15 Steps for a Successful Social Media Audit 

These days, there is hardly any business that does not pay attention to its social media marketing. While being an essential part of the digital strategy of any business, it helps to effectively promote your products (or services), to build a community of your target audience, and to attract attention to your brand.

All activities on your social media channels, in their turn, have to undergo a thorough social media audit. What is it? What role does it have? And, finally, what are the main 15 steps of a successful social media audit? Well, go through the below-mentioned article to find answers to all these questions!

What Is Social Media Marketing?

Social media marketing (or, as it is also called, SMM) might be defined as the usage of social media channels to pursue certain goals of a business. These days, it is one of the most important elements of any digital marketing strategy. The choice of social media channels that are oftentimes used by businesses to promote their products (or services) depends on the nature of a business. In most cases, they are:

• Instagram;
• Facebook;
• Twitter;
• LinkedIn;
• YouTube;
• Pinterest;
• And so on.

The major aims of SMM, in their turn, also rely on the nature of a business. Predominantly, they include:

• Promoting your product (or service);
• Building a community of your target audience;
• Attracting attention to your brand;
• Increasing sales;
• Driving traffic to your website;
• And so on.

Below, you will find the list of 7 integral parts of social media marketing:

• Strategy;
• Planning;
• Publishing;
• Advertising;
• Listening;
• Engaging;
• Analysis.

While being the last (but not the least important) in the above-mentioned list, analysis is one of the essential parts of SMM. It is mainly done with the help of a social media audit. So, let us discuss it in detail right away!

What Is Social Media Audit?

A social media audit might be defined as an in-depth analysis of all your social media channels. It is a process that should be done on a regular basis in order to let your SMM be successful, beneficial, and profitable. There exist different types of social media audits. However, all of them include a detailed review of:

• Your SMM goals;
• Your posts on social channels and their performance;
• Your profits derived from social media accounts;
• And so on.

The main goal of any social media audit is to provide a business with a clear picture of its social media presence and performance, as well as figure out the issues that might require improvement. In other words, a regular social media audit is a definite must if you want your business to perform at its best on any social media platform. Thus, how about touching upon its main role in SMM?

What Role Does Audit Have in SMM?

The major role of social media audit in SMM is to make the social accounts of your business successful and, therefore, let you raise your brand awareness, generate more sales, and increase your revenue.

More precisely, no social media strategy is going to be successful without a successful social media audit. Therefore, let us take a closer look at the main 15 steps of an SMM review that will boost social media accounts to a new level!

What Are the Main 15 Steps for a Successful Social Media Audit?

It is essential to mention that different types of businesses might have various steps for successful social media audits. Still, the below-mentioned list features 15 universal steps for practically any social media analytics.

Step #1. The Roundup of Your Social Media Profiles

Any social media audit should start from the overall roundup of all social media profiles your business has. Despite the fact that it sounds like a rather trivial thing, it is essential for the following reasons:

• To have the list of all your social media profiles in one place;
• To figure out whether you have any inactive profiles;
• To make sure that your business does not have any unofficial accounts;
• And so on.

In other words, the general roundup of your social media profiles allows you to create a unified list of all social media profiles your business has and, therefore, take overall control over them.

Step #2. The Evaluation of Your Current Social Media Performance

After creating a list of your social media profiles, it’s high time to evaluate their current performance. To do so, analyze each social channel of your business by paying attention to the following factors:

• Reach and impressions;
• Audience growth;
• Engagement;
• Virality rate;
• Video views and completion rate;
• Customer satisfaction score;
• Click-through rate;
• Conversion;
• Cost-per-click;
• And so on.

Step #3. The Checkup of Your Social Media Branding

The next step in your social media efforts is to run the checkup of your social media branding. While doing it, it is essential to make sure that all social media platforms of your business are consistent in branding. In other words, the following elements should correspond on all social channels of your business:

• Username;
• Profile and cover image;
• Bio and description;
• Destination URLs and landing pages;
• Hashtags;
• And so on.

Step #4. The Mending of Your Social Media Branding Inconsistencies

Please note: If the checkup of your social media branding hasn’t shown any inconsistencies between all your social media accounts, this step might be omitted.

Just in case of finding any inconsistencies in the branding of your social media profiles, it is essential to mend them in order to create a unified representation of your business and, therefore, make it look more professional.

Step #5. The Review of Your Top-Performing Social Media Posts

Now, how about reviewing your top-performing social media posts? More precisely, conduct a list of your social media posts that have gathered the greatest number of likes, reposts, and comments.

Try to think of the similarities these posts might have: Is there anything that unites them? Do they have a common pattern? What is the key message of these posts? When finding answers to these questions, you will be able to define the preferences of your audience and, therefore, try to create more content of such kind.

Step #6. The Analysis of Your Social Media Audience

It is also exceptionally important to analyze your social media audience. By doing it, you will be able to get well-acquainted with your target audience and figure out the following peculiarities of your subscribers:

• Geographical location;
• Age;
• Sex;
• And so on.

Step #7. The Definition of Your Social Media Patterns

After analyzing your top-performing posts and audience, you might want to define your social media patterns. Namely, try to look for answers to the below-mentioned questions:

• What type of content (photos, videos, stories, reels, or anything else) creates the response you would like to achieve?
• What does your social media network prefer more, honest behind-the-scene content or polished professional posts?
• Does a certain type of content prefer differently on different social media platforms?
• And so on.

Step #8. The Identification of Your Social Media Metrics That Matter

One more step worth paying attention to is the identification of social media metrics that is important for you. Remember, not all benchmarks are equally important when it comes to your business.

Therefore, determine what is relevant in your individual case (for instance, impressions, engagement rate, cost-per-click rate, and so on) and put the greatest impact on these metrics.

Step #9. The Definition of Your Social Media KPIs

Please note: Social media KPIs are the key performance indicators that define whether the social media strategy of your business is effective.

Similar to identifying social media metrics that are relevant for you, come up with a list of social media KPIs that matter in your individual case. While setting up your KPIs, remember that they should be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely.

Step #10. The Search for New Opportunities for Your Social Media Growth

On top of all steps that are mentioned above, it is also of vital importance to search for new opportunities for your social media growth. To do so, feel free to look at what your competitors do to boost their social media presence and generate new leads. As well, make sure to follow the latest social media trends in your niche and think of ways to implement them into your social media strategy.

Step #11. The Setup of New Social Media Goals for Each of Your Social Media Profiles

The setup of new social media goals for each of your social channels is probably one of the most essential steps during your social media audit. Based on the gathered information, set up further aims you would like to achieve with the help of your social media profiles. Remember, only clearly defined goals will allow your social profiles to grow.

Step #12. The Creation of a New Social Media Plan

After defining your new social media goals, come up with a plan for achieving them. Create a clear content plan for each social channel of your business, think of purchasing ads for them, and come up with a calendar of publications you are going to follow.

Step #13. The Cleanup of Your Social Media Profiles

Once you are done with a new social media plan, how about cleaning your social media profiles in accordance with it? Feel free to delete the posts that are no longer relevant to your business or even start everything from scratch by getting rid of all previously published posts.

Step #14. The Development of a New Social Media Strategy

So, you have already defined your new social media goals and created a fresh social media plan. Thus, how about developing a new social media strategy based on this data? Remember, a thoroughly thought-out strategy is key to success in practically any field (including the social media development of your business).

Step #15. The Periodical Analysis of Your Social Media Performance

Last but not least, make sure to run the above-mentioned analysis of the social media performance of your business from time to time. One tip would be to create your own social media audit template and follow it on a regular basis.

Final Words

All in all, social media audit is an inevitable part of the social media marketing of any business. It has a direct impact on how well your business performs on social media.

So, feel free to use the 15 above-mentioned steps to create your own social media audit checklist and, therefore, broaden the horizons of your business! Remember, a successful SMM is a direct key to the success of any business these days!