The easiest way to conduct a social media audit

A crucial step in developing or updating an effective social media marketing plan is conducting a social media audit. In documenting and evaluating your existing efforts, you are better able to form strategies for your social media use. You can evaluate what’s working or what’s not, get rid of outdated profiles or imposter accounts, and identify new opportunities for social engagement, thereby making the most of your social budget.

This may sound daunting, so here are some easy steps to guide you, including a template that will help you with this process.

1.   Make a document to track everything (Or use my template below!)

Download your Free Social Media Audit Template Spreadsheet

 Use a spreadsheet to record information about each social account you have. I have created a social media audit template for you, and you can find it at the end of this post. What you’ll want to record would be:

• the social network (for example, Instagram)
• your social handle or account URL
• the internal person or team responsible for managing the account (also known as the “channel owner”—for example, the social marketing team)
• the mission statement or purpose for the account (for example, to promote company culture using employee photos, or to provide customer service during office hours)
• important metrics
• key demographic information
• Any opportunities or challenges for the account.

2. Find all your social media accounts and make sure they are on brand

List all the social media accounts your business has and uses regularly, but extend this to search for any accounts that may have fallen by the wayside. Then, make sure each account is complete, with a full profile, the same or similar handles across different social media networks, links to your homepage or a current campaign, and that any pinned posts are still relevant.

3. Understand your demographic and focus your channels

Different social media channels have different audience demographics, and it’s important to have an idea of who you can reach on each channel. For example, LinkedIn users tend to have relatively high incomes, and Snapchat users tend to be younger than Facebook users. Understanding the demographic you can reach, as well as the demographic you wish to target, will help you decide which social media channels to develop that will provide the best return on investment for your brand.

4. Centralise usernames and passwords

Each of your social media accounts should be managed by one person, or maybe a team, within your company. This person is responsible for ensuring the account is on brand, up-to-date and performing well, and will also be in charge of necessary approvals on the account, guiding its strategic direction. They’ll decide who should have access to the account and what level of access each person should have.

Rather than giving various team members the password to your social accounts, it’s important to centralize the passwords in one place. This means you don’t need to change the password every time someone leaves your team or moves to a new role, and it helps protect the security of your social accounts. Tools like LastPass and Hootsuite are great for ensuring only the right people have the right access.

5. Keep things healthy with regular audits

Now that you have the process down pat, it’s important to keep performing regular checkups to ensure everything continues to run smoothly, and that you are achieving your desired mission with each social media account. Make a repeating schedule to do an audit every 3 months or so, and keep your social media on brand and engaging for your audience.