Straight answers to the questions agency owners ask us.

Count the conversations social started that asked about buying or booking, ask the client each month which ones became customers and roughly what they were worth, and calculate value from their answers. Report the confirmed value and any estimate as separate numbers, next to what the retainer cost.

Keep a record of every conversation that asks about buying or booking, with the post that started it, and once a month ask the client which of those people became customers. Then report it plainly: "23 people asked to book, 6 became customers, and this reel started 7 of the conversations."

Multiply the client's close rate by their average sale. If they don't know their close rate, work it out by asking each month which of their Instagram leads became customers. For example, 15 customers out of 54 leads at about $500 each makes a lead worth roughly $140.

Because some Instagram visits arrive without referral information, especially from links shared in DMs, and Google Analytics counts any visit it can't attribute as Direct. Adding UTM tags to every link you control fixes the clicks, but it can't capture leads that never click at all.

No. Google Analytics counts website visits, not conversations. A lead who messages on Instagram and books by phone or in the DMs never touches the website, so it never appears in Google Analytics. Those leads have to be recorded in the inbox, where they happen.

Sometimes. Instagram attaches the source when someone replies to a story, shares your post into the chat, clicks a click-to-DM ad, taps an ig.me link with a ref, or answers your private reply to their comment. When someone opens your profile and types a message, nothing is attached, so a person has to work out the post from the conversation.

Yes. A story reply arrives with a reference to the story it was replying to, including the story's ID. Because stories disappear after 24 hours, save that context when the message comes in if you want it for reporting later.

Use a different keyword on every post and never reuse one, so the comment tells you the post. Then remember Instagram only allows one private reply within seven days of a comment, so leads from older posts, or people who DM the keyword instead of commenting, need to be linked by hand.

A business can send one private message in reply to a comment, within seven days of the comment being posted. It can only send more after the person replies, and then within 24 hours of their reply. On a live video, private replies only work while the broadcast is running.

Lead with the number and own it, give the honest reason in one sentence, show the one thing that did work, and say what you're changing next month. Don't hide a drop in leads behind reach or engagement charts; clients notice, and it costs more trust than the drop itself.

Monthly for results, with a short quarterly review that looks at the goal and sets the next 90 days. Weekly reporting is usually too frequent for organic social to show meaningful change, though a quick weekly note on leads or issues can help busy accounts.

Report the median time to first reply, not the average, and say whether it's measured in business hours or clock hours. Show high-priority messages, such as leads and complaints, separately, because that's the number the client cares about most.

One page: the result against the goal you agreed, the two or three posts that brought in the most business, what didn't work and what you changed, and a target and plan for the next 90 days. Send it 48 hours ahead and keep reach and engagement charts in an appendix.

The early signs are slower replies on approvals and content requests, and reports opened late or not at all. Later signs are casual questions like "what are we actually getting from this?", new questions about price or scope, and a new person, often a partner or finance lead, joining calls.

Mostly because they don't believe the work delivered. In Setup's survey, 48% of clients named delivery issues as the main reason they fired an agency, while only 18% of agencies saw delivery as a top challenge. For organic social, results arrive as DMs and calls the owner handles personally, so the agency doesn't get credit unless it records them.

Only in limited cases. Meta allows normal replies for 24 hours after the person's last message. After that, a reply only goes through if a person is responding to that specific conversation using the human agent tag, which Meta allows for up to seven days. Automated or bulk follow-ups after 24 hours aren't allowed.

Put every client's messages in one place, sort them by what the person wants (leads and complaints first), and give every conversation that's waiting on your team one named owner. Check high-priority and nearly-24-hour messages first thing each morning and batch everything else.