Do you have underperforming post types or platforms?
On page 3 of the dashboard, filter by Platform or Post Type to hone your analysis and identify opportunities for improvement. Use the sort functionality next to the fiscal year to sort highest to lowest. To compare year-over-year, select multiple fiscal years using the Fiscal Year filter at right. The heat map coloring is a handy way to easily spot significant differences - keep in mind that heat map coloring isn't just visually appealing, but it shows you major statistical breaks in your data.
Did a specific type of content under/over perform that skewed your overall performance?
If you are using the Content Tagging features in Sprout Social, you can evaluate rates by tag using page 4 of the dashboard.
Navigate to Page 4 and use the drop-down menu in the lower half of the page to select different types of content tags for comparison.
- Compare the goals of your posts. Posts with the goal of engagement will likely have stronger engagement rates than posts with a goal of generating awareness.
- Compare performance differences in your audiences. Are current students more likely to engage that donors? If yes, did you post more content catered to current students or to donors? Are there ways to optimize your audience mix or leverage strategies from one audience to another?
- Compare performance differences in your subjects/types of content you are publishing. Is affinity content performing better than campaign content? If so, what does your content mix look like? If you are posting significantly more campaign content, can you increase the volume of another content type with stronger engagement rates in your publishing calendar? Are there copy or visual elements you can leverage from one content type to another to optimize performance?
- If campaign content is under/over performing, select Campaigns from the drop down to determine if poor performance is applicable to all campaigns or localized to a single one. If you have commitments to support a campaign on social that is performing at a lower rate, then your overall rates may go down.
If you need a refresh on how to leverage the content tagging capabilities available within Sprout Social, check out the following resources:
1. How to Content - Tag Sprout Quarterly Update 01/20/21 Video
2. Content Tagging Guide
Is your social performance heavily impacted by seasonality?
Higher education is a notoriously seasonal industry. If your social engagement rates or impressions are lower than last quarter, you may just be in a seasonal slump. On the Cover Page, go to the bars in the lower half of the page and in the top left, click the plus button to expand the time detail. You should be able to spot patterns by month.
If you found differences when exploring your content tags, consider taking the next step to see if that is a trend over time or social network specific by adjusting the date range filter. Is it consistent and therefore expected? Or do you have an unanticipated drop in engagement rate during the selected period? Perform this analysis one audience, content type, campaign or goal at a time.
Are you posting more than normal?
Sometimes increasing the volume of social posts can negatively impact your social engagement rate if your impression volume increase outpaces engagement increase. Use the same page/chart referenced above to compare post volume over time. Keep in mind you can filter by platform to evaluate if a single social network is the culprit.
Could you improve by posting at different times of the day?
Your audience has a limited attention span and busy lifestyles. Perhaps the majority of your audience isn't on the social platform when you post. You can explore which times of day are best for your posts by leveraging three drop down options in the bottom half of page 5. We recommend that you select a single platform when reviewing this analysis since you may have different audiences on different platforms. Also, be cautious about outliers - check the post volumes for columns - if there is one or two posts, there might not be enough data there to be useful.