An Audit of Social Media

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Why do a Social Media Audit?

There are over 2.56 billion mobile social media users; in addition, online adults ages 18-34 are most likely to follow a brand via social networking (Hainla 2018). Given its popularity, social media is constantly changing with updates of new features and capabilities, and it can make keeping up online seem like a daunting task.

However, the basics and its value to businesses remain the same. Social media makes it easier for your small business to generate buzz without having to budget for a large marketing campaign. Online platforms allow you to show off products and services just as you would in a trade show or physical display.

A social media audit is a tool for your business to analyze your current state of social media and to decide what platforms are worth the time and attention. An audit helps you determine what posts should be deleted, what profiles do best, and what competitors are posting.

Questions to Ask

• What platforms are you using?
• What are the goals of each network?
• Which ones are performing the best?
• What audience have you been reaching?
• Should you continue publishing on all current networks?

Auditing your social media efforts is an important method for several reasons. For example, some posts might be out of date or have lost relevance. Others might not fit with the goals or look of your brand. An audit further helps your business understand if you are using the right strategies; users can discover if they are scheduling posts for the right time, creating valuable content, and engaging with their viewers. The following serves as a guideline to determine the usefulness of your social media profiles and activity.

Areas to Cover in an Audit

1. Make a list of all social media profiles of your brand – search for old, abandoned, and fake accounts
2. Ensure profiles have been completely filled with the right details such as name, contact information, and overall message
3. Make sure profile pictures are the same across all platforms – this clears confusion over whether a page is official or not
4. Identify you best posts – which posts have the highest engagement
5. Understand the audience of each network – these are demographics like age, location, interests, and behaviors
6. Decide which channels are right for your small business – not all social platforms are worth maintaining
7. Determine who runs the accounts – who has “ownership” and knows profile passwords
8. Check analytics to see if your changes have made progress
9. Repeat this audit every quarter in order to track results of your social media impact

As mentioned before, an important step is to check what competitors or influencers within your industry are doing. Examining content they post and looking closer at their interactions is useful if you do not know where to start with your social media content (Raychale 2018).

General Things to Check:

• Complete profile – an incomplete page shows lack of credibility so fill in as many fields as possible
• Have a strong call to action – what do you want your customers to do?
• Check to make sure links to your website and other profiles are working
• Provide all business information like hours, location, phone number, and email address
• Use professional and pleasing visuals
• Analyze comments – engaged viewers will leave a comment
• Examine analytics

Overall, small businesses need to have areas of focus to optimize their social media presence and receive the greatest benefit from their online use.  Take a look at your social media and determine which ones are helping your company.

Example of a Complete Facebook Page