How to Run the Easiest Social Media Audit [FREE TABLE]

Social media marketing can be fun until you have to measure your results. Fear not: A social media audit can be your best friend.

The IRS isn’t going to knock on your door, so don’t be alarmed by the name. Regular audits allow you to understand the status of all your platforms and how they fit into your marketing goals. It doesn’t have to be labor-intensive or difficult if you use a template.

Continue reading to learn how you can conduct a social media audit that is effective from start to finish. To make it easy, we’ll walk you through our free social media audit template.

What is a social media audit and how can it help you?

A social media audit is a process that measures the success of your social media strategy across accounts and networks. An audit helps you identify your strengths and weaknesses, as well as the next steps to take.

An audit will give you all the information you need to optimize your social marketing strategy.

You’ll know:

• Your most effective platforms,
• What your audience wants to see on each social network
• Demographics and more can help you identify your audience.
• What is helping you grow your audience?
• How each platform contributes towards your goals
• What new ideas can you use to grow?
• How to focus your attention.

How to do a social media audit in 7 easy steps

Download the free social media audit template and follow these steps if you are ready to get started.

1. Make a list of all your social networks accounts

Although you may think you are familiar with all your social media accounts, chances are you have forgotten a few. Start by listing all of your social media profiles, even inactive ones.

Where can I find this information:

You can search every major social network to find your brand and product names. You might find some unexpected results, such as old test accounts. Whoops.

Next, create a plan for dealing with any troublesome accounts. It’s not difficult to delete old test accounts your company created, but it can be difficult to find the login information.

Do you know of any imposter accounts? Most likely, the legal department will need to be involved. However, you should still outline the steps needed to deal with each fake account. Some people will simply need to contact the fake account owners, while others may need to report the account to the social media network.

Once you have all the relevant accounts, create a social media monitoring program that will keep an eye out for new imposters.

Think beyond your current social media presence. Consider the accounts you don’t have yet. Are there social media platforms that you haven’t thought of? Are you there?

You don’t have to be on every network. An audit can be a great opportunity to add new ideas and perspectives to your social strategy. You should at the very least reserve your business username for new platforms so that no one can beat you to it.

Where can I list this information:

Your basic account information can be found on the Summary tab in the social media audit spreadsheet.

Don’t worry if the information for each column is not yet available. We’ll continue to update it as we go through the audit.

2. Your branding is important

Check each profile to make sure they are in line with your brand style guidelines. You should review your profile, banner images, copy and phrases as well as URLs and brand voice.

These are the areas you should review for each social media account:

• Cover and profile images. Be consistent with the image size requirements of each social network.
  

• Profile/bio text. When creating a social media profile, you have limited space. Make the most of it. Are all fields completed correctly? Is the copy consistent with your voice and tone guidelines?
• Username. Use the same username across all social media channels. If they serve different purposes, it is fine to have more than one account per network. (For example, @Hootsuite_Help and @Hootsuite_Help are our Twitter accounts.
• Links. Does your profile link to the correct website/landing page?
• Pin posts (if applicable). Evaluate your pins to make sure they are still relevant and up-to date.
• Verification. Verification Do you think it’s worth trying? If you are interested in this, we have guides that will help you get verified on Instagram and TikTok.

Where can I find this information:

Acting like an audience member is the best way to ensure that your accounts are consistent with your brand.

Check out each of your social media profiles to see how your posts appear to your followers. Make sure you click on any links to check if they are outdated.

Where can I list this information:

Start creating and populating platform-specific tabs in your social media audit spreadsheet using the information from the summary tab.

You should now be able fill out the handle and bio, hashtags, link profile, verified channel owner, and “most recently posted” columns. These are highlighted in the image.

Notify us if you find any off-brand content, profiles, or other information that needs to be updated in the notes section.

3. Identify your top-performing social media content

Now it’s time to do a social media content audit. List your top five posts for each social media profile. Copy the post links to your social media audit template. You can then easily review them later.

It all depends on what makes a post “top-performing”. We recommend ranking posts based on engagement rate if you want to find the content that your audience loves. You might choose to focus on a different key metric, such as link clicks and conversions.

Take a look at your top posts to find patterns. Next, ask yourself these questions:

• What content gets you the best response? Photo posts? Videos? Videos?
• What content gets the most engagement? Candid, behind-the scenes content or polished and professional posts?
• Are people responding the same way across all networks? Is there a specific type of content that performs better on one platform than another?
• Are people open to answering your questions?
• Are your top posts in line with your brand voice? If not, and they are performing well, it might be time to reevaluate your brand voice.

To record your thoughts, use the notes column in your audit document. These notes will be discussed again later.

Where can I find this information:

You can use the built in analytics tools of each social network to sort your top posts for the key metrics you’ve selected. Not sure how? We have detailed guides for each of them:

• Guide to Twitter analytics
• Guide to Facebook analytics
• Guide to Instagram analytics
• TikTok Analytics Guide
• LinkedIn Analytics Guide
• Pinterest Analytics Guide
• Guide to Snapchat analytics

But don’t worry: It could take forever. Hootsuite Analytics makes it easy. With just a few clicks, you can quickly find the top posts from all your social media accounts.

Hootsuite Analytics can be used to quickly review your data. You can even set up custom reports that will be sent to your email regularly.

Hootsuite is free to try You can cancel at any time.

Hootsuite Analytics gives each report a flexible, customizable interface. Drag-and-drop unlimited numbers of “tiles” to display your chosen metric. It’s easy to check your top metrics and adjust social strategy while on the move.

Where can I list this information:

Once you have identified the top content on each platform, add a link in the highlighted column to your audit spreadsheet.

4. Evaluate the performance of each channel

Now it’s time for you to evaluate how each social media channel contributes towards your overall marketing goals.

Now is the time to create a mission statement for each social account and some key goals.

Multiple accounts could have similar goals such as driving web traffic or conversions. Others might be solely for customer service or brand awareness.

Our YouTube account, for example, is all about product education. However, our @Hootsuite_Help Twitter page is for tech support only:

List each channel’s goals and track your progress towards them. Write down the actual numbers for measurable goals such as traffic or conversions.

How many Instagram users visited your website? How many sales were made by Facebook Page visitors? If customer service is your goal, track your CSAT score to see if it has improved over time. Be specific.

Supporting evidence is required for goals that don’t require quantifiable data. Have you increased brand awareness through your Facebook page? Are you increasing your organic and paid reach?

We want to know the purpose of each social channel and how effective they are.

Where can I find this information:

The goals you set for each channel will determine the success of finding relevant information.

Are you interested in tracking customer service and brand awareness goals? Use social listening tools to collect data from real customers.

Google Analytics is a great tool for measuring traffic and achieving conversion goals. You can see the traffic breakdown by channel by going to Acquisition->Social->Network Referrals.

Although it is not an exact science, tracking conversions via social media isn’t difficult. However, it is easier to do so on certain channels than others. To track Facebook conversion data, you will need Meta Pixel (formerly Facebook Pixel). Many networks also have their own tracking codes. Many e-commerce platforms have built-in social channels tracking.

It can be tedious to go platform by platform (so many tabs! This can be frustrating, but Hootsuite Analytics is a social media management tool that can help you make it easier.

You don’t have the luxury of taking our word for it — our social team uses Hootsuite for their own social media audits.

Hootsuite is a great tool for social media audits. It has all our analytics and channels in one place. It makes it super easy for me to browse through our various posts and networks, see what is working and make recommendations to improve the future. – Nick Martin, Social Listening & Engagement team lead at Hootsuite

Hootsuite is free to try You can cancel at any time.

Where can I list this information:

Add each platform’s mission statement on the appropriate tab of the audit spreadsheet, and then move down to Performance.

The mission statement will explain the purpose of each platform and help you determine which KPIs to focus on.

If your Instagram mission statement is “Grow brand awareness and generate traffic/leads”, you will likely list metrics such as audience growth rate or traffic from social media. Be specific!

Optional:

Take it one step further, and compare the performance of each channel against your top competitors.

Scroll down to the SWOT Analysis section in your audit spreadsheet. Use the data you have gathered to identify your internal strengths or weaknesses. You might have posts that get a lot of likes or comments, but your videos aren’t as popular as your competitors. Take a note!

Next, take a closer glance at the competition. Is it possible that they have not capitalized on a new feature. Are their accounts growing at a faster rate than yours? These are both opportunities and threats for your brand, so keep an eye out.

This blog and the free template will help you conduct a more detailed competitive analysis.

5. Learn about your audience on each platform

Now that you understand how each account helps support and grow your brand’s image, it’s time for you to dig deeper to discover who you are reaching on each platform.

A good starting point is to determine your audience demographics. While Instagram is well-known for its ecommerce features and users spend the most on TikTok, Instagram also gets a lot attention. Facebook is the most used platform among people aged 35-44, while YouTube is the best for those aged 18-25.

We’re sure your audience might be different, but we have all the demographic data for every social network.

• Facebook demographics
• Twitter demographics
• Instagram demographics
• TikTok demographics
• LinkedIn demographics
• Snapchat demographics
• Pinterest demographics
• YouTube demographics

To create buyer personas, you need to know the demographics of each platform. We have a free template for buyer personas to help you make this process easier.

Where can I find this information:

Each platform’s native analytics can provide demographic information. It’s much faster to use Hootsuite Analytics all-in-one audience reports.

This enterprise-level tool will give you an instant overview over millions of online conversations in real-time.

You can search for any keyword or topic and filter by date, demographics and location. You will be able identify thought leaders and brand advocates, understand how your brand is perceived in the market, and receive immediate alerts if your mentions spike (for either good or bad).

Hootsuite Insights will tell you a lot more about your audience and how they feel about yourself. Insights is the only tool that will allow you to learn more about your audience.

Hootsuite Insights demo available

Where can I list this information:

Scroll down to the Audience section of each platform in your audit spreadsheet and add any demographic information.

Include the number of followers and the percentage change in the past year.

Do you find something interesting in your social listening audits? Make sure to mention it here. You’ll want to be aware of any positive or negative sentiments about your brands that have increased, for instance.

6. Take action: Revamp your social media marketing strategy

Now that you are aware of where you stand, you can start to think about ways you can improve your social media metrics. It’s time for you to go back to the notes you made before.

Here are some questions to ask yourself.

• Which platforms drive the best results?
• Are there any social media platforms that you should be using?
• Are you neglecting any platforms Are they really necessary? Or would it be better to get rid of them and concentrate on the more successful ones?
• What content types work best right now? How can you increase this?
• Are you reaching your target audience demographics or is there a new persona?

You can think about new content and campaign ideas by building on the information you have gleaned from step three. If video is a popular medium, you can create a strategy to incorporate more of it in your marketing. This could be “Post 3 Instagram Reels per Week” or “Repurpose long-form video into short, 15 second clips for social media.”

These decisions don’t need to be made forever. Marketing success is dependent on testing and experimenting to discover what works for your audience. Don’t be afraid of taking risks. Regular social media audits can help you determine if you are on the right path or need to take a risk.

Write down every new strategy or idea in your marketing plan. (Don’t have one? We have another great template for you: this free social media plan document. Keep your marketing strategy current.

Where can I find this information:

Use your brain! Make use of all the data you have so far to come up with new ideas. Make sure you have your goals for each platform in your mind so you can link your updated marketing plan to them. Make sure to notify others when you have updated your marketing plan so that everyone is on the same page.

Plan the next audit after you’re done with the audit. Stick to your regular schedule. For most companies, quarterly works well. However, you might want to check in monthly if your company has many channels or campaigns.

Regular audits will help you connect your team’s marketing efforts with your company goals. You’ll improve your social strategy over time and learn how to connect with your audience.

Where can I list this information:

After you have had a chance for data review, add your new goals for each platform in the goals section of your audit sheet. Set a date for you to review your progress.

Congratulations Your audit spreadsheet should now be complete Fill out the summary tab to make it easier for you to review your findings.

Social media audit template free

A spreadsheet is the best way for you to keep track of all your social media audit information.

If you’ve been following, you know we have a social media audit template that you can use. You can download it from the above or create your own using the following fields.

Account details:

• Your username
• Link to your profile
• About/bio text of the account
• Use any hashtags in your bio, or you’ll use them regularly.
• URL to be used in your bio
• Your account will be verified or not
• The internal person or team responsible to manage the account (also known by the “owner”, such as the social marketing team).
• Statement of the account’s mission (e.g. “To promote company culture through employee photos” or “To provide customer services”)
• Information about the current pin post (if applicable).
• Date of the most recent post (to help identify abandoned accounts or accounts that are not being used).

Performance details:

• Total number of posts
• Total engagement numbers: Click-through rate, Engagement rate, views, comments and shares, etc.
• Change in engagement rate vs. your last audit
• The top five most popular posts on each platform based on engagement rate (or key metric).
• Your campaign ROI (if you run paid ads)

Audience details:

• Demographics and buyer personas
• Follower count (and change +/– vs. your previous audit)

Goals:

• 2-3 S.M.A.R.T. Goals you want to achieve with your next audit
• Whether you achieved the goals you set for this audit or changed your course (and why).

Now you are fully equipped to conduct your social media audit. Now go ahead and analyze!

Commonly asked questions about social media audits

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The post How to Run the Easiest Social Media Audit [FREE TEMPLATE] was first published on Social Media Marketing & Management Dashboard.