Social Network Audit: How to Do It Step by Step?

We must be present on social networks, whether promoting a new product, attracting traffic to your website, or making your brand known. And good planning and execution of content strategies will result in being able to boost your business and increase your sales. And let’s make it clear from now on, it’s not about opening profiles on different social networks and posting sporadically, but you have to know if they’re working properly. And that can only be achieved with an audit.

If you have never carried out an audit or you are not sure if you are doing it correctly, in the next post, you will learn what it is about, why it is necessary, the step by step to carry it out, and you will access a template model to guide you in your first steps.

It is recommended to apply a social media audit every month and, in some cases, every quarter. As you get into the habit, it will get easier to do, so don’t panic!

What is a social media audit, and what is it for?

A social media audit is a process of checking if you’re on the right platform, what content is working, and what can be improved. During the procedure, both internal (of your project) and external (of your sector and competition) information is collected to then make a SWOT matrix and develop the social media strategy. Knowing the content and the platform in which you are successful and in which there are not great results is a fundamental piece when it comes to optimizing the strategy in social networks.

In addition, without a proper audit of social networks, we cannot carry out a good strategic plan for social media marketing. Some of the advantages that an audit will provide you with are the following:

• Have a 360º view of the publications that have given the best results.
• Check which social networks are the most profitable.
• Know the situation and the behavior of the competition.
• Identify the opportunities.
• Determine your weaknesses to reverse them.
• Develop or adjust the strategy that is in harmony with the specific and feasible objectives and goals.
• Establish the factors that generate low conversion rates.
• Discover the trends that you can use to create or change the campaign on social networks.
• Obtain information on the perception that exists of the brand.

How to do a social media audit step by step?

Performing an audit on social networks can be a bit complex if you do not have prior planning. If you stick to the latter, you just need to be methodical and consistent.

Step 1: Internal Analysis

The first point is to have an overview of your company, and for this, you have to carry out an internal investigation. Analyze and design a profile of how to work in social networks.

Step 2: Create a document to collect data

It is recommended to work in an Excel document. You can open a file tab for each platform, as all networks are different and have their own metrics. Add the following columns (the type of KPI will depend on each social network):

• Name and URL of the profile.
• The number of followers and followed.
• Frequency of publications.
• Content type.
• Engagement metric (Like, shared, comments, saved…depends on each platform).
• Post metrics (reach, clicks on links, and profiles).
• Use of hashtags.
• Reels.
• Stories.
• IGTV.

Apart from the traditional spreadsheets that we have discussed, there are also highly recommended analysis tools available. The important thing is that you try different methods and stay with the one that is most comfortable for you.

Step 3: Network Mapping

It is very common to find companies that have different social profiles that they have abandoned. This is a serious error. You can use the Google search engine to search for possible previously created accounts that you are not aware of. There are also tools that will help you with tracing. One of them is Namechk. Once you have listed the active networks, analyze which are the most convenient and stick with them.

Step 4: Study of profiles

This step aims to determine the social networks that generate the most optimal results so that the strategy focuses on them. Second, it analyzes corporate branding.

• Are the covers, icons, avatars, etc., similar?
• Do they use the same colors and fonts?
• Is the communication tone consistent across all channels?

This point helps your brand to be perceived in a strong way and generate trust from your target audience.

Step 5: Content Performance

Thanks to this step, you will be able to answer certain questions, such as: Why does user engagement increase when the post is formatted in a certain way? It is essential that you study the results of each of your publications to know the different KPIs more precisely.

• Video views.
• Clicks to the publication.
• Scope or impressions.
• The number of mentions (Twitter).
• Keywords.
• What content generates more reactions?
• Which one was shared the most?
• Sentiment level (some tools provide you with measurement of positive and negative sentiment).
• Which produced more traffic to the website or online store. 

Step 6: Definition of the target audience

If you know your audience, you will be halfway there since you can publish the ideal content according to your target. To do this, individualize the type of person who follows you on each social network and think about whether they fit your “ideal buyer.” This way, you will avoid making content for a network that will not convert, which boils down to saving time and money.

Step 7: Competition

The moment you study the competition, you will have an idea of your strengths and the gaps that need to be closed. Check the following aspects:

• How your competition uses social networks.
• How many followers do they have?
• What kind of content do they publish, and how does it work for them?
• How your followers interact.

Step 8: YouTube Analytics

Everything indicates, and we are already comparing it, that video is the format that will be consumed the most in the coming years. It’s fast, creative, and entertaining with ease, so more and more brands make short videos to promote their products on YouTube. At the time of the audit, analyze your own channel and that of the competition under the following parameters:

• The number of subscribers.
• Comments.
• Reactions.
• Keywords.
• Views, time, and average duration.
• Videos with the most views.

Step 9: Instagram Analytics

Metrical is one of the best tools that will help you carry out an audit of social networks. It is very complete. With it, you can review the following aspects that we discuss below each week internally.

Step 10: Facebook Analytics

In addition to having Metricool’s analytics, as we have seen in the previous case, we can also work with the statistics offered by the platform internally. If your content planning also includes advertising campaigns, through the Facebook Ads reports, you will be able to carry out an exhaustive analysis of their operation.

Step 11: Twitter Analysis

By its nature, it is a very dynamic social network, so you need to analyze it from a different perspective than the previous ones. My advice is that you first take a look at Twitter Analytics.

Step 12: LinkedIn Analytics

LinkedIn’s great strength is found in personal profiles. In the event that your company has a profile on the network, examine and verify its performance. To do this, study:

• The volume of new contacts.
• Contacts are obtained per day.
• The number of leads or opportunities provided by those contacts.
• Daily and per post impressions.
• Frequency of publications.
• Linkedin Social Selling Index (SSI) Level

Step 13: Google My Business (GMB) Analysis

To develop a Google My Business audit, you have to know how this social network works and the type of company you are studying. Although it is in the first place, the data of a business may be inconsistent with respect to another in the same sector. In GMB, the indicators are different from other social networks. In the platform, the following is taken into account:They may be:

• Direct: Number of people who Google the business name.
• Indirect: In this case, people search for a specific product or service, and your business listing is displayed. It is also known as Local SEO.
• From brands: they occur when customers inquire about the competition of your business.
• Totals: they count the statistics, direct, indirect, and brand. They can be observed for weekly, monthly, or quarterly periods.

In summary

With a social media audit, you will see the participation of your audience, the performance of the content, and what works and what does not.