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6 Steps for Conducting a Social Media Audit
Did you know that 87 percent of marketers use social media? Many companies invest in social media marketing to reach valuable leads and earn conversions for their business. An essential part of conducting a successful social media campaign is a social media audit.
A social media audit helps you see how your campaign is performing and where you can make improvements.
In this post (and the bonus video below!), we’ll provide you with six steps for how to conduct a social media audit. Keep reading to learn more about what a social media audit is, as well as how to make the most of your social media assessment!
And keep in mind, whether you’re looking for a digital marketing agency in Philly or social media help in Orlando, WebFX has you covered.
What Is a Social Media Audit?
A social media audit compiles key information about each of your social accounts in one place. You will analyze all your company’s social channels, whether they are active, with a social media audit.
You’ll look at your activity, audience, results, and budget with each platform. You take all this information and compile it into one document, known as your social media audit report.
When you build your audit document, analyze your goals and evaluate your strategy to see if yours help you reach your company’s goals.
A social media audit allows you to see how each social account functions within your overall strategy. You’ll better understand which pieces work and which ones don’t. It allows you to tweak your strategy to drive better results.
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How To Conduct a Social Media Audit in 6 Steps
A social media audit takes an in-depth look at your social media accounts. To ensure that you’re investing your time in an effective social media marketing audit, follow these six steps for how to conduct a social media audit:
1. Create a Template for Your Social Media Audit
First, create a template for your social media audit. A template helps you stay organized and ensures that you include all your audit’s vital information.
It’s incredibly beneficial if you have more than one person conducting an audit on your social media accounts. This ensures that your team does the audit the same way for each social media site, which makes the information more comparable.
A template is also helpful for future social media assessments. You will need to conduct audits on social media periodically, so having a pre-defined template makes it easy for your team to get started in the future.
So, what information should you include in your social media audit?
First, start with basic information like a link to your social profile and the social handle of that profile. You’ll also want to include who handles the account, whether it’s one person or an entire team.
After you record this information, compile information about your target audience. Demographic information is useful because it helps define your audience and highlights who is interested in your business.
You’ll also want to include metrics you’re trying to measure. This can include likes, shares, impressions, comments, conversions, or any other measurable goal. Focus on three of the most important metrics you want to monitor in your social media audit report.
This is just some basic information you’ll want to include in every audit template to ensure you’re conducting an effective social media audit.
2. Analyze Social Accounts for Branding
After you fill out your basic social media audit information, take an in-depth look at your social media accounts. The best place to start is to look at your various accounts and assess how much they capture and align with your brand.
You want to ensure that every one of your social media profiles showcases your brand. In your social media audit report, document details about your account’s appearance and how it aligns with your brand image.
Make sure each of your social media accounts fits with your current brand image and standards by looking at the following elements:
- Profile photo and cover image: These two elements should reflect your business’s style with imagery. They should also include a logo for your company.
- Profile text: The content in your profile information should align with your current brand messaging tactics. It should also include up-to-date information, like on your location and hours, for example.
- Handles: Your social media handles should be the same across all channels. They should be consistent with their purpose. Whether it’s a customer support account or a regular account, each handle should match the others in that group.
- Pinned posts: Platforms like Twitter allow you to have a pinned post that appears at the top of your social media profile. Ensure that this pin is still relevant to your brand’s current strategy.
As you compile this information for your social media audit, ensure that you analyze each social media profile.
3. Identify Your Best Posts
When you conduct a social media audit, you’ll want to pull out your best posts. Focus on three or four posts that have the most engagement. You’ll want to analyze these posts and record their performance.
Once you identify your best posts, compare them to see what they have in common. Look for patterns within each piece of content. Recognizing these patterns may help you establish what attracts your audience to these posts.
Look at the type of posts that garner the most responses. Are they photos, videos, links to content, or plain text? Note these patterns for future use on your content.
By analyzing your best posts, you can start to identify what makes your posts successful and include that in future social posts.
4. Evaluate Your Budget
This is an essential step in a social media audit (as well as a core part of your social media audit report) that many marketers forget. If you want to conduct a successful social media audit, you must evaluate your budget and how you spend your money.
There are many elements to factor into your budget, including:
- Ad spend
- Cost of management tools
- Any consultant or agency fees
- Payment for employees working on campaigns
- Apps or tools used to create images or videos for your social accounts
You must include all costs that affect your budget. You’ll also want to mention your return on investment (ROI) in your report. You want to see a clear ROI on your campaign to ensure you’re making money.
Evaluating your budget helps you see if you are using your money effectively. If you see little to no ROI, you may need to rethink your social strategy and how you spend your money.
5. Evaluate Your Audience
At the beginning of your social media audit report, you will record information about your audience. This is typically demographic information about who makes up your audience. When you evaluate your audience, you will take an in-depth look at them.
You want to get to know your audience better to ensure that you’re delivering the content they want. You’ll want to evaluate your audience on each platform. Go in-depth about your followers on each platform and assess them.
It’s crucial that you learn what your audience likes or dislikes. You want to know this information to ensure that you’re producing content your audience likes. That way, you can create a better social media campaign for your business.
6. Repeat Frequently
The last step to conducting a successful social media audit? Do them regularly. Social media is constantly changing. The interests and buying habits of people change, and social media can often reveal upcoming trends.
You want to ensure that you compile social media audit reports often. It’s good to consistently evaluate your strategy to see how your tactics are working. For example, you may complete a social media audit twice a year or on a quarterly basis.
When you invest time and money into your social media strategy plan, you want to ensure it’s worth it. Conducting routine social media audits allows you to evaluate your performance to ensure you’re creating the most effective campaign for your audience.
Start Auditing Your Social Media Campaigns Today
Reviewing your social media marketing helps you create a strategy that drives better results.
When you evaluate your strategy, you can figure out what’s working for your business and where your strategy needs improvement. This will help you drive more leads and conversions for your business.
If you need help auditing your social media campaign, contact us online to see how we can help you run an audit!
