WVU IMC 642, Week 4 post

Online Data Reporting: Take it from “What a mess!” to Whatagraph

I’m going to be up front with you: I am not a data fan. I don’t like studying numbers, I don’t like comparing them, and I certainly don’t like reporting on them. I am a language person. My main strengths are writing, editing, and creating whatever form of messaging my company or client needs. Ask anyone in public relations or communications and they’ll tell you the same thing:

I don’t do numbers.

However, we language people can’t live in a bubble of denial, either. Our roles are becoming more integrated with marketing, sales, content producers, development, website SEO, etc. Many of us already perform in roles that incorporate two or more of these discplines. Even job titles of these professions are changing as skill demands grow to keep up with the ever-widening digital landscape and content mountains companies must conquer.  That means it’s essential for everyone in a company who has a hand in producing and monitoring content to be able to report on a variety of key performance indicators (KPIs).  From a business and marketing perspective, without knowing where we are, how can we know where we should go?

Charts, graphs, maps, infographics and imagery-rich presentations are some of the best ways to present KPIs, summaries, sales trends, etc. when there is a large amount of data to show and digest.  That’s why we use data visualization formats in general rather than showing or rattling off the numbers alone.  (Really, who does that?)  However, let’s be honest: just because some of us know how to use Excel, we are not exactly adept at creating the best reports.

 

The case for creating eye-pleasing, clean data visualization reports is a strong one.  Salesforce sums it up nicely in its analytics hub: (1) data visualization allows people to learn faster and more effectively; (2) people are naturally wired to be visual learners; and (3) customized, easy-to-read reports are the easiest to make than they’ve ever been. What a relief!

There are loads of analytics reporting applications on the market, each with a slightly different specialty for what a business or service provider might need.  I’m going to feature one that stands out to me because its purpose is to build any and all report types based on very graphic data visualization: Whatagraph.

Whatagraph’s tagline is: “Most visual multi-source reports for every brand. All the key analytics integrations and ready-made report templates to simplify your daily marketing reporting tasks.” Whatagraph boasts dozens of strengths in helping a business effectively create those reports. When businesses can see all their data in an easily digestible form, it can help them make key marketing decisions. Remember the number one point above from Salesforce? Well, when key decision-makers have the right reports in-hand, not only can they understand paramount data about their business more quickly, it follows that they can make important business decisions more quickly as well.

Whatagraph.com

Businesses of all sizes use a number of the platforms shown above, in addition to their website. It’s important to understand how all these platforms work together – and to make them work together – to build or maintain a brand. Each channel has a purpose in a business’s marketing mix. With a tool like Whatagraph, businesses constantly have valuable, integrated data readily available to them, in the formats in which they choose to see it. Then, they can see on which platforms or through which efforts their audience connects or converts with them the most.

Whatagraph aims to make the process of data visualization and reporting as easy and customizable as a business wants it. Reports can be automated to be delivered as frequently as daily to the business and/or its clients. A brand can customize each report to bear its logo and colors and be sent from its own domain. Different team members and clients can also be assigned different roles within Whatagraph.

One of the coolest aspects of Whatagraph reports is that they are multi-source. This means that a business can literally “build a single report to see the performance of all your marketing channels” (Whatagraph). Campaigns, website, sales, and major KPIs can all be seen from one report, and you choose which metrics to see. That means immediate insight into what is working best and what may not be working. With that insight, companies can dig deeper to find out if there’s a change to make to something that may not be performing so well, or save the data of what is performing great to be able to use the same formula or tactics in future campaigns, promotions, etc.

Whatagraph shows many report examples that prove their worth. Up front, the most obvious benefit to such reports is that they show data that would easily take a person a half day to a full day to compile. Whatagraph does it automatically in seconds. Here are a few screen shots of report examples for those in social media management roles that Whatagraph provides of its own channels. (Note: Whatagraph also has examples for CEOs, bloggers, account managers, and online shop owners). Under each image, I explain the marketing worth of the metric type shown.

This chart shows the top performing posts on Whatagraph’s Facebook page. It is probably obvious why this is such valuable insight: you find out what types of posts or information your audience favors to plan future posts. However, by having this data in aggregate over time, you can also compare posts, and run tests of subject lines and keyword usage. That translates into more meaningful content for your followers, meaning more engagement and/or sales.

Half the battle of owning multiple social media channels is knowing which ones your audience is on. By seeing followers and engagement in such detail, a company can refine its strategy for each, compare itself better with industry competitors, and see which type of content helps it expand its audience.

These graphs are from Whatagraph’s LinkedIn account.  The type of data shown is pretty much gold.  Did Whatagraph ever think the third most popular country for its application would be Austria, and fourth, Italy? Maybe so, but for the sake of learning, let’s say not. Now, Whatagraph is an international company with services in multiple languages, but the point is you have another useful view of where your followers, customers, or potential customers are. Additionally, seeing their roles - like listed in the bottom half of the graph - can allow you to create specific content to reach specific people.

Whatagraph can be used not only to understand your online presence better, but it can allow your whole department, executives, and clients to see and understand the most important data to them.  The best part is, you won’t have any more data messes to tackle, and you’ll have far more time to hone your non-data-compiling craft.