Brolly exports are easy and flexible, and can be initiated from the export screen, the main feed, the messages screen or individual posts. In this article, we show you how to get the most out of exporting from Brolly. You might even be inspired to use exports of your archive in new and exciting ways.
Brolly team
18 October 2020
(We promise you, it’s more exciting than it sounds)
Brolly exports are easy and flexible, and can be initiated from the export screen, the main feed, the messages screen or individual posts.
In this article, we show you how to get the most out of exporting from Brolly. You might even be inspired to use exports of your archive in new and exciting ways.
When you’ve connected a social media account to Brolly, your preserved records remain securely archived in Brolly for as long as you need them. The feed shows your consolidated records, in reverse date order, with the freshest records on the top.
Viewing and using the feed within Brolly gives you quick access to your archive and the ability to filter, browse and export records as required.
When you need to export, whether you’re doing data analysis, reporting to your leadership team, integrating with data systems or responding to an information request, there’s an export and a format to suit.
You can export anything, at any time. The filters in your Brolly feed, along with other criteria like date range and account, are a great way to refine your records so that you’re exporting only what you need, for the task at hand.
If you want an export of your complete archive, that’s as easy as pie. Keep in mind, you’ll probably end up with an enormous file. Depending on the size of your archive, consider exporting a single month, year or week at a time.
Where to start: Go to the Exports tab and choose all your accounts, with a date range that extends back into the mists of time.
It can be useful to export records from an individual account, or even by platform. For example, if your organisation manages a Facebook group that attracts a high level of engagement, you can export the archive of just that account.
Where to start: To export from one or more specific accounts, start at the Exports tab and select the accounts you want to export.
Perhaps you would like an export that shows just your organisation’s posts. Or maybe you need to export the comments that have been added by members of the public. Toggle Public Activity off or on to filter your feed in this way.
Where to start: Export from the Brolly feed, with the preferred Public activity toggle setting.
Apart from file size, other reasons for exporting by date range could be to meet a monthly reporting objective, create an export that covers a marketing campaign, an event, or some other date-specific circumstance.
Where to start: Filter your feed by a date range (and any other criteria that you wish) then click the export button. Or go to the Exports tab and choose the date range along with other criteria.
Tags are a handy way to collate posts that belong together. For example you can tag posts that belong to a specific social media campaign, or relate an event or a topic or a person. You can also use tags to identify posts with specific retention or disposal policies.
Where to start: Export from the Brolly feed, filtered by a tag.
If you need all the detail for a single post, including all the comments and replies, there’s an export for that too.
Where to start: Go to your feed, or a filtered segment of your feed and click on a post to see the details. Click the Export icon to start your export.
If you’ve opted to archive messages from your connected Twitter and Facebook accounts, you can also create an archive of just your message records.
Where to start: Start in the Messages tab or choose Messages in the Exports tab.
While organisations all share the same requirement to keep comprehensive, compliant records, we also know that every organisation has unique ways of using and sharing the records they capture and preserve.
How do you report to your leadership team or governing body? Reports are a great way to shine a light on the work that you do. For this kind of task, you’ll need a report that’s easy to email and mark up, easy to store and with just enough detail.
Report format: PDF
Data has always been an important part of social media planning for business and government, and never more so than now. Running a campaign about a policy or initiative that’s attracting a lot of attention, and comments to match? Export the campaign posts and the comments associated with them, for your data analysts to run through, for insights into how your campaign was received, and how to tweak the communication next time.
Report format: CSV
If it’s the detail you need, you might like to have a snapshot of your records exactly as they appeared in Brolly at a given point in time, looking just like the Brolly feed. This is an export that gives you an offline Brolly experience.
Report format: HTML (downloads as a .zip file)
Strictly for the boffins! (and we mean that in the nicest possible way, speaking boffin to boffin) Sometimes you just need raw data. The right format of Brolly export can also be used for data science research, including deep analysis of sentiment, and integration with a range of tools and applications.
Report format: JSON
Our customers already know how easy it is to capture and preserve social media records using Brolly. What you may not know is just how easy it is to export your records, and all the wonderful ways to use the different formats.
Try for yourself! If you’re not already using Brolly, this is a great opportunity to explore all of Brolly’s export options.
This article was written by the team at Brolly. We’re a creative bunch, and we love social media archiving. Like most of the things we do here, this article was crafted with care and attention to detail. If you spot an error, or want to know more, don’t be afraid to reach out and say hello. We’d love to hear from you.
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