{"id":13137,"date":"2017-09-22T20:01:57","date_gmt":"2017-09-22T20:01:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/directiveconsulting.com\/uk\/?p=13137"},"modified":"2025-03-21T14:12:30","modified_gmt":"2025-03-21T18:12:30","slug":"monthly-reporting-is-not-enough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/directiveconsulting.com\/uk\/blog\/monthly-reporting-is-not-enough\/","title":{"rendered":"Monthly Reporting Is Not Enough"},"content":{"rendered":"

How many leads did you reach this month?<\/span><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re a marketer, chances are you already have a report handy with the answer.<\/span><\/p>\n

Monthly reporting is crucial to the success of any business. It gives a glimpse into which marketing efforts are paying off and which you need to improve (or eliminate.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Without a data-driven report, it\u2019s easy to fly blind.<\/span><\/p>\n

But how often should you be looking at your data? Is one report once a month enough to give a clear picture of your ROI?<\/span><\/p>\n

Not necessarily.<\/span><\/p>\n

The end of the month report is fairly standard among marketers. But there are instances where you might need to track your marketing metrics more often.<\/span><\/p>\n

Weekly, or even daily, tracking is sometimes necessary to meet your end goals.<\/span><\/p>\n

A lot can happen in a day or even an hour. <\/span><\/p>\n

Take a look at this daily traffic spike, for example:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

(<\/span>image source<\/span><\/a>)<\/span><\/p>\n

In certain cases, daily activities can have long-lasting impacts.<\/span><\/p>\n

A sudden spike in traffic may throw off your whole month\u2019s report. The sooner you can catch the little things, the better your overall reporting will be.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here are the metrics you should be monitoring and the ones you can leave for the end of the month.<\/span><\/p>\n

Daily Metrics You Should Be Tracking<\/b><\/h2>\n

Your end of the month report shouldn\u2019t surprise you.<\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s say you\u2019re near the end of the month and looking at your end of the month report. If your traffic numbers have dropped significantly or your engagement is noticeably low, that\u2019s a problem.<\/span><\/p>\n

Daily reporting allows you to see the small fluctuations and patterns in traffic and engagement <\/span>throughout<\/span><\/i> the month. Reporting daily allows you to you make better choices on a regular basis. <\/span><\/p>\n

By the time you get around to pulling your monthly report, you\u2019re not surprised at all.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here are the metrics you want to track on a daily basis.<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Web Traffic<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Tracking daily web and blog traffic won\u2019t necessarily give you the same insight as a monthly report will. That\u2019s because traffic numbers may fluctuate every day.<\/span><\/p>\n

    So, you\u2019re not necessarily looking for major patterns.<\/span><\/p>\n

    What you want to watch out for is any significant <\/span>spikes or drops in traffic<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    Changes like this could be a flood of bots or spiders crawling your site, or spam, or any number of things that could potentially throw off your final monthly report.<\/span><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Social Engagement<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      The few hours (or sometimes minutes) after you post to social media are critical.<\/span><\/p>\n

      Most social media posts <\/span>have a shelf life<\/span><\/a>, and some are relatively short.<\/span><\/p>\n

      \"\"<\/p>\n

      (<\/span>image source<\/span><\/a>)<\/span><\/p>\n

      Every time you post something to social media, you should be taking a <\/span>peek at your data<\/span><\/a> within the first 24 hours.<\/span><\/p>\n

      Analyzing your data quickly will help you see if there were posts that did exceptionally well or if there were a few that failed miserably. <\/span><\/p>\n

      If you review this data daily, the <\/span>performance of your social media marketing<\/span><\/a> won\u2019t surprise you at the end of the month. <\/span><\/p>\n

      You will always know whether your posts are working.<\/span><\/p>\n

        \n
      1. PPC Cost Per Click<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        Like your web traffic and your social media engagement, your PPC ads will have their daily ups and downs.<\/span><\/p>\n

        The key metric that you want to track daily is your cost per click (CPC<\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n

        CPC is an ever-changing variable in the PPC algorithm. <\/span><\/p>\n

        Similar to your web traffic, sudden increases or decreases may have a significant impact on your campaign success.<\/span><\/p>\n

        These changes can be signs of:<\/span><\/p>\n