Today’s online space can make it difficult to know if your company’s brand is being effectively implemented on social media. Knowing which platforms are appropriate for your business, how to maintain consistency in your messaging across those platforms, and recognizing how to measure the success of each platform is critical to the overall growth of the company.
Statista.com estimates that in 2019, 79% of the population in the United States has a social media account on at least one platform. That’s an increase from 21% a decade ago.
Of the people who use social media, Sprout Social concluded that “social networks are the biggest source of inspiration for consumer purchases with 37% of consumers finding purchase inspiration through the channel.”
This is why auditing your social media presence is so important.
WHAT IS A SOCIAL MEDIA AUDIT?
A social media audit entails looking under the hood of the company’s current social media platforms to see how it’s been managed and the strategy behind each one. From there, we can see the footprint of the company and assess where there are gaps and effectively fill them. These are some, but not all, of the specific items we look for when performing an audit:
BRAND CONSISTENCY
Brand consistency is more than just making sure your images, offers, and themes are the same from platform to platform. Brand consistency involves finding your company’s voice and personality and executing on that every time. When your voice or messaging fluctuates, it gives the impression that the company isn’t well put together or maybe disorganized. Maintaining professionalism, streamlining your message, and humanizing your brand all contribute to your consistency.
STRATEGY
Where do you want your customers to come from, how do you want them to engage with you on your social media platform, and where do you want them to go when they leave? So many businesses believe that setting up a profile and posting occasionally is all it takes. In order to convert, you need to find the right consumers or clients, get them to your page, provide value, and then properly direct them to where they need to go make a purchase. This takes planning on purposeful action.
STATS
This is the nitty-gritty part. How many times are you posting to your accounts each week? What time of days are you posting? Which hashtags are you using? Are you running analytics in the background? These details help identify if the account is clicking on all cylinders. Do you run paid ads? What is your most liked post? If you’re excelling here – great. If not, good news! This is the easiest area to fix. We like to share tips like peak posting times on our Instagram. Check it out.
KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
Much like in business, it’s important to have Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for your social media platforms. If we aren’t measuring where we’ve been then we won’t know where to go.
Engagement – This is by far the most important KPI for social media marketers. Think likes, shares, and comments. If your followers aren’t engaging with your account in this way, it means the content isn’t resonating or providing value. It’s great if you have a ton of followers, but if they aren’t engaging with you then they aren’t converting.
Reach – While we still believe that engagement matters more than the number of followers you have, it’s obviously still important to have a large audience. Tracking the number of followers or fans your account has is another sign of growth. So are impressions. Impressions don’t measure someone actually viewing or interacting with your content; instead, it measures the number of opportunities someone had to view your content. This happens when someone shares your post or your business appears in another person’s feed because they are following you. Measuring reach is vaguer than engagement but still important.
Traffic Data – Are people visiting your website via your social media? It’s important to know where your customers are coming from, and where you’re sending them too. This can be tracked easily using third-party software or in the back end of your website depending on your platform. If you know where your customers are coming from, then you know where to put your energy and how to speak to them in your posts.
Remember, while there are standard social media KPIs, there are also KPIs specific to your industry or business that can be a good benchmark for measuring progress and success. Find out what those specific ones are and be diligent about measuring them.
CAN I PERFORM MY OWN AUDIT?
Of course. Although we do recommend getting an outside perspective. It can be hard to be objective when you are so close to the business. Almost Magical Marketing offers free social media audits. You can request one here.
HOW OFTEN SHOULD I REQUEST AN AUDIT?
We recommend auditing all social media accounts on an annual basis. As trends evolve and platforms change it is important to objectively evaluate where your company stands and what more could be done to maximize your ROI.
About Us:
Almost Magical Marketing is a full suite digital marketing agency specializing in Chatbots, Facebook Advertising, Social Media Management, Sales Consulting, Franchise Marketing, and Branding. Our team of almost magical llamas brings a wealth of experience from multiple industries. 🦙✨
Want us to help you identify what hashtags would be good for your business?
Schedule a FREE Social Media Audit with one of our Almost Magical Llamas to find out!
Get in contact by emailing us at