Why Social Media Audits are Important to Small Business

Social media is an essential part of any successful digital marketing strategy. Small businesses often struggle the most with this, either due to a lack of knowledge or resources, but they’re the ones that really need to be taking advantage of all that social media marketing can do. Part of that comes from knowing where you stand so that you can make plans to improve your efforts. Enter the social media audit. 

What’s a social media audit?

A social media audit is exactly what it sounds like. Just as a tax audit provides a detailed review of your taxes, an audit of your social media will provide a detailed review of your profiles, platforms, engagement, and other elements. This will help you see what you’re doing well and what could use some work. It will also identify anything you’re doing that is absolutely wrong or going to impact your search rankings and reputation in a negative way. 

A social media audit uses tools like Google Analytics and others to identify important areas that need to be addressed. This audit does show you the successful efforts, too, so don’t worry about getting discouraged about all the issues that are cropping up. This makes it easier for you to make decisions about your social media strategy based on factual insights. 

How do you perform an audit of social media?

The best way to do a social media audit is to break it down into these five steps.

1. Prepare and plan 

The first step is always planning and preparation. If you’re going to do an audit, what do you want to learn? Choose a spreadsheet program where you can create your own audit checklist or use a template that you can find online. Make sure that you can collect all the relevant data, including:

• Follower count
• Account activity
• Posting frequency
• Click rates and conversions
• New followers daily/monthly
• Etc. 

Make sure that you include all of your social media profiles on your audit sheet so that you can see everything in one place. 

2. Create goals 

Now that you have an audit sheet and a plan, you’ll need to define the goals of your audit. Are you trying to see how many followers you’re gaining? Perhaps you want to see what sites are generating the most leads. Create your goals and then determine the KPIs and metrics associated with each so that you know what you’re going to measure. 

Then, you can add these goals to your sheet. 

3. Optimize everything

Go to each of your social media profiles and check your account information and profile details. Everything should be completed, optimized, and consistent. Utilize keywords when you can, keep your name and address listing consistent, and make sure that your branding and promotions are reflective of your company. 

Consistent branding and optimized profiles can do a lot more for your social media than you might realize, so don’t skip this step. 

4. Get into the data 

Now you’re going to get into the details of the metrics and reports that you’ve run. Focus on the performance analytics that are related to your goals and see where things stand. This will help you create a plan to make improvements in the future. A thorough analysis will help you identify posts with the most engagement, find out if you’re missing something (or a lot of things), and see where you can make improvements. 

5. Update your social media strategy

Finally, it’s time to use the information that you gained in your social media audit to update your social media marketing strategy. By now, you should know how your social media is currently serving its purpose (or how it may not be). That can help you create new action items for your strategy, including updating profiles, creating new buyer personas, expanding into new markets, and so forth. 

This will depend on your goals and the information gleaned from your audit, of course, so everyone’s end result will be different. What matters is that you use the information to help your social media strategy in whatever way that works for you. 

The benefits of doing a social media audit

There are more than 4.65 billion active social media users. 

54% of users reported visiting social media for product/service research.

In case that’s not enough of a reason for you to stop reading right now and start your audit, there are plenty of other benefits that come from auditing your social media. 

For starters, social media audits can help you home in on any missed opportunities, weak spots, and inconsistencies in your marketing efforts or sharing strategies. You will come out of the audit with a list of actionable steps that you can take to improve your social media marketing strategy, allowing you to establish a better plan moving forward. 

This can help you rise above the competition in social media visibility and followers. It can also help you drive more sales, create better engagement, and build your reputation as an authority within your industry. People like brands they can connect with on a personal level, which is why you need to capitalize on social media in as many ways as you can. 

An audit will also help you:

• Identify missed opportunities for leads and conversions 
• Find new markets and potential target demographics 
• Meet your customers where they are, which is essential in today’s world 
• Create a plan for future growth and development 
• Determine if certain platforms aren’t working or relevant

Knowledge is power. If you have the details behind your social media strategy, you’ll be more informed and prepared to make powerful decisions about future moves.

While you’re making improvements, why not streamline your communications?

At Smith.ai, we understand that small businesses have a lot on their plates, and we make it our goal to help with that in as many ways as possible. That starts with providing a 24/7 answering service so that you never miss an opportunity. Plus, our virtual receptionists can also assist with outreach campaigns, lead intake, and appointment scheduling so that you can focus on your business. 

To learn more, schedule a consultation or reach out to hello@smith.ai. 

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