Social Media Audit Guide - Free Template Included
Let’s face it, juggling multiple social media accounts is hard enough as it is, without the hassle of KPIs and ever-changing marketing strategies.
But fear not, fellow social media managers, for there is a beacon of hope amidst the chaos - the social media audit.
Regularly auditing your social media performance is essential for staying on top of your game, regardless of your level of experience with digital marketing or tools.
In this article, I'll cover all you need to know about social media audits, their significance, and how to perform one like a pro in this extensive guide.
To make things even easier, I've included a FREE social media audit template for you to copy and edit.
So, take a seat, and let's explore this comprehensive social media audit checklist.
Everything you need to perform a social media audit
What is a social media audit
Why conduct a social media audit
8 simple steps to conduct a social media audit
Social media audit template
5 free social media audit tools
Social media audit FAQs
What is a social media audit
A social media audit is the process of regularly examining the metrics of a brand’s performance across multiple social media channels. Think of it as a report card that you fill in every month or trimester, to help you measure, analyze, and compare your social media marketing strategy.
A social media audit report is meant to guide you and your team in tweaking and optimizing your content strategy, which is why it is important to conduct it regularly.
And since each social media channel needs its own content strategy, social media audits need to include comprehensive data, so you can measure a wide variety of social media metrics to understand what posts perform best in terms of topics and format.
Now, before we dive into the how, let’s break down why it’s important to conduct a social media audit report.
Why it’s important to perform a social media audit
Tackling multiple social media channels without a roadmap can be a tricky endeavor. It’s like you're steering a ship through stormy seas without a compass.
It's chaotic and uncertain, and you're bound to veer off course. Similarly, without a social media audit, you're essentially sailing blind, unaware of your strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for improvement.
Here's why conducting a social media audit is a game-changer:
To evaluate performance
An audit provides a snapshot of how your social media efforts are performing.
When you audit social media platforms separately, not only you can identify what's working well and what's falling flat, but you can also benchmark them against each other, to identify which are the most effective.
To align with your goals
Are your social media efforts aligned with your overall business objectives?
A thorough audit helps you answer this question by assessing whether your current strategies are driving the desired outcomes.
To better understand your audience
Your audience is at the heart of your social media presence. By analyzing demographics, engagement rate metrics, and feedback through social listening, you gain invaluable insights into who your audience is and what resonates with them.
To spot trends and opportunities
The social media landscapes are ever-changing. An audit enables you to stay ahead of the curve by identifying emerging trends, new platforms, or untapped opportunities that give you a fresh perspective.
To optimize resources
Time and resources are precious commodities for everybody, not only for social media managers.
An audit helps you allocate these resources more effectively by pinpointing areas where you can streamline processes or reallocate budget for maximum impact.
To stay competitive
Social media competitor analysis is a major part of any brand’s audit.
Regular audits keep you competitive by benchmarking your performance against industry standards and keeping you informed about what your competitors are up to.
In essence, conducting a social media audit is like performing a health checkup for your brand’s online presence. It not only highlights areas of strength but also uncovers hidden opportunities for growth and improvement. So, if you're ready to steer your social media ship toward smooth, clear waters, it's time to dive into the audit process.
7 simple steps to conduct a social media audit
Conducting a social media audit might sound complicated, but it doesn’t have to be. With the right roadmap and tools, you can navigate the process with confidence and ease.
So, here’s how to create a social media audit in 7 simple steps:
- Define your objectives
- Create a list of all your social media accounts
- Analyse & categorize your content
- Gather info on your audience
- Identify patterns
- Perform a competitor analysis
- Analyze your social media results & adjust accordingly
- Create a list of actionable items
#1. Define your objectives
Like any strategy-based endeavor, conducting a social media content audit requires clearly defined objectives. What do you hope to achieve? Whether it's improving engagement, increasing brand awareness, or driving sales, having clear objectives will guide your audit and ensure it's focused and actionable.
#2. Create a list of all your social media accounts
This one is super easy. Just start an Excel or Google Sheet and add all your social media accounts/handles across all platforms your brand is active on.
Be it Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, TikTok, YouTube, or others.
If you are already using a tool for your social media audit, make sure all these accounts are added and verified, so you don’t miss a thing when you start benchmarking.
Oh, and while you’re at it, make sure to check for duplicate, test, or fake accounts in your company’s name.
#3. Analyse & categorize your content
Start by 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?
Now let’s get into the fun part - the social media metrics.
Here’s the part where you should be looking at each platform and analyzing KPIs like engagement rate, follower count, reach, impressions, and so on.
If you are using a tool for social media auditing, like Socialinsider, simply select the account you want to analyze by social media platform and use the filter section to choose specific dates or campaigns.
Now simply go to the posts section and start gathering data from your latest posts.
It’s easy to see which content types performed better, and you can sort posts in this list by whichever metric matters more to you.
This feature is extremely valuable, as it allows you to fine-tune both your content and hashtag strategies, ensuring that you maximize audience engagement and relevance.
If you want to learn how to identify top-performing social media content pillars for your brand, and how to cluster it, read this guide which explains the technique of tagging and grouping social media posts by keywords or hashtags.
Great, now do this for all your accounts, by platform, and start populating the platform-specific tabs of your social media audit spreadsheet.
And if you need help identifying the specifics of each platform, I’ve got you covered.
Here are the complete guides on how to do a social media audit for each major social media platform:
#4. Gather info on your audience
Remember, it's the audience that fuels and sustains your brand's journey. Looking at your audience is another important step to take as you're building your social media audit report.
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, gender, and age, so you can understand if your user persona aligns with your buyer persona. Think of it as an audience audit or social audit within the bigger picture.
Moreover, these insights allow you to pinpoint the type of content that actually converts your audience into loyal customers.
#5. Identify patterns
Once you have all your ducks in a row, you will begin to see some patterns emerge - don't ignore them!
Maybe there's a common post type that your audience resonates with the most. Track this metric across multiple audit reports and you'll uncover your audience's favorite post type.
Or, more importantly, you might discover that one channel is outperforming the rest by a wide margin. You can do this by benchmarking your social media accounts, against each other, by platform.
#6. Perform a competitor analysis
Now that you’re done dissecting your brand’s content analytics, it’s only fair you peek at your competitors’ metrics 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.
#7. Analyze your social media results & adjust accordingly
Now that you have a decent set of data on both your brand’s social media performance, your audience insights, and your competitor’s social media presence, start looking at areas where you can improve, or where your competitors have left gaps that you can fill.
It’s a good idea to do a SWOT analysis to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
While many ideas have been explored, you have the unique ability to reframe them with your distinct voice and brand story. Remember to always keep your authenticity.
Your unique voice is what sets you apart, and it’s crucial to let that shine through.
After going through all the steps of a social media audit, it's time to analyze what you've found, draw meaningful conclusions, and craft an actionable plan to improve your brand's social media presence.
Ask yourself:
- 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?
#8. Create a list of actionable items
Based on your 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.
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.
Prioritize your next steps into measurable actions, and set clear goals for each.
For instance:
- Increase TikTok engagement by 15% over the next quarter.
- Test three new content formats ideas on Instagram within two months.
- Reduce posting frequency on Twitter and monitor impact over six weeks.
Social media audit template
We've developed this comprehensive social media audit template, which is free to access, no email required, and is available for all busy marketers.
In this spreadsheet, you can see exactly what KPIs you need to keep an eye on and how to analyze your performance, along with tips, YoY, SWOT, and competitor analysis.
And if you follow the above steps on how to perform a social media audit, and add the right tools in the mix, you are good to go!
5 free platforms for a social media audit
Managing multiple social media accounts equals a lot of research, strategy, planning, and creating. This is why, using the right tools is essential to perform a social media marketing audit regularly.
Also, this would not be a comprehensive guide if I didn’t give you at least a couple of free tools you can use or tools with longer trial periods.
So here are 5:
#1. Socialinsider
Free for 14 days, then starting at $99/month
Socialinsider is a very helpful analytics tool that provides you with detailed information about the evolution of your brand’s online presence. It shows comprehensive insights about all relevant social media metrics, having the ability to extract data from years back.
This tool offers unlimited history data. Not only this, but Socialinsider offers dedicated features for benchmarking data against competitors and other industry trends.
Platforms supported: TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube.
#2. Google Analytics
Free plans available
Google Analytics is a powerful web analytics tool that offers comprehensive insights into the performance of your website and online presence.
With Google Analytics, you can track various metrics such as website traffic, user behavior, conversion rates, and more. The platform provides valuable data on where your website visitors are coming from, what pages they're viewing, how long they're staying on your site, and whether they're completing desired actions, such as making a purchase or filling out a form.
Google Analytics offers both free and premium versions, with the free version providing robust analytics capabilities suitable for most small to medium-sized businesses.
#3. Social Blade
Free plans available
Social Blade is a versatile analytics tool offering insights into the performance of your social media channels across various platforms. The app shows valuable data on follower growth, engagement rates, and more.
The free version offers basic analytics with limited historical data, while the premium version unlocks additional features and extended data history.
Platforms supported: YouTube, Twitch, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and Facebook.
#4. Followerwonk
Free and premium plans available
Followerwonk, specializes in Twitter analytics, providing in-depth insights into your Twitter audience and performance.
With Followerwonk, you can analyze your followers, track their demographics, and compare your account's influence and engagement with others in your industry. The free version offers basic analytics, while premium plans unlock advanced features and extended data history.
#5. Native social media analytics tools
The majority of social media platforms come with free built-in analytics tools that monitor the effectiveness of your content and provide insights into your activity.
Native analytics might be a helpful option if you want to keep an eye on your social media metrics and evaluate the impact of content on a platform by using a free social media analytics tool.
You can read more about how to use the native social media analytics tools for social media audit, in this article.
Final thoughts
Doing a brand social media audit is not as complicated as it sounds. The benefits of doing it are certainly worth the hassle.
With the social audit template I shared in this article, all the insights on how and what to include in a social media audit, the free tools, and your knowledge at your disposal, you'll be well-equipped to streamline the process and uncover valuable insights.
So, the next time you are preparing for a social media audit presentation, trust the data and lean on your marketing instincts to ace it!
Social media audit FAQs
1. What should be included in a media audit?
A comprehensive social media audit should include key performance indicators (KPIs) including engagement rates, follower growth, reach, impressions, and conversion metrics.
It should evaluate the success of your content strategy as well as the demographics and behavioral patterns of your audience, an analysis of your competitors, the performance of your platform, and any new trends or opportunities in your niche.
2. How often should you conduct a social media audit?
The frequency of conducting a social media audit can vary depending on factors such as the size of your audience, the pace of change in your industry, and the resources available for analysis.
However, some businesses audit social media content once per month, but no less than once a quarter, to stay on top of performance trends, identify areas for improvement, and ensure that your strategies remain aligned with your business objectives.