How To Run a Social Media Audit in 4 Steps

Fear not. This isn’t like that doomed visit from an overworked and slightly irritable IRS worker coming to rifle through every single receipt and transaction you’ve made since the dawn of time and slapping a giant fine on you at the end.

This audit will only bring about good things. Best practice would be performing an audit every 3 months to ensure your social media strategies are optimized to their fullest potential so you can worry less and make more.

Yes, numbers are involved and you’ll want to create a template. But, all the social analytic tools you likely already use make plugging in the numbers simple and it will get easier every time you do one!

So, What Is a Social Media Audit?

A social media audit is simply taking a detailed and strategic look at your social media channels and evaluating the trueness to brand, what’s working, what’s not and understanding where opportunities lie. You will collect and analyze information to ensure that your social media efforts are truly relevant to your objectives and goals.

Answer These Questions Before Starting Your Audit

There are a few general setup details you need to address for each platform before diving into the numbers.

• Is the account set up fully? Are all sections filled in?
• Is the profile image clear?
• Is the banner image clear and viewable on both mobile and desktop?
• Is there a clear call-to-action?
• Is critical information there? ex. phone number, website, business hours
• Are you posting consistently?

• Is everything free of spelling and grammar mistakes?

These questions will help you start looking at your social pages in a more analytical way.

STEP #1: CREATE A TEMPLATE FOR YOUR AUDIT

There are a number of templates you can easily find online and edit, however, creating a personalized spreadsheet that is tailored to your company is a great idea (and you only need to create it once!). Create an individual tab for each platform to keep it organized. Use the on-platform analytics tools to pull the information and numbers.

Basic points that should be included:

• Profile name and URL
• Follower count
• Posting frequency
• Referral traffic

STEP #2: KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

Collect the following data:

• Followers
• Likes
• Shares
• Comments
• Clicks
• Video views
• Post reach
• Number of mentions (Twitter)

What do you learn from this? You may be frustrated that a certain platform has low engagement in terms of likes and comments, however, after analyzing the click data, you may realize that this platform may drive the most traffic to your site, resulting in sales.

STEP #3: AUDIENCE AND COMMUNITY

Record these stats so you can really visualize who your posts are reaching:

• Percentage of women
• Percentage of men
• Top age range
• Top locations: countries (1-3) & cities (5)

WHAT DO YOU LEARN FROM THIS?

It is important to tailor your content to meet the needs of your audience. If the vast majority of your audience is females, aged 55-65, living in Palm Springs, create content that is relevant and interesting to that demographic. It is also important to make sure that your content is attracting the right audience. If everyone engaging with your posts are women, but you’re targeting men then you need to change up your content strategy!

STEP #4: CONTENT AND AESTHETIC

Pull your 3 top performing and your 3 lowest performing posts. Examine the times of days they were posted at. Look at what type of content got more engagement and what got the least.

WHAT DO YOU LEARN FROM THIS?

Sometimes you’ll think you put out a piece of killer content but it performed poorly. It’s possible that you posted at a time where your audience wasn’t on the platform, or on a platform that your audience doesn’t use at all. By looking at the top and lowest performing posts, you can see what your audience likes. Maybe they prefer images with people in them as opposed to just products.

Improve Your Social Media Strategy By Analyzing All The Data

It’s time to take a step back and look at all this information as a whole. Ask yourself:

• Is there brand consistency across all channels?
• What types of content perform best?
• Where and when am I getting the most engagement?
• Is my target audience really who I thought it was and want it to be?
• Am I on any platforms just for the sake of being social? Could I benefit by deleting one account and channelling my time to other, more important ones?

• What changes do I need to make in order to optimize my social platforms?

Don’t Be Afraid To Be Critical

Change is good. If something is dragging you down, cut it loose. Don’t waste time on something that isn’t driving traffic and sales. Use these numbers to improve your social performance.

Looking for help doing a full audit of your social channels? Check out our social audit service or book a free marketing consultation call with a specialist today.