Which Can You Cut?

A useful social media report needs five things: reach, engagement rate calculated against reach, saves and shares, follower change, and one line on what you'll do next. Almost everything else (impressions, raw likes, profile visits, hashtag reach, a screenshot of every post) can go in an appendix or go away. If building your report takes longer than reading it, that's your sign it's carrying too much. And if you're also curious how AI can take over the copy-and-paste part, Planoly's MCP hub walks through how it works.

You're not alone in dreading this. "I'm so sick of making social media reports" was one of the most upvoted posts in r/SocialMediaMarketing this week. The fix starts with deciding what goes in before you think about speeding it up.

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Which Metrics Do Clients Actually Read?

Whether your "client" is a paying customer or you as a business owner, the reader wants three answers: did more people see us, did they care, and are we growing. Here's the short set that answers all three.

1. Reach. How many unique accounts saw your content. It's the cleanest measure of visibility.

Why it works: Reach counts people, not repeat views, so it doesn't inflate when one person watches a Reel four times.

2. Engagement rate, calculated against reach. Total interactions divided by reach. This tells you how much of the audience you reached actually responded.

Why it works: It lets you compare a quiet month to a busy one fairly, which raw totals can't.

3. Saves and shares. Report these separately from likes.

Why it works: A save means "I'll come back to this" and a share means "someone else needs this." Both signal intent more clearly than a double tap.

4. Follower change. Net gain or loss for the period, not the total count.

Why it works: The change shows direction. The total just shows history.

5. One line on what's next. "Carousels outperformed Reels on saves, so we're testing two more carousels next week."

Why it works: This is the line the reader remembers. Without it, a report is a list of numbers someone has to interpret alone.

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What Can You Cut From a Social Media Report?

Cut anything that doesn't change a decision. That usually means impressions (when you already report reach), raw like counts on their own, follower demographics every single week, and a slide per post. Demographics are worth a look once a quarter. Post-by-post detail works better as "top three posts and why," not every post you published.

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Should I Report Likes or Engagement Rate?

Engagement rate. Likes alone rise and fall with how much you posted and how many people saw it, so a high-like month can still be a weak month. Engagement rate against reach adjusts for that. If a client insists on likes, include them inside total interactions rather than as a headline number.

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How Long Should a Weekly Report Be?

One screen. A weekly report should fit the five metrics above, your top post, and your next-step line. Save the longer story (trends across months, format comparisons, audience shifts) for a monthly report. If your weekly report needs scrolling, move half of it to the monthly one.

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Which Reporting Tool Fits Your Situation?

Most schedulers include reporting now, but they aren't built for the same person. An honest breakdown:

• Metricool is the strongest fit if you manage several client accounts and need customizable reports you can send out on a schedule. Its reporting is the center of the product, not an add-on.
• Buffer suits you if you want simple, readable analytics alongside scheduling and you report on a handful of accounts.
• Later fits if you're Instagram- and TikTok-heavy and want analytics sitting next to a visual planner.
• Meta Business Suite is free and goes straight to the source for Facebook and Instagram. It's the right call if you're on a tight budget and only post on Meta platforms, though you'll do the formatting yourself.
• Planoly fits if you already plan your Instagram grid and calendar in Planoly. Its in-app analytics cover Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok and LinkedIn, and for Instagram they show Accounts Reached, Content Views, Total Interactions and New Followers against the previous period, plus per-post reach, saves and shares. It's a better fit for your own brand or a few accounts than for a large agency roster.

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Can AI Fill In the Numbers for You?

Partly, and the part it handles is the part you hate. Planoly's Claude connector lets Claude read your Instagram performance (views, reach, likes, comments, shares, saves, replies, reposts, Reel watch time and audience demographics), plus TikTok and LinkedIn analytics such as views, viewers, post engagements and new follows. You can ask Claude to pull last week's numbers and lay them out in your report template, so you're not copying figures from one tab into another.

What it replaces is the copy-and-format work. What it doesn't replace is your next-step line. That sentence comes from you, because you know what the client is trying to do.

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TL;DR

• Report reach, engagement rate against reach, saves and shares, follower change, and one next step.
• Cut impressions, raw likes, weekly demographics and per-post slides.
• Keep weekly reports to one screen; save the story for monthly.
• Let a tool or AI fill in the numbers. Write the next-step line yourself.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What should be included in a social media report?

Reach, engagement rate calculated against reach, saves and shares, net follower change, and one sentence on what you'll do differently next period.

What's the difference between reach and impressions?

Reach counts unique accounts that saw your content. Impressions (or views) count every time it was seen, including repeats. Report reach as your headline number.

How often should I send a social media report?

A one-screen weekly check-in and a fuller monthly report works for most business owners and small agencies.

Can Planoly create my social media report automatically?

Planoly's analytics show your Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok and LinkedIn performance, and Planoly's Claude connector lets Claude read your Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn numbers and place them in your template. You still write the analysis.

Do I need a paid tool to make a social media report?

No. Meta Business Suite is free for Facebook and Instagram. Paid tools save time on formatting and multi-account reporting.