It is no secret that social media is a key component of e-commerce. In fact, according to a 2023 study, global sales through social media platforms are expected to reach around $3 trillion by 2026. But how can you ensure the success of your social media marketing campaigns? For this, you need to conduct a proper social media audit.
What is a Social Media Audit?
A social media audit is the process of evaluating your company’s presence on social media and improving the performance of your social media profiles. Companies conduct social media audits to track their social media accounts and assess the strengths and weaknesses of each account. A social media audit includes evaluating metrics related to audience reach, impressions, engagement data, brand mentions, and conversion rates.
Why is a Social Media Audit Important?
A social media audit is essential because it provides companies with valuable insights about their social media channels that influence future social media marketing campaigns. An effective social media audit can give you deep insights into your social media audience, the best social media platforms for your goals, and the types of posts that generate engagement.
By assessing social media analytics during the audit, you can improve the performance of your posts and focus on the social channels that are most beneficial for your business, helping you align your social media marketing strategies with overall company goals.
How to Conduct a Social Media Audit
1. Set Your Goals
Before gathering and analyzing your social accounts, first set clear goals for how you want your social media content to support your overall business objectives. For example, your marketing goals might be to increase brand awareness, boost sales for a new product line, or expand your reach to a new target audience category.
When you have a clear understanding of your overall marketing goals, you can identify your social media goals and use them as guidelines for your audit. Clear goals (such as increasing followers, engagement, or conversions) can provide you with a framework to evaluate all your social accounts while keeping your social media strategy focused.
2. Gather Your Social Media Profiles
Once you have identified your goals, start compiling a list of your company’s social media accounts in a spreadsheet for the social media audit. Include information such as the username and number of followers or subscribers for different platforms. Be aware of any new social media platforms that may emerge which could expand your reach. Here are some popular social media platforms to explore:
- Snapchat
- YouTube
- X (formerly Twitter)
- TikTok
- Tumblr
3. Evaluate Your Audience
Look for demographic data for your social media accounts within the analytics system of each platform or using a social media auditing tool. Some e-commerce platforms like Shopify integrate with your social media profiles and provide instant insights into your audience on your platforms.
Assess how your different social media accounts align with the company’s target audience. Keep in mind that key audience demographics across each platform will vary. For instance, according to a 2023 survey, more than half of YouTube users are considered male, while more than three-quarters of Pinterest users are female.
4. Evaluate High-Performing Posts and Platforms
Identify high-performing posts across your company’s social media platforms as well as high-performing platforms overall. You can access these performance metrics through integrated analytics on the social media platform, the integrated e-commerce platform, or a social media auditing tool. As you gather metrics from each platform, fill your social media audit spreadsheet with the information.
There are
A variety of key performance indicators (KPIs) that companies use to evaluate the success of their social media content. Here are some key metrics to consider when conducting your social media audit:
- Follower count. One of the most obvious metrics is the number of followers or subscribers you have on a specific social media platform. Beware of fake or bot accounts that follow your profiles and block them to maintain the integrity of your list. A small number of engaged followers is more valuable than a large number of fake followers.
- Impressions. This metric refers to the number of times your content is viewed on a specific platform. Companies use this metric to assess how often their content appears in users’ feeds and search results. On many platforms, using a relevant hashtag can put your posts in front of a larger audience, increasing your impression rate.
- Reach. Reach on social media refers to the number of unique users who see a post. While impressions indicate how many times a post has appeared, reach specifically relates to the number of individuals who have seen it. Reach is less than impressions – the same content can appear five times in one viewer’s feed, resulting in five impressions but only one reach.
- Engagement rate. The engagement rate is the ratio of audience interaction with a post or platform. Engagement metrics include how users interact with your content in various ways, including likes, shares, saves, and comments.
- Audience growth rate. This metric measures how quickly your follower base is growing over time. By tracking the number of new followers or subscribers to your social media accounts over a specific time period, you can identify the platforms and posts that contribute to increasing your audience.
- Referral traffic. Referral traffic refers to the number of users who navigate to your company’s website from social media platforms. This metric can help companies understand which types of posts drive clicks to company web pages, such as blog pages or product sales pages.
5. Maintaining a Consistent Brand Message
Create brand guidelines that you can share with your social media team to clarify the brand’s voice, visual style, and tone of communication. Ensure that profile images, bios, descriptions, and banner images are consistent across all your social media platforms so that customers have a cohesive experience across your multiple channels.
When creating new accounts, choose usernames and handles that include your company name (or ideally, use the same handle across platforms), and make sure to verify your profiles. The verification process varies by platform. For example, to get verified on Instagram, you must request verification and provide business documentation proving you are the owner. Verifying your accounts and regularly scanning platforms for fake accounts using your company name can help maintain your brand’s reputation.
6. Adjusting Your Social Media Strategy
Once you have filled out your social media audit spreadsheet with relevant information and metrics, analyze trends and identify patterns. Which platforms are helping you find your audience? Which types of posts generate engagement? Are there new platforms you should consider creating accounts on?
By assessing the strengths and weaknesses of your various posts and platforms, you can gain insights into how to improve your social media marketing strategy. For example, a company that notices an increase in referral traffic from video posts on Instagram might consider focusing on creating similar video content designed for future campaigns on Snapchat or YouTube.
Tools
Social Media Audit
Hootsuite
Hootsuite is a comprehensive social media management tool that includes real-time monitoring for social media analytics with customizable reports and competitor analysis. Businesses can also use Hootsuite to schedule posts in advance, monitor activity across accounts, and publish content from a single central dashboard.
Sprout Social
Sprout Social offers competitor analytics, audience data reports, and automatic link tracking. The central dashboard is designed to help you optimize your social media efforts so you can access metrics and organize tasks like scheduling posts and assigning tasks from one place.
Google Analytics
You can use Google Analytics to monitor traffic from social media platforms and gain a better understanding of audience demographic data. Although Google Analytics is free and does not offer as many features as comprehensive social media management tools like Hootsuite and Sprout Social, it is a useful way to stay updated on metrics such as engagement and conversion rates.
Agorapulse
Agorapulse is a social media auditing tool that provides customizable reports covering a wide range of social media platforms. Agorapulse can enhance your social media performance with features like posting time recommendations, a mobile app, and an ROI dashboard that provides clear metrics on clicks and sales conversions.
Frequently Asked Questions About Social Media Audit
How often should you conduct a social media audit?
While the frequency of conducting a social media audit varies based on the needs of each specific company, performing a social media audit at least once a quarter is a good rule of thumb to stay informed about your campaigns.
What is the purpose of a social media audit?
The purpose of a social media audit is to help businesses understand and evaluate their social media presence by providing useful and actionable data regarding posts and platforms that perform well and those that need improvement.
What should a social media audit include?
A social media audit should include clear goals and analysis of useful metrics regarding audience demographics, high-performing posts, engagement rates, conversion rates, and impressions. You can use social media management tools to monitor your social data, post at optimal times, and gather competitor analytics.
Leave a Reply