It can be overwhelming with so many reports available in SourceLink℠ to track and report on economic impact. This can be further complicated by reporting that may need to be pulled from external sources like from social media accounts, Google Analytics, and MailChimp.
This guide is meant to help give clarity on key reports to run within your SourceLink system, and where you might look for enhanced data about your impact from other 3rd party places.
SourceLink Reports
The following reports can be found when clicking on Reports from the left menu when logged in to SourceLink.
BA408 Annual Report Toolkit
For full SourceLink affiliates, this is a perfect balance of common starting KPIs and measures for building a network. We regularly advise that you think about your work in terms of Network Access, Network Reach, and Network Strength. Learn more (PDF).
BA420 Center Impact Report
For SourceLink affiliates who are providing direct technical assistance to entrepreneurs, the BA420 is the report for you. With this report, you are able to track employment/sales changes over time as well as businesses created. Learn more.
Social Media Reports
When evaluating your network reach, it is appropriate to count and report on your social media impact. This can include number of posts, engagement, and followers/fans.
Under Page Management, select Insights. From there, you can capture and report on fans, posts, and engagements.
When logged in to your Twitter account, go to https://analytics.twitter.com/ to find tweets, engagement, and mentions.
When on your company profile page, click on the Insights tag to review visitors, updates, and followers.
Google Analytics Website Reports
For all of our SourceLink website affiliates, we install and setup Google Analytics. Please contact us and provide a Google account, if you do not have access to this via https://marketingplatform.google.com/about/analytics/ . Most times, you will login with the [email protected] email that was created for you during your implementation and setup.
The view under Audience and Overview usually provides everything that you need for reporting (users and sessions). We recommend digging in to the Acquisition section to understand how many of your users are coming to your site direct, through referral links, and social/email campaigns. This is particularly important in year two as you seek to grow the reach of your network building efforts.
MailChimp Newsletter Reports
When logged in to your Mail Chimp account, you can click on Campaigns and then Reports to extract insights and information. Most times, you will login with the [email protected] email that was created for you during your implementation and setup. Common metrics include audience size and growth, engagement as measured by clicks on your newsletters and opens.
Other Sources and Questions
Our team stands ready to help you make sense of all the data available to you. Reach out and share what your goals are, and we can provide more tailored recommendations.