What Should Be Included in the Report: Turning Campaign Data Into Actionable Insights

A campaign is only as strong as the insights it produces. While goals, strategies, and creative direction are critical, businesses also need clear reporting to understand how well a campaign performed. This section of the brief outlines the specific data points that should be included in reports, ensuring results are transparent, meaningful, and easy to act on.

Defining the content of a report helps both businesses and creators focus on what truly matters. It clarifies which metrics to track, how to present them, and why they are important for evaluating success. Without these details, reports can be inconsistent, confusing, or incomplete.

For businesses, having the right data supports informed decision-making and future campaign planning. For creators, it provides clear guidance on what to track and report, making it easier to demonstrate their value and impact. When both sides align on report content, campaigns become more accountable, efficient, and effective.

Why Defining Report Content Matters

Including the right data in reports ensures campaigns are insightful, actionable, and aligned with business goals. Clear report content helps prevent unnecessary data from obscuring the most important metrics, keeping both businesses and creators focused on what truly matters.

Avoids Data Overload: Providing only relevant metrics ensures that important insights are easy to identify and act on.

Keeps Focus on Goals: Reporting should connect directly to the campaign’s objectives, showing whether key targets are being met.

Improves Decision-Making: Clear, concise data allows businesses to make informed adjustments and refine strategies for better results.

Builds Trust: Agreed-upon metrics promote transparency and prevent misunderstandings about performance.

Supports Long-Term Growth: Consistent and meaningful data informs future campaigns, helping businesses optimize and improve results over time.

Essential Metrics to Include in Reports

Before diving into specific numbers, it’s important for businesses and creators to agree on which metrics truly matter. Not every campaign needs every possible data point, but having a clear set of essential metrics ensures reporting is focused, actionable, and aligned with the campaign’s objectives. This clarity helps creators know what to track and provides businesses with insights they can use to make real decisions and optimize results.

Reach

The total number of unique users who saw the content. Reach shows how many potential buyers were exposed to the campaign and is critical for awareness-focused goals.

Example: A local bakery’s Instagram Reel reaches 50,000 viewers, expanding brand visibility beyond its usual audience.

Impressions

The total number of times content is displayed, including repeat views by the same person. Impressions measure exposure and brand visibility.

Example: A sponsored post generates 200,000 impressions, indicating repeated exposure to the same audience.

Engagement Rate

The ratio of likes, comments, shares, and saves compared to reach. High engagement signals that content resonates with the audience.

Example: A campaign with a 6% engagement rate shows strong audience interest compared to an industry average of 2–3%.

Comments and Shares

Direct indicators of audience involvement and virality. Comments reveal sentiment, while shares amplify reach organically.

Example: A meme-based campaign gets shared 5,000 times, dramatically extending brand exposure without added spend.

Watch Time and Views (Video Campaigns)

Tracks how many people viewed the video and for how long. Longer watch times indicate strong storytelling and high viewer interest.

Example: A 60-second tutorial with a 70% average watch time shows that viewers are highly engaged.

Link Clicks

The number of people who clicked on a URL within the content. Clicks measure interest in learning more or exploring a product.

Example: 2,500 people clicked a creator’s “link in bio” after watching a product demo.

Conversions or Sales

Tracks actions completed as a direct result of the campaign, such as purchases, sign-ups, or downloads. Conversions provide the clearest measure of ROI.

Example: A creator’s campaign generates 300 purchases using a tracked checkout link.

Promo Code Usage

Measures how many purchases used a creator’s unique code. This provides precise attribution to the creator’s influence.

Example: Promo code “JANE20” is used 120 times during a two-week campaign.

Follower Growth

The number of new followers gained during the campaign period. Follower growth expands a business’s owned audience for future marketing.

Example: A fashion brand gains 1,000 Instagram followers after a creator partnership.

User-Generated Content (UGC) Delivered

The number and quality of photos, videos, or testimonials creators provide. UGC can be repurposed in ads, websites, and emails, extending campaign ROI.

Example: A campaign yields 25 reusable product photos for future marketing.

How Report Content Serves Different Stakeholders

Effective report content benefits everyone involved in a campaign. By defining which metrics to track and how to present them, businesses gain actionable insights, creators can demonstrate their impact, and audiences ultimately receive content that is more relevant and engaging. Clear report content ensures alignment, accountability, and a shared understanding of success before, during, and after a campaign.

For Businesses: Provides proof of ROI, insights for optimization, and a clear basis for future investment decisions. With the increasing complexity of campaigns, providing proof of ROI ensures that campaigns are effective and impactful, driving business growth and success, and ensuring that the brand stays ahead of the competition.

For Creators: Offers tangible evidence of their impact beyond surface-level metrics, strengthening long-term partnerships. With the increasing importance of partnerships, offering tangible evidence ensures that collaborations are successful and mutually beneficial, driving growth and success, and ensuring that the brand stands out in a crowded market.

For Audiences: Data-driven campaigns help ensure future content is more relevant and engaging. With the increasing competition for attention, data-driven campaigns ensure that the content is effective and engaging, driving the desired impact and ensuring that the brand resonates with the audience.

Mistakes Small Businesses Make

Even with the best intentions, small businesses sometimes stumble when specifying what should be included in campaign reports. These missteps can leave creators unsure of what to track, lead to overwhelming or irrelevant data, and ultimately reduce the campaign’s effectiveness. Understanding common mistakes helps businesses provide clear guidance so reports are useful, actionable, and aligned with campaign goals.

Requesting Too Much Data: Overwhelming creators with unnecessary metrics. With the increasing complexity of campaigns, requesting too much data can result in campaigns that are difficult to analyze and optimize, reducing effectiveness and impact, and ensuring that the brand feels disconnected and irrelevant.

Focusing on the Wrong Metrics: Prioritizing vanity metrics instead of business outcomes. With the increasing competition for attention, focusing on the wrong metrics can result in campaigns that don’t drive meaningful outcomes, reducing engagement and impact, and ensuring that the brand feels disconnected and irrelevant.

Not Sharing Benchmarks: Leaving creators unsure of what constitutes “good performance.” With the increasing complexity of campaigns, not sharing benchmarks can result in campaigns that don’t align with business goals, reducing effectiveness and impact, and ensuring that the brand feels disconnected and irrelevant.

Failing to Capture Long-Term Data: Stopping measurement too soon and missing delayed conversions. With the increasing emphasis on data, failing to capture long-term data can result in campaigns that don’t evolve and improve, reducing effectiveness and impact, and ensuring that the brand feels disconnected and irrelevant.

Overlooking Qualitative Insights: Ignoring comments, reviews, or customer stories. With the increasing importance of authenticity, overlooking qualitative insights can result in campaigns that don’t resonate with the audience, reducing engagement and impact, and ensuring that the brand feels disconnected and irrelevant.

Best Practices for Report Content

Creating effective reports requires more than just collecting numbers. Small businesses that provide clear guidance on what should be included help creators focus on meaningful metrics that reflect campaign goals. Following best practices ensures that reports are actionable, easy to interpret, and directly tied to decisions that improve performance and ROI.

Align With Campaign Goals: Only request metrics that directly measure success. With the increasing complexity of campaigns, aligning with campaign goals ensures that the content is effective and impactful, driving the desired outcomes and ensuring that the brand captures the audience’s attention and drives business growth.

Balance Quantity and Quality: Combine numbers with audience sentiment and feedback. This type of balance ensures that the content is effective and engaging, driving the desired impact and ensuring that the brand resonates with the audience.

Define Reporting Scope Clearly: List the exact metrics you expect in the brief. This type of clarity ensures that the content is effective and engaging, driving the desired impact and ensuring that the brand resonates with the audience.

Request Verifiable Data: Ensure metrics come from platform analytics or tracked links. This type of request ensures that the content is effective and engaging, driving the desired impact and ensuring that the brand resonates with the audience.

Plan for Long-Term Tracking: Measure ongoing results, especially for evergreen content. This type of planning ensures that the content is effective and engaging, driving the desired impact and ensuring that the brand resonates with the audience.

The Bottom Line

Knowing exactly what data to include in reports turns marketing efforts into measurable results. With competition for audience attention increasing, having well-defined report content ensures campaigns are not only executed effectively but also produce insights that drive improvement and growth.

For small businesses, clearly outlined metrics remove uncertainty and provide actionable intelligence. By specifying what should be tracked, businesses can evaluate performance accurately, make informed decisions, and strengthen future campaigns.

Creators benefit from clear guidance as well, gaining the ability to showcase their influence in a tangible way. By understanding which metrics matter, they can highlight results that resonate with the brand and audience, enhancing trust and fostering long-term partnerships.

When both sides agree on the report content upfront, campaigns move beyond surface-level metrics and become data-driven, insightful initiatives. Prioritizing clarity and relevance in report content ensures campaigns are impactful, authentic, and strategically valuable.

Conclusion

Defining report content is more than a procedural step. It is a strategic tool that transforms campaign data into actionable insights. Focusing on the right metrics ensures that every piece of content captures attention and delivers measurable results.

For small businesses, having well-defined report metrics provides accountability and clarity, allowing them to assess ROI and refine strategies. By concentrating on relevant metrics, businesses can make smarter decisions and achieve lasting growth.

For creators, clear expectations about what to report make it easier to demonstrate value beyond vanity numbers. This transparency strengthens collaborations and allows creators to present performance in ways that are meaningful to the brand and audience.

Looking ahead, report content will continue to play a central role in effective marketing. Brands that invest in well-structured, purposeful reporting frameworks will stand out, ensuring campaigns not only reach audiences but also generate actionable insights, long-term growth, and stronger partnerships.