You already know quite a bit about Social Media. You know what time you should be posting.
You know what type of content your audience resonates with.
You also have a pretty good idea as to the type of engagement you will get with particular types of posts.
But - do you know if your Social Media strategy is really working for your business? 🤔
If the answer is no, then it’s time for you to perform a Social Media audit.
What is a Social Media Audit?
A Social Media Audit is when you collect and analyze detailed data from ALL of your social media accounts.
You take an in depth look at your activity, results, audience and financial investments. The goal is to find out if your social media efforts match with your current objectives. Do you still have a Facebook group for an old “subscription-based” program that no longer exists?
Do you have posts linked to an old website?
An audit will help you pinpoint details like these - and it will help your profiles become up to date and relevant for your business plan.
Now that you know what a Social Media audit is, it’s time to get into the nitty gritty details of how to perform one.
Step 1 - Identify the networks for which you already have a Social Presence
You probably know all of these - but - to be safe, do a quick search for your brand name on Google.
Click through the first couple of pages and make sure there aren’t any “unofficial accounts” or really old accounts showing up.
Then, create a spreadsheet listing all the accounts your business currently operates.
*If you found accounts that are not being used, delete them accordingly.*
Step 2 - Check Your Social Media Profiles for Consistency
Is your brand being represented consistently?
Pull up every single profile and check. They should all have the same logo, a compelling and up-to-date description that includes keywords relevant to what your company does, and a correct link to your website.
Each profile should also have the same “brand voice”. You can’t be “formal” on one network…and “casual” on another.
Even though each network requires a slightly different approach, your brand should be represented the same throughout your social media presence.
Step 3 - Assess the usefulness of each account
Start by asking yourself these questions:
Are you utilizing each of the accounts?
Did you set up all of these accounts with specific goals in mind, or did you just do it to secure your brand’s name?
Is your target audience actually using the platform for said account?
A great way to tell if the platform would be good for your industry is to research the competition and see how many followers they have and the amount of engagement they have.
Once you’ve answered these questions, it will be clear whether or not an individual platform/account is really worth investing time in.
Step 4 - Analyze your Engagement
This is one of the most important parts of the auditing process.
Analyzing your engagement on each platform will tell you if your social media efforts are really paying off, and delivering any meaningful results.
Remember that spreadsheet we started in Step 1? Continue using it now. For each platform, compile all of the following where applicable:
Number of followers
Likes
Shares
Comments
Clicks
Video views
Number of followers
Post reach
Number of mentions (Twitter)
Be as detailed as you can! See how the metrics compare on different types of posts too.
Look for trends - are your engagement rates higher when you share video content?
Do they plummet when you share “text only” posts?
Does your content get more engagement on a particular platform?
Analyzing this data will help you determine which types of posts work best on each platform, which platforms are most valuable to you, and how your audience is engaging with you on each of the different platforms.
Step 5 - Audit the Competition
Once you have an idea of how your social profiles are performing, it’s time to compare yourself to the competition. Go through the same steps as you did for your own audit, and be sure to pay particular attention to such things as:
How they present themselves
Type of audiences they are attracting
How active they are
Types of content they’re posting
When and how often they’re posting
Ratio of original vs. Curated content
Their growth rate compared to yours
This comparison will help you gain a bit of perspective as to your own social media efforts.
Do you stack up against the companies you compete with?
Is there something they’re doing, that you should be doing?
Is there opportunity for growth within your own strategy?
Performing a Social Media audit may seem daunting - but, when you follow the above steps you will see just how easy it can be. And useful! If you still have questions - or need an extra pair of eyes, give me a shout. :)