Social media outputs

Output

total number of distinct social media content outputs posted during the campaign

This indicator measures the amount of distinct social media content posted during a campaign. It helps track the delivery of planned campaign content. It does not show how widely the content was seen or whether the audience engaged with, understood or acted on it, and should not be used alone to assess the campaign’s quality or effectiveness.

Determine the indicator’s value using the following methodology:

1) Define which campaign content will be included. Specify the reporting period and the types of content to be counted, such as text posts, images or videos. Apply the same inclusion rules throughout the reporting period.

2) Identify each distinct piece of campaign content. Count the same content only once if it is posted without substantive changes on several social media platforms. If the content is substantially adapted for a different platform, audience or format, count the adapted version as a separate output. For example, a campaign video posted unchanged on Facebook and Instagram counts as one output, while a separately shortened and re-edited version can be counted as an additional output. Minor technical or platform-specific changes, such as resizing, cropping, adding subtitles or changing a caption, do not normally create a new output. Count a version separately only when the message, creative content, target audience or structure has been materially changed.

3) Count the eligible outputs. Add together all distinct pieces of campaign content posted during the reporting period. The resulting number is the indicator’s value.

This data can be disaggregated by content type.

1) Do not interpret a higher number of outputs as evidence of a better or more effective campaign. Assess the result against the planned content outputs and complement it with indicators that measure exposure, reach, engagement or other outcomes relevant to the campaign objective.

2) If the data is disaggregated by social media platform, record all platforms on which each output was posted. Because the same output can appear on several platforms, platform-level figures should not be added together to calculate the overall indicator value.

Also consider using the following indicators:

• Impressions (shows how often the communicated content was displayed, complementing the number of distinct outputs with a measure of exposure)

• Reach (shows how many individual social media users saw the communicated content)

• Engagement Rate (helps assess whether users interacted with the content rather than only being exposed to it)

• Click-through Rate (helps assess whether content with a link or call to action resulted in users clicking through)