Ideally, your social media strategy should always be based on hard facts and data. One way to get this data is by regularly auditing your social media performance. It helps you stay on top of your game and create a realistic, attainable social media optimization plan.
In this comprehensive guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about a social media audit, how you can use it to create a roadmap for growth, and, of course, the key steps required to perform one.
To make things even easier, we’ve included a free social media audit template for you to copy, edit, and use. So, buckle up and dive right in!
Table of Contents
What is a social media audit?
Why perform a social media audit?
How to conduct a social media audit?
Social media audit template
Social media audit examples
Top social media audit tools
What is a social media audit?
A social media audit provides a comprehensive analysis of your brand's presence and performance across all social media platforms. The report summarizes various important metrics that show whether your efforts effectively support your social media goals.
Think of it as a review card that you fill in every month or quarter to help you measure and analyze your social media marketing strategy.
A well-conducted social media audit can help answer the following questions:
- Which social media platforms are the best for our brand?
- Who is our audience? (demographics, psychographics, motivations)
- Which kind of content is working best on each platform?
- How to connect better with our target audience?
- How to create a better content strategy than our competitors?
- Where to focus our attention next?Before we dive into the how, let’s first understand why it is so important to create a social media audit report in the first place.
Why perform a social media audit?
Managing multiple social media channels without a clear roadmap can be tricky. It’s like steering a ship through stormy seas without a compass.
It can be chaotic and uncertain, and you're bound to veer off course. Similarly, without a social media audit, you're essentially sailing blind, unaware of your strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for improvement.
Here are five key reasons we recommend conducting a monthly or quarterly social media audit.
- Evaluate performance across channels: Only when you track your performance, can you improve it. A social media audit shows which channels are working, what content types get high engagement, and what types of campaigns lead to conversions or click-throughs.
- Understand your audience: By reviewing the demographics and engagement trends, you can see if your content is reaching the right audience. For example, if your target audience is in a different age group than the one that your analytics revealed to be the majority, you need a pivot in your content strategy.
- Track progress towards goals: Are you running campaigns on social media regularly? A social media audit can show whether these campaigns are meeting your overall social media goals. It shows the different metrics like ROI, engagement, click-throughs, and conversions resulting from your campaigns.
- Optimize strategies: Is your team trying out different things and still wondering why they aren’t bringing the desired results? Or has some content trend worked well in the past but isn’t effective anymore? A social media audit report can identify patterns. Your team can prioritize those that are bringing success and try to dig deep into why the rest isn’t working as well.
- Discover gaps and opportunities: The social media scene is ever-changing. A brand audit can be extended with a competitive landscape analysis, which enables you to identify emerging trends, new platforms, content gaps, and untapped opportunities that help you stay ahead of the curve and outperform your competitors.
Before creating the social media strategy, the audit of each social media page comes with it because every social media site has its sweet spot. With that audit comes a clear understanding of where the business stands and how each social media platform will help achieve its goals. – Maria Olawumi
How to conduct a social media audit?
Running a social media audit does not have to be challenging. Here’s a simple, step-by-step process on how to do a social media audit.
#1. List all your social profiles and define goals for each platform
When conducting a social media audit, the first step is gathering all your social channels, even if some platforms are not of primary interest.
Regardless of the follower count or how long ago you were active, each network represents an opportunity where - with some optimization - you can make your brand shine, increase reach, and generate growth.
Next, for the data you'll be gathering to be relevant, write down the specific goals for each platform. Below, you'll find an example of how you should treat each channel.
- Facebook — for boosting sales
- TikTok — for increasing brand awareness
- Instagram — for engagement and community building
- X — for real-time updates and boosting interactions
- LinkedIn — for building authority and professional networking
By setting appropriate goals for each platform, you can choose the right metrics to track and direct your efforts toward optimizing them.
For example, if community engagement is your goal for Instagram, you’d want to track comments, story interactions, UGC generated, and conversations initiated through DMs.
#2. Check branding consistency across all platforms
People look for similar cues while following a brand on different platforms.
For example, when a loyal Instagram fan searches for your profile on TikTok, they should see a similar username, profile picture, bio, and hashtags.
This is how you maintain a recognizable brand identity on every platform.
#3. Overview your social media performance metrics
Now that you have covered the basics, it’s time to get to actual auditing. First, make a list of the metrics you want to track for different platforms.
This overview should include :
- Number of follower and follower growth rate
- Engagement and average engagement rate
- Reach and impressions
- Social media interactions (such as comments or shares)
Select the metrics that align with your goals. For example, if your goal for Facebook is to drive sales, pay special attention to metrics such as reach and click-through rate. Spending time tracking likes here makes no sense.
There are two ways to gather and track these metrics:
- Manually check metrics. Pick one platform, and enter the metrics you want to track in an Excel Sheet or a paper. Do this for each platform.
- Use a social media audit tool like Socialinsider. The advantage? You can see more data at a glance and automate the entire process.
#4. Run a content audit
Once you’ve collected platform-specific data, it’s time to dig deeper. A social media content audit helps answer questions like:
- What kind of content does my audience prefer? Carousel posts or videos?
- Which type of content gets the highest engagement? Behind-the-scenes content or educational content?
- Is there a similarity in the way people interact with content on different platforms? For example, is the same kind of post getting popularity on Instagram as well as LinkedIn?
- Is our top content aligning with our brand tone and goals?
- Is there a trend in our top-performing content? Can we replicate it for future ideas?
Here are two steps we recommend when performing a social media content audit.
Identify best-performing content for each platform
Track your top-performing content based on your goals.
By using Socialinsider, you can quicky discover your best-performing posts filtered by engagement, impressions, or other metrics that are relevant to you.
Additionally, you can get aggregated data that indicates what's the best-performing content format for each platform.
Discover content patterns
Most brands make the mistake of stopping at gathering analytics. Remember, the end goal of auditing social media accounts is to discover content patterns.
To make your job easier, you can get this data from Socialinsider.
For example, you can get aggregated data to identify which content formats perform best across different platforms.
Or, you can see the top-performing content pillars across channels.
Don’t just stop there. Also, find patterns in posts that aren’t performing well.
For example, are educational posts not getting engagement? Spice things up by collaborating with influencers for this kind of content. Or add some interaction elements to this content.
#5. Run an audience analysis
Even if your posts are performing well, are they actually reaching the right audience?
In this part of the audit process, you have to check your demographic data on each individual platform.
Then, benchmark your metrics against your target audience. If you find you’re reaching a different audience, you may need to revamp your content.
Since every platformm appeals particularly to a certain demographic, we recommend creating a social media user persona, to better understand the profile and needs of your various target segments.
Note that this user persona may be different for different platforms. For example, not the same audience will engage with your TikToks AND like your LinkedIn posts.
Here are some questions that can help you understand your target audience and create the right social media audit strategy:
- Which social media platforms are they most active on? Are we prioritizing that platform?
- How do they use social media? Is it for entertainment, education, or purchasing products?
- Which social media pages does our audience follow? Can we get some ideas for our content strategy from those pages?
- What type of content does our audience engage with the most (videos, images, carousels, stories, or live streams)?
- What kind of content encourages them to take action/purchase a product?
#6. Benchmark against competitors
No social media audit is complete without a thorough analysis of your competitors. While you don’t need to replicate their content, you can find trends and ideas that you can utilize for your posts.
Worried that you’d have to spend a lot of time running this analysis? With Socialinsider, we make your work quick and easy.
Through Socialinsider’s benchmarking feature, you can compare any number of social media profiles (owned and competitor) and get cross-channel or brand-level insights, as well as comparative data on each individual platform.
We also make a set of questions so our team knows what insights to gather during a competitor analysis. Here are some to get you inspired:
- What channels do our competitors prioritize?
- Which content type leads to more engagement?
- What is their top-performing content?
- Which posting time works best for them in terms of audience engagement?
- What are their recent social media campaigns? Did they work well?
Based on these answers, create a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) graph. This graph should inspire some content ideas, but remember to add your own spin to create unique content.
#7. Leverage social listening
What are your customers saying about you? Are they mentioning you in comments or posts? What do they say about your competitors?
Social listening tools help you get the answers to these questions.
They let you:
- Track every mention of your brand on social media
- Track competitors and what people say about them
- Monitor trending content
- Hear what people have to say on trending topics in your niche
How does this help in a social media audit? You can better understand your audience, see which products or services generate the most interest, and your audience’s most frequent complaints.
For example, you found customers frustrated by long product deliveries. Once you resolve this issue, you can create content featuring your fast deliveries. This shows your customers that their feedback matters to you, and it turns them into loyal fans.
#8. Create an optimization plan
You have successfully completed all the steps in conducting a social media audit. But remember, the data is of no use if you do not gain anything from it. That’s where creating an optimization plan can help.
Here are three things you should cover in your plan.
Implementation plan
Based on your findings, create a plan showcasing how the changes will be implemented.
For example, if your audit revealed that your Reels are not getting considerable engagement, your implementation plan should show details like the action you’re going to take (create Reels on trending topics or invite influencers), the timeline you set (increase engagement in two months), and the metrics you want to achieve (boost Reel engagement rate by 20%).
The more detailed your implementation plan, the better your chances of achieving your social media goals.
Set team/individual-level tasks
Break down your implementation plan into tasks.
For example, do you need to switch creators for your Reels? Delegate a person to find those creators.
Or do you need to rethink the posting schedule? Assign your colleague the task of researching competitors' posting schedules and audience insights to revamp your posting strategy.
You can even set these tasks a timeline based on your overall implementation goal.
Set reporting schedule
After all your tasks are complete, when do you check the metrics to see if you have achieved the goal? Should you check it fortnightly or schedule automated reports monthly? Mention this reporting schedule in your action plan to keep your team on the same page.
Social media audit template
Since I've talked for a while about what to include in your social media audit, now it's time to put the words into action.
To simplify your auditing process, we've developed this comprehensive social media audit template, which is free to access, no email required, and is available for all busy marketers.
In this spreadsheet, you can see exactly what KPIs you need to keep an eye on and how to analyze your performance, along with tips, YoY, SWOT, and competitor analysis.
If you want to get started with a checklist instead, here’s everything you should include in your social media audit checklist (for every single active channel).
This is a brief, easy-to-follow list of items you should check during an audit.
Here’s everything you should include in your social media audit (for every single active chanel):
Profile information
- Links to every brand channel
- Bios/ profile descriptions
- Profile/cover pictures
- Branded and/or frequently used hashtags
- Date of your last published post
Performance information
- Number of posts
- Number of followers
- Posting frequency
- Engagement rate
- Reach and impressions
- Video views
- Traffic sources
- Sentiment stats
- Best performing content formats
- Top 5 posts
Audience information
- Demographics data
- Buyer personas
- Followers growth
Competitors information
- Links to top 5 or top 10 competitors
- All relevant metrics for comparison
Ad performance (optional)
- Relevant KPIs (such as reach, clicks, conversions) for any paid social media campaigns
Social media audit examples
Auditing social media channels can feel scary.
But, using Socialinsider, you can make this process timely and easy for your team.
Here, I’ll show you a real-life social media audit example for our own brand (Socialinsider) and a competitor brand (Dash Hudson).
For your own brand
We’ll learn how to audit our own brand with a step-by-step process. Let’s dive in.
Example brand: Socialinsider
Start by selecting an objective for your social media audit.
Objective: Evaluate Socialinsider's social media presence to enhance engagement and brand awareness.
Step 1: Account inventory
List down all the social platforms Socialinsider is active on.
- Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X (Twitter), and YouTube.
Check for brand consistency.
- All accounts have our logo as profile picture;
- Similar usernames across all accounts;
- Instagram, X, and Facebook have the same bios. YouTube and LinkedIn have more detailed sections;
- All accounts have links to our website.
Give an overview of findings.
- Have an active presence on all platforms;
- Observed regular posting on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and X;
- YouTube channel exists but lacks regular content.
Step 2: Conduct a detailed profile overview
Audit each individual profile
- Profile picture and cover photo align with brand identity.
- Bio clearly describes services offered.
- Call-to-action button directs users to the website.
- Bio includes a brief description and a link to the website.
- Highlights feature past webinars and tutorials.
- Professional description with regular updates on company achievements.
X
- Bio succinctly describes the tool's purpose.
- Profile and header images are consistent with branding.
YouTube
- Channel exists but lacks recent uploads.
- The About section provides a brief overview of services.
Step 3: Measure overall profile and content performance
Track key metrics that align with your goals. Since we want to boost engagement and visibility, we tracked those metrics for Socialinsider.
Overview of key metrics
- Facebook: Engagement rate is moderate; posts with infographics perform better.
- Instagram: Visual content showcasing tool features garners higher engagement.
- LinkedIn: Articles and case studies receive significant interactions.
- X: Tweets about industry trends and blog posts are frequently retweeted.
- YouTube: Low view counts due to infrequent posting.
Top content metrics
- Facebook: Posts featuring user testimonials have a higher reach.
- Instagram: Carousel posts explaining analytics concepts receive more saves and shares.
- LinkedIn: In-depth articles on social media strategies attract more comments.
- X: Threads discussing recent social media algorithm changes get more engagement.
Step 4: Uncover audience insights
Utilize a combination of native analytics on social platforms and Socailinsider for social media audience audit and insights.
Demographics
- Predominantly social media managers and digital marketers.
- Age group: 25-45 years.
- Geographical distribution: Major engagement from the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada.
Engagement Patterns
- Higher engagement during weekdays, especially between 10 AM - 2 PM (EST).
- Content related to industry benchmarks and analytics tips receives more interactions.
Step 5: Create an action plan
Based on all the insights gathered from running a social media audit, we create an action plan for Socialinsider.
Content strategy
- Increase posting frequency on YouTube with tutorials and feature updates.
- Share more user-generated content and success stories across all platforms.
- Develop a content calendar to ensure consistent posting during peak engagement times.
Audience engagement
- Initiate interactive posts like polls and Q&A sessions to boost engagement.
- Respond promptly to comments and messages to foster community relationships.
Profile optimization
- Update the YouTube channel with a branded cover image and complete the About section with relevant keywords.
- Ensure all profile links direct to specific landing pages for a better user experience.
Performance monitoring
- Utilize Socialinsider's analytics tools for social media performance review for implemented strategies.
- Regularly review audience demographics to tailor content accordingly.
For competitor's brand
Pick competitors and conduct an audit for each of them.
Example brand: Dash Hudson
Start by selecting an objective for conducting a competitor social media audit.
Objective: Analyze Dash Hudson's social media presence to identify strengths and areas for improvement.
Step 1: Check platform presence
List down all the social platforms Dash Hudson is active on.
- Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X (Twitter), and YouTube.
Check for brand consistency.
- All accounts have logo as profile picture
- Similar usernames across all accounts
- Instagram, X, YouTube, and Facebook have the same bios. LinkedIn has a more detailed bio.
- All accounts have links to their website
Give an overview of the findings.
- Active and consistent presence across all platforms.
- High-quality visuals and professional branding are maintained throughout.
Step 2: Conduct a detailed profile overview
Audit each social profile
- Bio clearly states the company's mission and includes a link to the website.
- Highlights showcase client success stories and feature updates.
- Comprehensive About section with contact information and company overview.
- Regular posts featuring blog articles and industry news.
- Professional profile with detailed company information and frequent updates on achievements and partnerships.
X
- Bio succinctly describes services offered.
- Active engagement with followers through replies and retweets.
YouTube
- Channel features a variety of content, including tutorials and client testimonials.
- Regular uploads with consistent branding.
Step 3: Perform a content analysis
Track overall content engagement and top-performing content for each platform.
Content engagement metrics
- Instagram: High engagement rate; posts with client features perform exceptionally well.
- Facebook: Steady engagement; videos and blog shares receive the most interactions.
- LinkedIn: Strong presence with high engagement on industry insights and company news.
- X: Active engagement; tweets about platform updates and industry trends are well-received.
Step 4: Use the insights gathered for an optimized content plan
Take competitor findings and make an action plan on what changes you should be making.
Here’s an example of an action plan we did for Socialinsider:
Content
- Increase activity on YouTube by posting branded tutorials, client testimonials, and feature updates.
- Leverage user-generated content (UGC) and client features, as Dash Hudson’s strategy shows these resonate well.
- Highlight Socialinsider’s unique client results through case studies and testimonials across platforms.
Audience engagement
- Increase interactive content, such as polls, Q&A sessions, and live discussions on Instagram and X, to foster community relationships.
- Dash Hudson engages with followers on X. Retweet content on X.
If you want detailed guides on how to do a social media audit for each major social media platform, here are some tips:
Top social media audit tools
Even if you have a readymade template and a defined process, gathering data may take a lot of time. A powerful tech stack can solve this problem.
Here are our recommended best social media audit tools.
Socialinsider — for social media analytics and performance analysis
We might be biased, but Socialinsider can be your go-to tool for conducting an audit. It helps you track all the metrics across platforms on one single dashboard.
Key features of Socialinsider social media auditing
- Detailed metrics: Whether you want to track engagement metrics, follower growth rate, or top-performing content, Socialinsider gives you all the key details. You can even see performance over time to ensure your brand is moving on the right track.
- Competitive benchmarking: Compare your brand’s performance with your top competitors. Identify strengths and gaps in their strategy and set benchmarks for your next social media audit.
- Real-time alerts and monitoring: Receive instant notifications about significant changes in your social media performance, such as sudden declines in engagement. This allows you to take prompt action, address potential issues, or capitalize on opportunities as they happen.
- AI content pillars analysis: Understand what results each content pillar generated and create a more powerful calendar based on those insights.
Google Analytics — for understanding traffic generation from social
Google Analytics is mainly used for website analysis, but you can also use it to check how your social media efforts are driving conversions.
Key features of Google Analytics social media auditing
- Track traffic from social channels: Identify the amount of traffic your website receives from various social media platforms while conducting channel audit.
- Measure goal conversions: You can set up Goals in Google Analytics (e.g., completing a purchase) to track how social media visitors contribute to your business objectives. This helps identify which channels drive the most valuable traffic and sales.
- Pinpoint geographic data: See the geographic location of visitors landing on your website from social media, helping you focus your campaigns on regions with the most engagement or interest.
Brandwatch — for social listening
Want to know the customers who are mentioning your brand? Or if your mention rate has increased over time? Brandwatch is the tool for you.
Key features of Brandwatch social media auditing:
- Monitor brand mentions across channels: Track mentions of your brand, products, or services across social media and understand how people perceive your brand across multiple platforms.
- Understand audience sentiment: Through sentiment analysis, Brandwatch categorizes mentions as positive, negative, or neutral. You can even identify shifts in sentiment that may indicate emerging issues or opportunities.
- Benchmark industry standards: Track industry-wide conversations to understand consumer expectations and norms and align your brand's performance with industry benchmarks.
Final thoughts
Performing a social media audit is not as complicated as it sounds. The benefits are certainly worth the hassle.
With the social audit template I shared in this article, all the insights on how and what to include in a social media audit, the free tools, and your knowledge at your disposal, you'll be well-equipped to streamline the process and uncover valuable insights.
So, the next time you are preparing for a social media audit presentation, trust the data and lean on your social media marketing instincts to ace it!Before you get started, sign up to Socialinsider and reduce the time you spend creating monthly audit reports.
FAQs on social media audit
What should be included in a media audit?
A comprehensive social media audit should include key performance indicators (KPIs) including engagement rates, follower growth, reach, impressions, and conversion metrics.
It should evaluate the success of your content strategy as well as the demographics and behavioral patterns of your audience, an analysis of your competitors, the performance of your platform, and any new trends or opportunities in your niche.
How often should you conduct a social media audit?
The frequency of conducting a social media audit can vary depending on factors such as the size of your audience, the pace of change in your industry, and the resources available for analysis.
However, some businesses audit social media content once per month, but no less than once a quarter, to stay on top of performance trends, identify areas for improvement, and ensure that your strategies remain aligned with your business objectives.
Are there any tips for doing a social media audit?
Here are three tips for doing a social media audit:
- Connect things: Don’t create data silos with your audit results. Instead, connect metrics and delve deep to find patterns, trends, and opportunities.
- Brainstorm with your team: Involve your team during the audit. You can even include a few people from outside your social media team to get novel ideas and perspectives.
- Structure your findings: Start by sharing the most important insights and then break it down to each platform. Focus on the goals and key metrics. Showcase data visually for better understanding.
Analyze your social media performance and benchmark competitors!
