---
name: stage-6-optimization-metrics-budget-review-recommendations
description: "Use the latest results to choose the next useful change."
category: Strategy & Measurement
stage: —
definitive_article: /social-amplification
status: complete
---

# Stage 6: Optimization (metrics, budget review, recommendations)

Use the latest results to choose the next useful change. This guide helps your team see which part needs work and who should fix it. Start with this period’s facts, the original goal and the last action list.

**The path:** Results + prior actions → Explain the change → Bounded plan → Next cycle

**Start when:** The agreed engine review is due and there is sufficient data to inspect, or a source gap needs routing.

## Inputs

- [Actual campaign settings and result records](https://local-service-spotlight.github.io/task-library/?task=stage-5-amplification-boost-posts-remarketing-ads#task-stage-5-amplification-boost-posts-remarketing-ads).
- [The accepted goals/economics brief](https://local-service-spotlight.github.io/task-library/?task=stage-2-goals-mission-90-day-goals-cpa-roas-budget#task-stage-2-goals-mission-90-day-goals-cpa-roas-budget) and prior actions.
- Matching source exports, conversion definitions, dates, tracking limits and action authority.

## Steps

1. Read back which prior actions actually happened, their timing and any concurrent account changes. Start comparison from the real state, not the prior report’s intentions.
2. Break a headline result into useful components. With the same clicks and conversions, cost per lead equals average cost per click divided by leads per click. Check matching populations and zero denominators before applying the formula.
3. Compare the current and prior comparable periods, allowing for conversion lag, seasonality, mix and changed definitions. Name observed changes and plausible explanations separately; do not assign a proven cause to every fluctuation.
4. Audit actual spend against the agreed total and by relevant campaign, audience or channel. Pair unit cost with qualified volume and business outcomes so a cheap result is not mistaken for a good one.
5. Choose the highest-value concrete next actions, usually a small set for the coming week. Each has an evidence link, owner, due date, expected signal and decision rule. Fewer supported actions are better than padding to three or five.
6. Route new content to phase 3, audience work to phase 4, and approved campaign changes to phase 5. Keep proposals separate from execution and check any authorized change afterward.
7. Save the [Metrics, Analysis, Action: what happened, why and what to do](https://blitzmetrics.com/maa/) report and handoff. The next agreed cycle checks these results; no guide text creates a weekly job or guarantees that a provider will run it.

## Definition of done (QA checklist)

Quality assurance (QA) means checking the result against its agreed requirements; see the [Article Guidelines](https://localservicespotlight.com/article-guidelines/).

- [ ] Component math and comparisons use the same definitions and periods.
- [ ] Budget and business-result findings are evidence-backed with uncertainty visible.
- [ ] Next actions have actual receiving owners and review conditions; saved and proposed actions remain distinct.

## Example(s)

**Fictional teaching example. This is not a client result or proof of a completed run.**

In a fictional account, 200 clicks cost $100 and produce 10 qualified leads. Cost per click is $0.50, lead rate is 5%, and cost per lead is $10. Next week’s cost rises, but the source is only two days old. The team retains the observation and waits for its agreed window before calling the test worse.

## Handoff and Content Factory context

[Write the agreed weekly report](https://local-service-spotlight.github.io/task-library/?task=submit-weekly-maa-report-every-friday#task-submit-weekly-maa-report-every-friday) receives the report; the exact phase owner receives each accepted action and its future measurement condition.

This work supports the [Content Factory: Produce, Process, Post and Promote](https://blitzmetrics.com/content-factory/) across its relevant stages. It uses the actual inputs and next owner above; a strategy or measurement guide does not manufacture transcripts, clips or other unrelated stage outputs.

## Start with an agent

Give the AI worker this recipe, the real Inputs, the desired result and the actions already authorized. Ask for the saved output, source evidence, passed and failed checks, and the next owner. A skill is a set of instructions. Loading it does not prove access, install a scheduled job or complete the work. Use the [current installation guide](https://localservicespotlight.com/install/) only if reusable setup is needed; a ZIP contains instructions and is not an access grant.

Use the actual supported app and verified source access. A model name is not a promise of browser control, memory or unattended work. For recurring work, inspect the real job’s trigger, owner, timezone and observed firing; this recipe creates no schedule. Before any media playback, mute the player and set volume to zero. A silent review does not prove sound was heard.

## Record the real execution

Open the run record when work begins. Keep one execution ID, the exact starting recipe revision, input sources and actual state. Write a [meta article, the record of one real execution](https://blitzmetrics.com/meta-article-prompt/) with results, checks, failures and next owner. Link it to this task in the [Task Library](https://local-service-spotlight.github.io/task-library/). Writing is required; public release follows existing authority.

Reuse the same execution ID for internal reviews, meta writing, revisions and retries. A blocked run stays open with its dependency and owner, without an invented finish time. Keep historical public examples as dated evidence; article counts alone are not verified execution frequency. Use supported findings to propose and verify a recipe improvement.


<!-- factory-layer:start -->

## Factory chain (do not treat this as isolated)

- **Phase:** —
- **Importance:** 4/5 `●●●●○` — frequency 4, revenue 4, gating 2 (runs every factory cycle or weekly; creates the asset ads amplify)
- **Suggested previous station:** —
- **Suggested next station:** —
These stations are generated neighbors, not verified prerequisites or handoffs. Follow the task’s actual Inputs and Handoff sections.
- **Handoff:** Save this task’s actual output, source, date and checks where the receiving owner can read them. Follow the Inputs and Handoff sections for its next step.

## Model routing (same factory, any engine)

- **This task's lane:** `any` — Any capable chat model (Claude, ChatGPT, Grok, Gemini). SOP following, drafts, checklists.
- **Single-engine path:** Use the capable AI app you already have. Check its required tools and access before starting. Pass the actual result and proof to the next task.
- **Optional multi-engine:** A tested local model may draft; a stronger model may review facts and voice. Use supported tools for approved actions. Pick models from observed quality and cost; a model name does not prove it can run this task.
- **Never** store the working state in one vendor's memory. Files in the Content Library are the bridge.

<!-- factory-layer:end -->
## Definitive article & links

- [Maintained source guide](https://blitzmetrics.com/social-amplification/)
- [This task in the Task Library](https://local-service-spotlight.github.io/task-library/?task=stage-6-optimization-metrics-budget-review-recommendations#task-stage-6-optimization-metrics-budget-review-recommendations)
- [Article Guidelines](https://localservicespotlight.com/article-guidelines/)
- [Definitive article and task recipe standard](https://blitzmetrics.com/definitive-article-guide/)
- [How recipes and run records work together](https://localservicespotlight.com/meta-articles/)

## Review and evidence still needed

The inherited contributor status is `complete`. It is preserved, not promoted by this rewrite. That label alone does not verify document readiness, account access, an actual execution or a client outcome.

A relevant real execution, source evidence, independent reviewer and accepted handoff remain to be recorded. The fictional example teaches the method and does not fill a real-run evidence gap. The opening and full method need a named semantic reviewer; the task-specific path is source guidance, with visible desktop/mobile presentation still to check.