How to conduct an effective social media audit 

A social media audit is essential for all brands. It dives deep into the analytics to see how your content is engaging with your audience or lack thereof. It can also help your team to ensure that your brand is on the right page, as your company may have dedicated social media teams/individuals who manage the social media accounts. In doing so, this would allow you to produce better and engaging content for your target audience.

  

How do you conduct a social media audit?

STEP 1: Check your social media statistics over the last few days, weeks and months: 

• Who is your target audience: Where are they from? How old are they? What are their interests? What are their dislikes? What level of education do they have? What are their social media habits?
  • Finding this out can help you get to know your target audience better and create content that is well suited to them and their needs.
• Find out what type of content is doing well: Is it Tweets? Reels? Videos? Infographics? Stories? Blog posts? Photos?
  • You can use this information to tailor your content to engage your audience to buy your products or services. Create content that is a mix of what is doing well while ensuring your brand values are still represented. 

 

STEP 2: Using the statistics you’ve uncovered, figure out what platform your brand is doing well on. Use that information to create a social media plan that focuses on the social media platforms that are connecting with your audience successfully.

• If you have an account on a platform that hasn’t been used recently or is not gaining traction, consider continuing to monitor them. It is important that your brand maintains ownership of social media accounts with your brand’s name on them to ensure that no one can claim it and can reach you on that platform. However, if you see potential in re-expanding your online presence on a certain platform, you can use a social media audit to make sure that this is the right decision for your brand.

• Keep in mind that your target audience may vary on different platforms. Such as your Instagram, Facebook or Twitter audience. Try to cater to each demographic on each platform.
• If your brand has recently rebranded, ensure your social media profiles have the same profile picture, cover image, branding, language and descriptions. 
• Keep tabs on the social media accounts of competitors who offer similar products or services as your brand. What are they excelling at and how is their audience reacting to their content?
  • This can help you figure out what to do and what not to do for your brand image.

 

STEP 3: After conducting a social media audit, continue to keep track of your metrics and continue these steps to ensure that your audience is engaging with your content and buying your products and/or services.

What you can do after a social media audit:

After you and your team have made a social media plan and figured out what kind of content is right for you on your various high performing platforms, it’s time to put everything into action. Although your growth and brand engagement may be slow at first, it is important to be patient and pivot if things aren’t working. Social media is constantly changing and we need to change along with it.

It is important to set up a content calendar to ensure that your brand posts at appropriate times. Ensure your posts for each platform reflect your brand and vision as well as your audiences’ needs.

Here at Soar Media Group inc, we have been using Instagram reels as part of our marketing plan for Childrens’ Mental Health Ontario (CMHO). In using reels to our advantage, “We also saw engagement increase by 155% and clicks to the website from Instagram increase 253%”. This growth is what your brand can achieve by conducting a social media audit and finding out what content is working for your audience! 

In order to build a more engaged audience that purchases your products or services, ensure you are using social media platforms that are the best for your business. Knowing which social media platforms to promote your business on can improve your sales.

Lastly, continue to track your brand’s growth on social media and plan where you want your brand awareness to be in 6 months or in a year. And work towards that goal! Continue with your social media audits on all your social media accounts every few weeks and pivot if needed.

By knowing your audience, doing your research and creating engaging content, you can help your brand turn social media into an effective sales tool. If you have any questions, contact us and start your social media audit today!