Before you even start to think about improving your social media, you should take stock of where you are.
An audit is a list of checks – so not as scary as it sounds!
It will help you figure out what is and what is not working. Helping you identify new opportunities to grow and engage with your audience.
Here are my 5 steps!
I also have a useful worksheet for you that you can download here.
1 – Find all your accounts
2. Check your details
This step is simple but often gets overlooked, and can cause a headache for customers.
Make sure your details are correct on all your platforms such as:
- Website – and test that it works when clicked!
- Phone Number
- Business Address (if applicable)
If using a Facebook page make sure you fully complete the ‘About’ section and ‘Our Story’.
The more detail you give all these areas the better for the customer.
3. Is it you I’m looking for?
Is your branding consistent across all of your platforms?
Is it obvious when looking at all your imagery together that they are from the same company?
To help customers feel reassured that they have found the right business, you need to look the same on all your platforms. You need to be recognisable through your branding.
Logo check
Make sure your logo is visible and not cut off by the ‘circle’ of most platforms. Resize it to fit!
It’s important to use the same logo on all your platforms.
Cover Photo
Do you want to know a secret, this is such an underutilised area. Don’t let this space go to waste.
A photo of a beach might look great, but does it tell people you are a travel agent?
This is your shop window, and people judge quickly. Use this space to tell potential customers about your business.
You can use tools such as Canva.com or even a local graphic designer to help you with this part.
Each platform has different sizes, which can be frustrating, but make sure you use the right size image for the space.
You can find out more in this sizing guide here.
4. Where I started from
To know we are improving and to check what is working we need to get friendly with the analytics or insights depending on the platform.
I want you to get comfortable with regular checks on your analytics. I want you to look at your insights from the past month and screenshot or make a note of the following.
Great posts
Which posts have a lot of likes, comments, shares?
What types of posts do your audience like?
Videos? Photos? If you are just starting, you might not have a lot of posts to compare. Keep this in mind going forward, as it is important in figuring out how best to engage with your audience.
Reach and Engagement
Just make a note of your engagement rate and reach. This gives you an idea of your potential audience size, and who is active on your accounts. This is a good foundation to build on going forward.
There are more indepth analytics guides here.
Are you reaching your ideal customer?
Insights such as demographics of your audience will help you understand who is following you.
Are they the right people for your business?
Do they match your ideal customer?
If not you might need to think about how you change this using your content and networking going forward.
You need to focus on engagement over followers.
You can also make a note of your followers, including any key people who are very active and engaged. Follower count isn’t everything, we are made to feel it means we have more influence and more people see our posts, but this isn’t always the case.
You could have one million followers and no engagement, no one even interested in your business, or 50 people who love what you do, and are eager to buy.
Don’t focus on chasing numbers, build relationships instead!
5. Set some goals
So my final point is to set some goals going forward.
What have you learned from your audit that you can improve on?
Things take some time to change, especially with regards to building a meaningful following, so set yourself some short and long term goals. Think about your strengths and weaknesses currently and how you can make changes. For example a weakness is branding – it might be worth spending some time or money to ensure your channels look professional and present you in the best light.
Think about the type of content that does well, and how it helps build connections with your audience. You might also think about the different language depending on the platforms. Facebook might be more informal whereas LinkedIn might be more business focussed.
An audit isn’t just for now
I’d recommend an audit regularly, at least once a year to make sure everything is looking consistent and new imposter accounts don’t emerge.
Monitoring analytics and setting goals should be monthly, to help you understand what is working for you. This will ensure your efforts make more impact.
