My book club tome of the month is the transformative 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. And it’s spurred my thinking on the importance of the social media audit. 

Yes, I know I’m late to the party, but better late than never? Or is it? In the book, Steven Covey talks about the story of the goose who laid the golden eggs, and how important it is to nurture the thing that produces as much as the production itself. As it should be with any marketing strategy.

Covey addresses the difference between leadership and management. A group of managers get lost on a trek through deep jungle. The managers organise themselves into teams, taking turns with a machete to hack their way through the undergrowth. A solitary leader shimmies up a tree and looks out over the top to work out which direction to go in. As you should with social media.

Producing acres of social media content is a satisfying job. It has a clear end product. It’s creative and a continual process of learning. But unless you stop and check that what you are doing is actually working, it’s close to pointless.

So when was the last time you conducted a full social media audit on the channels you maintain?

*tumbleweed*

I’ll just let that blow over and let the realisation sink in that now’s the time to assess your social media strategy.

Why should you do a social media audit

It’s easy to forget WHY we’re all on social media. It’s not just about brand awareness and community building. It also creates a great data capture opportunity, for example.

Be the leader who works out which direction you should be travelling in on social media.

How to do a social media audit: break it down

Don’t be scared to run a traffic light exercise. That is, go through all your regular activity, assess its effectiveness and assign a red, amber or green marker to each. There’s no shame in stopping something that’s not working. You’ve tried it and you’re learning from the experience. If you’re not learning, you’re wasting everyone’s time.

An audit may sound scary, even arduous, but it isn’t once you’ve broken it into the following parts.

Easy audit steps

Bio

Your bio is your digital elevator pitch and should convey the best of your brand. Does it point people to your website? Does it tell them what you are and where you do whatever it is you do?

Banner images

Consider a refresh to make it seasonal, or a rolling programme of images that show the different facets of your offering.

Profile image

This should be your logo, or the finest point of your offering. And be consistent across all your channels.

Handles and urls

If your social media use has developed over time (most have) have you managed to keep your handles and urls closely aligned? Investigate streamlining this so that your digital presence is coherent.

Channels

Remember the #dollypartonchallenge? When people posted selfies that were appropriated for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tinder? The personas for each image were encapsulated so clearly - bear this in mind and relate them back to your target audience. You should be posting different content and a unique tone for each channel that talks to the audience there. 

Are you even on the channels that your target market uses? What’s your reason for being there? If you realise that one channel is not giving you the desired ROI, stop and reflect, audit, and depending on what you conclude: stop posting there. Simply pin a post to the top of your feed, directing people to an alternative feed and your website, and reassure them you are still in business.

Buttons

Which call to action buttons do you have on your Facebook page? Are you asking people to contact you, book now or shop with you? Is this the most relevant for your business, now?

Images

Are your images up to date, fresh, in focus? Trawl through and delete any that don’t match your high expectations for your brand. Just because you’ve saved something as an Instagram Highlight once upon a time, does not mean you need to keep it forever.

Engagement

Look at your last 10 posts, or perhaps go back a month. You need to look at engagement rates - that is, how many people liked, commented, shared a post divided by the number of people it reached to find the percentage engagement or reaction rates. This is a true measure of the success of your posts and can be repeated regularly to assess progress. More on this in a blog to come…

We always recommend you dig into the native data provided by each of the social media channels, rather than using an external tool. Which posts have created the most engagement or reaction? Was it a single image or a carousel, a video or a gif? Did you include stickers to gather people’s views? Or ask for ideas and feedback? Plan to replicate similar content on a regular (but not overwhelming) basis.

Timing

Have you checked when your target audience is actually online? There’s no one perfect time to post and you’ll need a different strategy for each channel. With so much traffic filling up the airwaves, give yourself the best chance of being seen.

Owned vs curated

Are you interacting with your customers? The most effective brands on social media don’t shy away from talking WITH not just TO their customers? Do you have a balance of owned versus curated content? Social media is after all about being social and the more you can enter a debate or share someone else’s post, the better visibility you’ll earn. Just make sure it’s relevant and on brand!

We’d love to get to know your brand values, assess your digital output and suggest adjustments that will lead to a significant increase in engagement and conversions. We’ll give you the tools to be the leader with our social media audit options:

• Spotlight social: 1:1 social media hour

• Master your social media: holistic social media audit including suggested next steps

• Conquer the social crowd: as above plus social media strategy guidelines & 3-month content plan ideas

Want to explore your options, how we work and what outcomes you’ll receive? Drop us a line

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