The record month that wasn't
Each month I turn Vale Base Metals' LinkedIn and website data into a five slide report for management.
- Company
- Vale Base Metals
- Role
- Built and own the report
- Timeline
- Monthly, May to Dec 2026
- Tools
- LinkedIn Analytics, GA4, PowerPoint
Challenge
The data sat in separate dashboards, and the headline numbers could mislead. In September, impressions rose 370%, but 81% came from paid posts. More than 4,700 website search clicks came from spam. And VBM posted 11 times against a competitor average of about 20.
LinkedIn posts, 1 to 30 September 2026.
Approach
- One report, readable from page one. LinkedIn, website and key numbers in five slides.
- Every number has a comparison: last month and four competitors.
- Clean data: paid and organic reported separately, spam removed.
- Three recommendations at most, each tied to a number.
Outcome
- LinkedIn impressions since May
- +87.6%
- Page views since May
- +28.9%
- Fewer posts than competitors
- 42.2%
- Spam clicks kept out of reporting
- 4,700+
The key insight: September looked like a record month, but most of the reach was paid. Reporting paid and organic separately stopped a paid spike from being read as organic growth, and pointed the recommendations at posting volume instead.
Management now gets one trusted view of LinkedIn and the website each month. September's recommendations: more original posts from leaders, and a target of 15 posts a month.