How to Conduct a Successful Social Media Audit

Is your brand in need of a social media audit? The foundations of modern social media strategy need to be data and objectives. The impact of social media shouldn’t be unclear, and accountability is essential. Building a modern social media strategy starts with anchoring it in data and objectives. Clarity on the impact of social media is key, and accountability is non-negotiable. Yet, numerous businesses operate on social platforms without a defined strategy. Perhaps your approach has been more freestyle, or perhaps you haven’t had the bandwidth to thoroughly assess your social footprint. However, performing a social media audit stands as a wise and proactive step forward.

Why is Social Media Audit Important?

Audits are an effective technique for making decisions with confidence. They offer specific responses to concerns like content strategy, platform importance, and the necessity of making changes in an environment that is changing quickly. Social media audits help businesses evaluate the influence of social media on their business activities and prevent premature decisions by using performance data to make informed decisions. Frequent audits help identify overlooked achievements and allow efficient social ROI reporting. They also improve operations by highlighting low-priority jobs, saving time, and highlighting potential for growth that may have gone unnoticed.

So here are 10 steps that will help you conduct a social media audit with ease:

1. Organize Every Social Media Account You Currently Have

Make a list of all of your social media profiles first. Obvious, right? But think about your social media accounts on platforms other than “big” ones like Facebook or Instagram. You don’t have to struggle and spend time on networks you aren’t using. Verify again that you are the owner of those accounts and that your company has authority over them, and decide if they reach your preferred target audience.

2. Establish Specific Goals for Every Network

No surprises here. Concentrate on your social media objectives for every platform you use, such as:

• An increase in brand recognition
• Boosting lead and sales generation
• Boosting engagement within the community
• Growing your audience?
• Bringing more people to your website

Setting goals definitely indicates your presence. Your goals will also tell you which metrics are essential to monitor on each platform. For instance, you may be gaining Instagram followers more quickly than Facebook ones. However, the latter is bringing in more money from clients. The context of your goals is important when it comes to your measurements.

3. Ensure that Your Brand’s Personality, Language, and Branding Are Consistent

Maintaining a consistent brand on social media is crucial. However, a few details are simple to miss. As you conduct a review of your social media presence, remember to confirm that your profiles “match.” For consistency, keep the following elements of your brand identity in mind:

• Bio and “About” wording?
• Banner and profile pictures
• Landing pages and URLs for destinations
• Use of hashtags

Trying to drive traffic to your website but don’t have a lot of social media-specific marketing campaigns? 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 using holiday campaign creatives.

4. Check Your Metrics on Social Media

Now that you have your profiles at hand, it’s time to explore your data. You will now be able to determine if you are meeting your goals. You can also notice areas that require additional work. Keep in mind that gathering your stats might happen more quickly if you use a social media analytics platform like Google Analytics?

or HubSpot. Doing so not only accelerates the process but also centralizes and maintains it in a single, up-to-date location.

5. Determine Which of Your Social Media Posts Perform Best

By going deeper into each post, you can find the kind of content you should be writing. Does your audience love short-form video? Posts that ask questions? Carousels? You can learn more from your native analytics. Examine the following metrics for each platform where your content is distributed:

• Impressions or views
• Engagement: likes, shares, comments, etc.
• Reach

6. Examine the Way You’re Directing Traffic from Social Media

Understanding the relationship between your website and social media presence plays an important role in decoding audience engagement. This will reveal the content that truly captivates your audience’s interest. While several strategies exist to channel traffic from social media to your platform, blanket coverage doesn’t assure success. The essence lies in quality over quantity; hence, focusing your efforts on a select few strategies that resonate best with your brand can bring superior results.

Now, let’s dive into actionable strategies tailored to guide traffic from social media platforms to your desired destination:

1. Compelling Content and Call-to-Actions: Craft engaging content that resonates with your audience. Use attention-grabbing visuals, captivating headlines, and informative captions. Integrate clear and persuasive call-to-actions (CTAs) within your posts, prompting users to take the next step—be it visiting your website, signing up for a newsletter, or exploring a product/service.
2. Utilize Link Placement: Leverage social media platforms that allow direct linking, such as Instagram Stories (with over 10k followers), LinkedIn articles, and Twitter posts. Directly embed links to your desired landing pages, blog posts, or product pages to facilitate swift access for users.
3. Run Targeted Ad Campaigns: Invest in targeted ads tailored to specific demographics, interests, and behaviors of your audience. Use platforms like Facebook and Instagram Ads, LinkedIn Ads, or Google Ads to reach the right users, driving them to your website or dedicated landing pages.
4. Engage in Community Interaction: Actively engage with your audience by responding to comments and messages and participating in discussions. Establishing a rapport and providing value builds trust, encouraging users to explore more about your brand.
5. Incorporate Influencer Collaborations: Partner with influencers relevant to your niche or industry. Their endorsement and reach can significantly drive traffic, as their followers are likely to engage with the content they promote.
6. Create Exclusive Offers or Contests: Generate interest by offering exclusive promotions, discounts, or hosting contests exclusively for your social media audience. Encourage participation and website visits by making the action required tied to visiting your site or exploring specific pages.
7. Optimize Profiles for Traffic: Ensure that your social media profiles have clear and updated information about your brand, including a direct link to your website in the bio or profile sections.
8. Track Analytics and Refine Strategies: Regularly monitor analytics to understand which posts, campaigns, or strategies drive the most traffic. Use these insights to refine your approach and double down on what works best.

Implementing these strategies, tailored to your brand and audience, can significantly enhance the flow of traffic from social media platforms to your desired destination, ultimately boosting engagement, conversions, and brand visibility.

7. Examine Your Demographic Data

The language and content you post primarily depend on the demographics of your audience.? For instance, Gen Z and millennial messaging differ a lot from Gen X and baby boomers. As a result, your social media audience should be diverse in terms of age and gender. For instance, certain social media platforms, like Facebook and Twitter, bring attention to this data. Therefore, your audience information has to be consistent across all of your channels. If not, reevaluate your messaging and content strategy.

8. Consider the Potential of Upcoming Social Media Channels

There are frequently new social media networks emerging. Naturally, not every one of them remains. It can, however, be intriguing to join a social network early on. Consider the explosive growth of TikTok despite its dismissal as a secondary network. Similarly, observe the excitement surrounding Threads. Keeping an open mind is beneficial. Make a note of any new platforms you’d like to investigate in your social media audit spreadsheet. Don’t worry if you’re currently concentrating on a small number of networks or if you can’t find any new platforms that spark your interest. So, having said that, it’s wise to keep up with the latest developments in the social media landscape.

9. Create Fresh Goals and Action Items

A social media audit’s main purpose is to give you a thorough picture of your current situation and set the stage for your future ambitions. These strategies could be improving engagement, gaining more followers on a particular channel, or coordinating efforts to generate leads. Now that you have the knowledge gathered from your KPIs, you are better equipped to make informed judgments. You could also use SWOT analysis for each network to improve the usefulness of your social media analysis. This provides a framework for in-depth examination using the audit data gathered. By going one step further and performing a thorough SWOT analysis after the audit, you may identify the most important business prospects.

10. Share Your Audit with Your Group

The stakes of having an online presence are arguably higher than ever, thanks to the growth of social commerce and social search. For this reason, it’s critical that you communicate to your staff the audit’s results in order to:

1. Gain more support or funding from managers and important stakeholders.
2. Create fresh marketing material that complements your most popular posts and distribution platforms.
3. Find ways to coordinate your social media presence with other departments (sales, for example).

Keeping your numbers close at hand can be quite beneficial to achieving any kind of goal. This emphasizes once more how important it is to report on social media continuously.