A social media audit is mandatory if you want your brand to grow and flourish. Although it may seem difficult, performing a social media audit doesn’t have to be. You can easily and confidently traverse the process if you have the correct tools and guide. Regardless of the amount of expertise in digital marketing or tools, evaluating your social media performance on a regular basis is crucial to staying on top of your game. The audit will help you identify your strengths and weaknesses and figure out necessary changes to your social media marketing strategy.
We will go over all you need to know about social media audits in this post, including their importance and a detailed how-to guide.
What is Social Media Audit?
A social media audit includes a point-by-point analysis of your company’s social media presence. Performance indicators and upcoming chances to expand and enhance your accounts are included in this. For the following reasons, audits are an essential component of social media for business –
Recognizing the effects of your social media presence on the goals of your business
Engaging your audience on a regular basis and offering first-rate customer service
Finding fresh business ventures and awareness-raising strategies
Conducting a regular social media audit is crucial because the report serves as a guide for you and your team. It helps you adjust and improve your content strategy.
Additionally, as every social media platform requires a unique content strategy. Hence, social media audits must incorporate extensive data that allows you to monitor a wide range of social media metrics and determine which postings, in terms of both format and topic, perform best.
What are the Benefits of Social Media Audit?
Without a plan, managing several social media platforms can be challenging. Also, when your social media is disorganized and unpredictable, you’re sure to go off course.
Here’s why conducting a social media audit is important –
To Evaluate Performance
An audit gives you a quick overview of the success of your social media initiatives. By doing a separate audit of each social media network, you can determine what is succeeding and what is failing. In addition, you can also compare the platforms to determine which is most successful.
Help Highlight Social's ROI
Social ROI can be difficult to measure, and many marketing departments are under pressure for the same reason. Hence, social media audits must be carried out frequently. Audits can reveal achievements that stakeholders may have missed. This might be a noteworthy exchange, an increase in followers, or a piece of material that goes viral. Communicating the impact of social media is made easier when your numbers are at the forefront. Extensive reporting is also beneficial.
Optimize Resources
It is not just social media managers; everyone else values time and resources. An audit identifies areas where you can reallocate funding for the greatest impact or streamline processes, which helps you allocate these resources more wisely. Not only this, a social media audit online can also help in establishing “Best Practice.”
Saves You Time
This benefit builds upon the previous two advantages. In the long run, the initial work is worthwhile. In what way? Audits, to begin with, help you remove low-priority chores from your agenda. Perhaps there is no engagement on your most time-consuming network or content format. On the other hand, low-hanging fruit may be hiding somewhere that was previously hidden. When you rearrange your priorities, knowing what’s working and what isn’t can save you a ton of time.
You can take help of the online social media audit template. They help you by streamlining the auditing process. They provide a centralized location to track social profiles and their metrics. This also provides a more complete picture of an organization’s social media strategy and ensures that nothing is overlooked.
How to Perform a Comprehensive Social Media Audit?
Here is a step-by-step process of a comprehensive social media audit –
Figure What You Need
There are no surprises here. Concentrate on your social media objectives for every platform you use, such as –
Boosting website traffic
Increasing lead and sales generation
Increasing involvement in the community
Expanding your viewership (consider: followers)
Setting goals will undoubtedly direct your presence. Your goals will also tell you which metrics are important to monitor on each platform. For instance, you may gain Instagram followers more quickly than Facebook. However, the latter is bringing in more money from clients. The context of your goals is important when it comes to your measurements.
Remember that your initial social media audit does not require you to complete every single blank. Focus once more on the social media indicators that correspond with your objectives.
List All Your Social Media Profiles
This one is very simple. Simply create an Excel or Google Sheet and include the handles and accounts for any social media network that your company uses.
Whether it’s YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, or another platform, to ensure that you don’t overlook anything when you begin benchmarking if you are already utilizing a program for your social media audit, make sure all these accounts are added and confirmed.
Ensure Your Branding and Identity is Consistent
Maintaining a consistent brand on social media is crucial. However, some nuances are simple to miss. As you conduct an assessment of your social media presence, remember to confirm that your profiles “match.” For consistency, bear the following components of your brand identity in mind –
Bio and “About” wording (see your style guide if unsure)
Landing pages and URLs for destinations
Banner and profile pictures
Use of hashtags
Are you trying to drive traffic to your website but don’t have a lot of social media-specific marketing running? There’s a good chance that not much will change between audits. Nevertheless, companies that execute seasonal marketing efforts must evaluate these specifics on a regular basis. For instance, by mid-March, you should make sure you’re not still employing holiday campaign creatives.
Analyze and Categorize Your Content
Look over your most recent posts first. Consider asking certain questions. For example –
Do they have any bearing on your audience?
Do they align with the message of your brand?
Are they in line with the preferences and current trends in your industry?
The exciting part is about to begin: the social media stats. This is the section where you should examine each platform and examine key performance indicators (KPIs) such as engagement rate, follower count, reach, impressions, and so on.
Examine metrics for each platform that a particular piece of content is receiving, such as – results, impressions, engagement.
Gather Information on Your Audience
Keep in mind that your brand’s journey is fueled and sustained by its audience. While you’re putting out your social media audit report, it’s crucial to keep your audience in mind. Therefore, if your audience connects with your brand values, it’s obvious that your content is speaking to the people who matter.
Make use of resources that offer data on age, gender, and demographic distribution to determine whether your buyer and user personas are compatible. Consider it a social or audience audit within a larger context.
Identify Patterns
Once everything is in order, you should start to see certain trends; pay attention to them! Perhaps there’s a typical kind of content that your readers connect with the most. You may find out which post type is most popular with your audience by tracking this measure throughout several audit reports.
Alternatively, and perhaps more importantly, you may find that one channel is significantly outperforming the others. You can achieve this by comparing your social media profiles to one another on each platform.
Perform Competitor Analysis
After analyzing the content analytics for your brand, it’s only right to take a quick look at the metrics of your rivals and compare their performance to yours. Metrics like follower counts, top posts, interaction rates, views, and more are available for inspection.
Analyze Your Social Media Results
After obtaining a respectable amount of data regarding the social media performance of your brand, audience insights, and competitors’ social media presence, look for opportunities to enhance your online presence or address any holes that your rivals may have left. To find your company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, a SWOT analysis is a smart concept.
Even though a lot of concepts have been tried before, you have the special power to reinterpret them using your own voice and brand narrative. Always maintain your authenticity, remember? You stand out with your voice, so it’s important to let it come through.
Make a List of Actionable Items
Make a list of practical suggestions based on your findings. These could be fine-tuning your content strategy, scheduling posts at the best times, or increasing your investment in platforms that provide superior returns.
Always provide recommendations that are consistent with your overarching business objectives. Increasing your following may be a top priority if raising brand awareness is your primary goal. If the goal is conversions, you should concentrate on increasing your posts’ click-through rate. Sort your next steps into manageable tasks and establish specific objectives for each.
Key Metrics to Consider for Social Media Audit
When conducting a social media audit, it’s important to evaluate several metrics to get a comprehensive view of your performance and areas for improvement. Key metrics to consider include –
Engagement Rate
Measures the level of interaction (likes, comments, shares) relative to your follower count. High engagement indicates that your content resonates well with your audience.
Reach and Impressions
Reach shows how many unique users saw your content, while impressions reflect the total number of times your content was displayed. Both metrics help gauge visibility and content effectiveness.
Follower Growth
Tracks the increase or decrease in your follower count over time. A steady growth suggests your content is attracting and retaining interest.
Click-Through Rate (CTR)
Indicates the percentage of users who click on links in your posts. A high CTR shows that your calls-to-action are compelling and your content is engaging.
Conversion Rate
Measures the percentage of social media interactions that result in a desired action, such as signing up for a newsletter or making a purchase. It helps assess the effectiveness of your social media in driving business goals.
Sentiment Analysis
Evaluate the overall sentiment of user comments and interactions to understand how your brand is perceived.
Conclusion
Conducting a comprehensive social media audit involves several steps. Some of the ways to do this are by assessing metrics, evaluating performance, and refining strategies to enhance your online presence. It is important to systematically review engagement rates, reach, follower growth, and more. This helps you develop and implement actionable insights to drive better results.
Big Shout Design offers specialized services to enhance your social media strategy. Optimize your social media performance with us. Contact us on +1 (650) 989-9822 or at contact@bigshoutdesign.com today to schedule your personalized audit!
FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)
Q1. What Needs to be a Part of a Media Audit?
A1. Key performance indicators (KPIs), including engagement rates, follower growth, reach, impressions, and conversion metrics, should all be included in an extensive social media audit. It should assess the effectiveness of your content strategy in addition to your audience’s demographics and behavioral patterns, your platform’s performance, a review of your rivals, and any emerging trends or business prospects in your industry.
Q2. How Frequently Should a Social Media Audit be Carried Out?
A2. Various factors, like the size of your audience, the rate of change in your business, and the resources available for analysis, can affect how often you undertake social media audits. However, some companies check social media material once a month, or at least once per quarter, to monitor performance patterns, pinpoint areas for development, and make sure your tactics are still in line with your goals.
Q3. What Are Some Best Tools for Social Media Audit?
A3. For an effective social media audit, consider using tools like Hootsuite for comprehensive analytics, Google Analytics for traffic insights, and Sprout Social for engagement metrics. SEMrush and Ahrefs can provide in-depth SEO and competitor analysis, while Buffer offers scheduling insights. Additionally, tools like Brandwatch help with sentiment analysis and trend monitoring to refine your social media strategy.
Q4. How Can a Social Media Audit Improve My Content Strategy?
A4. A social media audit highlights which types of content perform best identifies audience preferences, and reveals gaps, allowing you to tailor your content strategy for better engagement and results.