The WP Wednesday Podcast

Performing a Social Media Audit – BeBizzy Break Podcast Episode 61

by | Dec 14, 2017 | #Tribe, Business, Marketing, Podcast, SEO, Websites

BeBizzy Break Podcast EP 61

Performing a Social Media Audit

Audits. When one thinks of that word it brings to mind some guy sitting in your office sifting through receipts, bookkeeping notes and interviewing your employees on processes. But what if you could use an audit form something good, like increasing your marketing efficiency? That’s why you would perform a social media audit on the various platforms you are using to market your business.

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Donna Amos of Solopreneur Solutions

Joining me today on the BeBizzy Break Podast is Donna Amos, Inspiror of Possibilities for Solopreneur Solutions, a boutique digital agency based in Cincinnati, OH. They provide web design, social media management, email marketing and more and she published a great article recently on “How To Do a Social Media Audit.” 

This article was a great starting point to the next few weeks when we will talk about optimizing profiles and pages for your Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn pages.

How To Get Started Performing a Social Media Audit

This is the perfect time of year to do a social media audit to prepare for next year.

  • Create a spreadsheet with the social media platform, the URL, and name on profile and the description
  • Also include number of fans/followers, and the date of the last activity
  • Make sure everything is consistent (name, images, colors, etc)
  • Start auditing individual social platforms for traffic

Where is Your Traffic Coming From?

Now that you’ve audited the general items of the individual to make sure everything looks and feels the same, it’s time to start looking at Google Analytics for indicators that visitors to the website are coming from the various social platforms.  You can also get some valuable information from the social media platform data.

In addition to using the social media analytics to perform a social media audit, you can also use third party tools like Hootsuite and SEMRush to analyze data from social media websites.

Act on the Social Media Audit

There are some actionable items that may show up in your social media audit that can

  • Repurpose old content in another form like video, slideshows or podcats
  • Set up goals and metrics to measure
    • The point of doing social media is to create awareness, gain followers to frequency, and that activity drives traffic to the site to sign up for email newsletters and subscriptions, then convert those subscribers.
    • Determine what “success looks like” for your business and see what sites are meeting that success model.
  • Sometimes it’s better to abandon/close a social media platform if you are unable to manage that platform or your audience just isn’t there.
  • Set up a schedule to perform this social media audit quarterly or at least regularly to look for trends on what is working.

Other Tips

  • Video is going to be the dominant form of media in social media in the coming years.
  • Video doesn’t have to be polished to be effective. Just needs good camera placement, decent content and great sound.
  • Create a list of FAQ’s, answer them, and make 1-2 minute videos answering those questions and share in your social sites.
  • Do you want to be seen as a thought leader? Then consumption of social and website content is the goa.
  • If you want to create awareness, strive for reach… how many people can you reach with each post..
  • Shares, likes and retweets are to be used if the goal is to reach more with word of mouth.
  • There is a documented trail of each post to see how many people see it, share it, like it, click on it, and even purchase because of it.
  • Don’t expect immediate results! Sometimes you are talking to no one until your acquire a following.
  • But there is a benefit to talking to no one in social and blogs because the post lives on and can be found by people searching for the content keywords.
  • Googe+ is great for SEO benefits, even if your customers aren’t there.

Performing a social media audit can take a bit of time, but if you do it once you will produce a baseline that will enable your business to compare to when making future decisions on digital marketing. Both Donna and I encourage you to take the time between now and the end of the year to audit your social media properties.

Don’t forget to check out Donna Amos’ article on “How to Perform a Social Media Audit” at her website, and follow her on Twitter to stay informed.

Have you done a social media audit? What were your experiences and what actions did you do after the audit? Let me know at BeBizzy.com or @BeBizzy on Twitter!

Don’t forget to send us any suggestions for apps to review or people to interview. And subscribe to the BeBizzy Break Podcast on iTunes and Stitcher Radio. 

And as always, leave the technical stuff to us!

Subscribe to the BeBizzy Break Podcast on iTunes and Stitcher Radio.