media update’s Jenna Cook shows how simple it is to audit your social media accounts.

Before conducting a social media audit, it’s important to know exactly what it is: A social media audit is the collection and analysis of all the social media data owned by a brand.

Completing a social media audit might sound a little intimidating, but it’s actually quite easy. You will need to be ready and willing to collect and analyse the data from all of your social media accounts. It’s really important to know what part of your social media strategy is working and what isn’t.

Now that you know what a social media audit is, you can follow these seven simple steps, which will show you how it’s done:

Step 1: Make a list of all your existing social media profiles

First things first – you need to know where all your information is coming from.

Compile a list of all your social media platforms. The order doesn’t really matter, but it’s important that you don’t forget any of them.

Step 2: Update visible information on your social media profiles

Now that you know where all of your content is being posted, you’ll need to ensure that the information on these profiles is correct.

Sort through each of your social media profiles, making sure that the contact information and biography or brand history is up to date.

Step 3: Make sure your brand image is consistent across all social media profiles

You have located all your social media accounts and made sure that all the information is current. Next, you’ll need to see if your brand image and information is consistent across all of these accounts.

Consistency is key when building your brand reputation. Your consumers will remember the way in which your brand is showcased. This makes ensuring that you’re portraying the correct message on all of your social media platforms extremely important.

If you answer ‘yes’ to all of these questions, then you’re on the right track:
  • Is the name of your brand spelt and formatted the same way on all of your profiles?
  • Does your brand's newest logo feature as the profile picture across each of your profiles?
  • Is the rest of your profile in accordance with your brand’s style guide?
  • Do the biographies on all of your profiles match one another?
  • Is there a link to your website or main account in your bio?
  • Are all of your handles the same or similar?
  • Is the type of content you post shareable across all of your social media platforms?

Step 4: Analyse the performance of your content across each of your social media profiles

This is where things become a little tricky. You need to dig a little deeper to see how each of your profiles are performing across social media. The bulk of your data and insights will come from these analytics.

Here is what you should be looking out for on each of your social media platforms:
  • What is your best performing content? You can figure this out by taking a look at what content is the most liked, shared and commented on. It is also worth noting what form of content this is. Is it an image? A video? An infographic?
  • At what times does your content receive the most engagement? You’ll probably notice that your audience is more active at certain times of the day. Knowing when to post is just as important as knowing where.
  • Who is engaging with your content? Take a look at the demographics of the people who are actively engaging with your content.
  • Are you reaching your posting goals? Make a note of exactly how often you’re posting and compare this to your posting plan.
  • What kind of sentiment is your content delivering? Rate your content as positive, negative or neutral based on the way that people are engaging with it.

Step 5: Check to see if you're reaching your intended target market

In your analytics, you will have discovered whether or not you’re reaching the right target audience. If you are – high fives all around. If you aren’t, it’s not the end of the world.

Take the time to do some more research on your intended target audience. This means learning about what social media platform they use most frequently, determining the time of day that they’re most active and also what kind of content they are most likely to engage with.

This might sound like a lot of work, but the rewards for maximising engagement on social media are worth it!

Step 6: Review your content creation and posting activity

Have a look at your content – is what, and when, you’re posting maximising your engagement potential? Perhaps you’ve noticed that video works better for your followers than images do. So ask yourself: How can you improve the quality or the quantity of your posts?

By looking at your analytics, you’ll be able to see if you’re meeting your social media strategy objectives.

Step 7: Update your social media strategy objectives

This is the last – and most important – step. You have all the information beautifully laid out, but it’s not what you have as much as how you use it.

Compare your social media data or analytics with your social media strategy. Ask yourself: what needs to change? Perhaps you need to switch up the times that you post, or the type of content that you’re sharing.

Whatever the adjustments are, remember that there is no perfect solution to social media marketing. It takes trial and error to get it right!

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The more time you spend carefully crafting your social media strategy, the more effective it will be when the time comes to execute it. Check out our infographic to help you get there: 10 steps to the perfect social media strategy.
*Image courtesy of Vecteezy