Example 1:

What did marketing do last month?

• Produced 50 pieces of content for social media and our blog
• Achieved 140,876 impressions on social media
• Received 1,234 likes
• However, there was 0 engagement with potential customers.

VS

Example 2:

I have a few questions about our marketing campaign:

• How many new personal connections did you make?
• How did our social media program help a potential client overcome resistance to our offer?
• How is this helping us build momentum towards making a sale or developing a new relationship?

On one hand, the numbers look good and may be generating awareness. It seems like a productive month, except for the fact that there were no new customers.

On the other hand, asking questions about the desired outcomes of the social media campaign may yield different answers and could alter your approach.

Data is valuable and can be impressive. However, you need to ask the right questions to uncover the true effectiveness of your efforts and to understand if your work is making an impact.