How to Conduct a Social Media Audit

If you’ve landed here, you already know that a finely-tuned social media presence can make or break your brand.

But how can you be sure your efforts are hitting the mark?

By performing a social media audit—a strategic deep dive that every marketer should have in their toolkit.

Luckily, we're here to guide you step-by-step through the social media audit process.

Social media audit: the basics

What is a social media audit and why even bother with it?

Simply put, it’s a deep dive into a brand's online channels.

It measures effectiveness, consistency, and alignment with brand goals.

👉 The benefits of performing a social media audit

By conducting a social media audit, you will gain the following advantages:

• Insightful metrics: understand which platforms and strategies work best for your brand
• Enhanced strategy: adapt and refine your approach based on real data
• Audience engagement: ensure your content resonates with your target audience, leading to increased engagement
• Consistency maintenance: catch inconsistencies in brand messaging across platforms to maintain a unified brand image

Brands perform such audits to ensure their online presence remains relevant and resonates with their audience.

Typically, a thorough social media audit should be conducted semi-annually. However, quarterly checks can catch inconsistencies and emerging opportunities even sooner.

How to conduct a social media audit with Socialinsider’s help

Ready to dive into the digital detective work?

Let’s get into the essential steps of conducting a thorough social media audit.

From evaluating your online presence to analyzing engagement metrics, learn how to gain valuable insights and refine your social media strategy for optimal results.

#1 Ensure your brand is consistent across platforms

Start by compiling a list of all your social media accounts—be it Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, TikTok, YouTube, or others.

For that, you’ll just need to create a Project and press Add Social Profile in the Socialinsider app.

You’ll now have an overview of all the profiles in one single dashboard.

One that is settled, you’ll need to assess if the profile information (bio, profile picture, cover image) is consistent across platforms.

Make sure your branding elements, such as logos and color schemes, are uniform and aligned with your brand identity.

#2 Analyze your content

Start examining your recent posts.

Ask yourself these questions:

• Are they relevant to your audience?
• Are they consistent with your brand message?
• Do they align with current trends & preferences within your industry?

To gain a comprehensive understanding of your audience's preferences, head over to the "Top 3 Posts" section in the dashboard.

Here, you'll not only see the content types that resonate most—whether it's a carousel, Reel, or image—but also the hashtags used for each post and the average number of hashtags per post.

This feature is invaluable, as it allows you to fine-tune both your content and hashtag strategies, ensuring that you maximize audience engagement and relevance.

#3 Learn more about your audience

Remember, it's this audience that fuels and sustains your brand's vitality.

Thus, if your brand values resonate with your audience, it's a clear indicator that your content is aligning with the interests of those who matter.

Socialinsider provides information on demographic distribution so you can understand if your user persona aligns with your buyer persona.

Moreover, these insights allow you to pinpoint the type of content that actually converts your audience into loyal customers.

#4 Check for posting frequency and consistency

Don’t forget about analyzing your posting frequency.

Are you posting consistently, or is there room for improvement?

Once chosen the profile you wish to review, the app's dashboard will also provide an overview of your posting patterns.

By analyzing trends within a chosen timeframe, you can optimize your content strategy, ensuring that you post at the most effective times and fine-tune the nature of your content to better engage and grow your audience.

This data-driven approach can elevate the impact and reach of what you share, fostering more meaningful interactions and improved outcomes for your online presence.

#5 Check for audience engagement

Besides checking who is most interested in your content, you also need to assess how well you're engaging with your audience.

Are you responding to comments and messages promptly?

Analyze the tone and effectiveness of your interactions.

Engagement is a two-way street, so ensure you're fostering meaningful conversations.

#6 Keep an eye on your metrics and overall performance

When it comes to boosting your brand across various social media channels, periodic performance checks are a must.

To monitor your growth and success on each platform effectively, it's crucial to keep a detailed list of key metrics.

This includes engagement rates, the pace of follower acquisition, reach, impressions, the effectiveness of hashtags, and more.

Luckily, Socialinsider provides an all-encompassing view of your account's performance through a unified dashboard.

Furthermore, the Autoreports feature tailors the presentation of data to align with your specific goals and decision-making patterns.

This makes deriving actionable insights not only intuitive but also more efficient.

If you’d like to learn more about how to use Socialinsider to track performance on each platform, you might want to check out these guides:

• Facebook analytics guide
• Instagram analytics guide
• LinkedIn analytics guide
• Twitter analytics guide
• YouTube analytics guide
• TikTok analytics guide

#7 Establish the channels that bring the most benefits

Don't be afraid to test multiple social media platforms initially.

With time, you might find that not all social media channels yield the same results, despite your best efforts.

If some platforms aren't giving you the engagement you hoped for, it's okay to pivot and focus on the platforms that truly reach your audience.

When your brand offers something visually enticing, platforms that emphasize pictures and videos, such as Instagram, are your best bet.

If you’re looking more towards audience engagement, then TikTok or X (previously known as Twitter) might be the ones for you.

#8 Perform a competitor analysis

Now that you’ve checked your insights, it’s only fair you also peek at competitors and benchmark their results against yours.

Socialinsider provides a comprehensive set of tools designed for detailed competitor analysis.

With its Benchmarks feature, users can effortlessly profile and compare their performance against competitors.

You can look into metrics such as engagement rates, views, top posts, follower counts, and beyond.

By assessing their successes and failures, you can pinpoint opportunities and areas of improvement in your own approach.

Once you’ve gained these insights, consider integrating effective tactics into your strategy.

While many ideas have been explored, you have the unique ability to reframe them with your distinct voice and brand story.

However, always remember to maintain your authenticity.

Your unique voice is what sets you apart, and it’s crucial to let that shine through.

#9 Draw your conclusions: recommendations & action plan

Based on your social media audit findings, create a list of actionable recommendations.

These might include refining your content strategy, optimizing posting times, or investing more in platforms that yield better results.

After going through the steps of a social media audit, it's now time to analyze what you've found, draw meaningful conclusions, and craft an actionable plan to improve your brand's social media presence.

Here's a deeper dive into drawing your conclusions and formulating an action plan.

9.1. Analyze your findings

Before diving into recommendations, take a moment to evaluate what the data is really telling you.

For instance:

• Which platforms are driving the most traffic or conversions?
• What types of content are generating the most engagement or shares?
• Are there any noticeable patterns in the posting times that correlate with higher engagement?

9.2. Prioritize based on business goals

Your recommendations should always be in line with your broader business goals.

If your main aim is brand awareness, then growing followers might be a priority.

If it's conversions, then improving the click-through rate from your posts might be the focus.

9.3. Craft actionable recommendations

Here are some examples that might help you understand what you’d need to focus on:

• Content strategy refinement: If you notice that how-to videos or infographics get more engagement, then pivot more towards such content.
  
• Optimize posting times: Perhaps your audience is more engaged because you post during their active hours.

Consider scheduling posts for other time zones or using insights to identify the best times globally.

• Platform investment: If one platform is outperforming others, consider allocating more resources there.

Conversely, if a platform is underperforming and doesn't align with your target audience, think about reducing your effort or re-evaluating your strategy on that platform.

9.4. Establish a clear action plan

Now that you have a list of recommendations, prioritize them and set clear, measurable goals for each.

For instance:

• Increase TikTok engagement by 15% over the next quarter
• Test three new content formats on Instagram within two months
• Reduce posting frequency on Twitter and monitor impact over six weeks

The social media audit: last thoughts

A social media audit isn't just a check-up—it's your secret weapon to dominate digital.

Dive deep with tools like Socialinsider.

Evaluate. Refine. Shine.

See what's hot, drop what's not, and keep your brand pulse strong.

Eye on the competition? Sure, take a peek, but remember, your unique voice is your power play.