How to perform a successful social media audit

Companies should have a social media strategy but often don’t. A lack of planning and strategy can lead to poor results. That’s why it’s import to perform a successful social media audit.

“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.”

Benjamin Franklin, Founding Father of the United States, inventor, scientist, printer, and politician

Social media has become a key part of today’s digital marketing efforts so it’s important. Managing your social media presence is a full-time job.

The word audit sounds like you are getting audited by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). That’s why it seems like a dirty word. Don’t let the word get in the way of its purpose. To help you improve your social media efforts.

If you don’t want to use the word audit, you could say health check.


What is a social media audit?

A social media audit is an assessment and analysis of your company’s social media presence. It determines what actions can help you improve your social media presence.

A successful social media audit helps you take a step back and reflect on what’s working and not working with your social media efforts.

You could do an audit or health check yourself or you seek third-party help from an agency or an independent consultant.


How to perform a successful social media audit

There are 5 key steps to perform a successful social media audit.

1. Social media goals

First things first, you should establish your social media goals. 

Your goals could be: 

  • Increase brand awareness
  • Generate more leads and sales
  • Build an audience (followers)
  • Improve engagement
  • Grow website traffic

2. Social media channel analysis

Now that you have your goals, the next is to analyze each social media channel. What social media networks are you on? To do this analysis you should do the following:

  • Social media icons on the website. Look at the footer or header of your website for your social media channels (if they are not there, you should add them)
  • Google search. Do a Google search of some variants of your company to see if any accounts show up that are old or you forgot about.
  • Branding. How does the artwork and images look on the channels? Is there a profile photo and cover image?
  • Contact info. Do you have an up-to-date company description? Is your mailing address, phone number, and website address correct? What about description of services and hours of operation?
  • URLs. Do the URLs match the company name? Can any of them be shorter? When you click on the icons of your website, do they go to the correct URLs?
  • Social media channels. Are you active on all of your social media channels? Do you still have Google+? Google+ is dead and should be removed. If you haven’t posted on a social media channel in months, you should consider deleting that channel.

3. Social media analytics

Your next step is to dive into the data. Find out how your social media channels are performing. In the analytics section of each social media network, you should see what social media channels are performing better than others.

Which of your social media networking accounts has the most followers? Which social media platform is getting the most engagement? What type of content is performing the best?

Then, you should find the correlation between your social media presence and your website traffic. How much traffic are you getting from your social media channels? Which channels are bringing in the most traffic? Which social media networks are generating the most leads?

You can create a Google spreadsheet with the following info: 

  • URL for each one of your social media networks
  • Number of followers for each account
  • Engagement metrics
  • Demographic information
  • Popular content
  • Number of leads generated

4. Find the right social media channels

Now that you have analyzed your social media channels and reviewed your metrics, you can now decide what social media channels you should be on and which ones you can cut using a tool like justdelete.me

Target audience

You should only be on the social media networks where your target audience hangs out. Ask yourself questions such as:

  • Where do they spend time online?
  • What social media channels do they use?
  • How do they communicate on these channels?

How many social media networks should you be on?

A good rule of thumb is to have three to five social media accounts. You may get a higher return on your investment and results on fewer networks than diversifying to many. It’s important to test on a smaller scale and see before you invest more time.

Social media demographics

Look at the demographics of your social media channel. What does an average user look like? Gender? Age? How much education? How much money do they make?

Let’s dive into the high-level demographics of today’s top social media networks and what type of audience is active on these channels.

Facebook

Facebook is still one of the most used social media.

  • 69% of U.S. adults use Facebook
  • 75% of women use Facebook
  • 84% of 25–30 year olds use Facebook
  • 75% with some college education use Facebook
  • 74% making more than $75K use Facebook

Instagram

Instagram continues to rise in popularity yet its daily login is still behind Facebook.

  • 35% of US teens rate Instagram as their favorite social network
  • 43% of women use Instagram
  • 75% of 18–24 year olds use Instagram
  • 43% of those with more than college education use Instagram
  • 42% of those making more than $75K use Instagram

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is for people with professional careers.

  • Men and women usage of LinkedIn is very similar
  • 44% of 25–30 year olds use LinkedIn
  • 51% of those with more than college education use LinkedIn
  • 49% of those making more than $75K use LinkedIn

Twitter

Twitter usage with U.S. adults is lower compared to other networks. 

  • 24% of men use Twitter
  • 44% of 18–24 year olds use Twitter
  • 32% of those with more than college education use Twitter
  • 31% of those making more than $75k use Twitter

YouTube

The social media is used by more U.S. adults than Facebook. 

  • 78% of men using YouTube
  • 93% of 25–30 year olds use YouTube
  • 80% of those with more than college education use YouTube
  • 83% of those making more than $75K use YouTube

Pinterest

This platform is visual-first focus and ideal for highlighting products.

  • 42% of women use Pinterest
  • 38% of 18–24 year olds use Pinterest
  • 38% of those with more than college education use Pinterest
  • 41% of those making more than $75K use Pinterest

5. Determine your new action items

Now that you have a better understanding of where you are now and where you should go, you can start making plans for where you want to go. You may want to create a SWOT analysis for each network and use the data you collect from your audit to include in the SWOT.

Figure out how often you should post and what types of content you should post. You should also put together an editorial style guide that outlines the expectations and brand standards that every piece of content should meet.

Consider using an editorial calendar platform, a social media management program, and a hashtag tool.

Perform a successful social media audit today

A social media audit is a great way to check your metrics, find new opportunities, and how to optimize your social media presence. It helps you paint a holistic picture of your social media efforts and how your social media efforts are helping grow brand awareness, generate more leads, and increase sales.