Separate organic and paid campaign outcomes in a report
Label each observation by what it measures and how it was obtained. Organic content work, advertising spend, purchased promotion delivery and attributed enquiries are different records. Keep them visible rather than presenting their combined totals as one kind of growth.
Your working document
Keep four records distinct
| Record | Useful evidence | What it establishes |
|---|---|---|
| Organic content | Published assets and defined account observations | Work delivered and reported organic observations |
| Advertising | Actual spend and the platform's defined report | Paid distribution under those reporting definitions |
| Purchased promotion | Service order, unit, status and settlement | The purchased deliverable recorded by that order |
| Business outcome | Defined enquiry or order with source evidence | An outcome under the stated attribution rule |
Prepare the report
Inventory the work and spend
Reconcile assets, advertisements and service orders with their actual records. Keep costs and units visible.
Preserve source definitions
Name the metric, window and reporting source beside the figure. Do not silently relabel an advertising view as an organic view.
Reconcile the business outcome
Use the agreed enquiry or order definition and duplicate rule. Keep unknown sources and overlap separate.
State the supported conclusion
Explain what each record shows and the relevant uncertainty. Delivery of a purchased quantity does not establish sales attribution.
Example reporting distinction
A fictional report could contain 10 original posts, an advertising-spend record, a promotion-order delivery record and 12 measured enquiries. Those values belong to different units and cannot be added into a single growth total.
When an asset receives both organic and paid distribution, use the available breakdown or state that the figure is mixed. Do not subtract a guessed paid component to manufacture an organic result.