The ability to conduct a thorough and meaningful social media audit is an invaluable weapon in a good marketing arsenal. Whether you’re a consultant getting started with a new client, or an in-house SMM (Social Media Marketer – so I don’t have to type that out every time) looking to improve your current efforts – compiling a holistic and complete picture of your current state of affairs is critical.
Certainly every case is different based on the needs of the organization or client but I’ve pulled together a list here that I’ve compiled by looking at client audit’s that I have done in the past as well as the quarterly audit’s I do for my employer. Please feel free to share any points in the comments that you think others should be considering as well.
- Profiles
- Gather all: Document all profiles (including log-in information) where your brand has a presence, even if inactive.
- Secure the rest: An audit is the perfect opportunity to ensure brand security by reserving your brand’s name on ALL other social sites. Yes ALL. Heelllloooo brandjacking!?! It sounds daunting but it’s actually quite simple if you use a site like Knowem.com. You can even have them reserve them in an ongoing manner so you don’t have to worry about it.
- Level of completion: You’re clearly not going to be active on hundreds of sites. But you”ll want to be sure to at least fill out your profile on them. The audit is the time when you identify the sites you need to beef up your profile information.
- Landing Pages: Are you using custom landing pages for your social visitors? (Hint: you probably should be.) Are they up to date? What are their locations, etc? Take inventory and double check your tracking analytics.
- Branding
- Graphic elements: Check and be sure all logos and brand images are up to date and meet criteria. Consistency is key in branding so be sure you’re in line with the rest of the organization.
- Voice: This one is a little harder to “checklist” if you don’t have a style guide for messaging. But take a look at all of your social communications to determine how they’re lining up with the brand voice. If there is too much of the SMM and not enough of the Brand you will want to note this for example.
- Blog
- Regularity of posts: Take note of how often posts are being published and compare to the content calendar. Is calendar being followed, etc.
- Content: What type of content is being published? Are there any opportunities for new topics or contributors?
- Comments: Taking a look at the number and type of comments can provide a lot of insight in to how your audience is feeling about the content you’re producing.
- Calendar: If there isn’t an editorial calendar there should be. Take note of whether or not a) there is one, and b) if it’s being adhered to and updated.
- Other on-site social elements: For each site this will vary but take note of all of them. Pay attention to how they’re being monitored and encouraged especially.
- Reviews and ratings: Are reviews and ratings being encouraged, rewarded and monitored? Who’s responsibility are they? How shareable are they?
- Forums: Running a forum is its own kind of animal. You’ll want to pay special attention to whether or not there are moderators, who your most active contributors are and any type of rules of use that are in place.
- Sharing mechanisms: As mentioned previously sharing options are an important part of helping your customers to share the love. Take a look at all sharing functions such as submission and tweeting buttons. Currently one of the most important is whether or not the Facebook ‘Like’ button has been implemented in the most effective way.
- Content
- What type: Much of what type of content is being shared and created has to do with your position in your market. Take a look at what type of content is associated with brand profiles (industry news, product specific information, etc)
- Schedule or plan: Is there a plan in place for content creation and sharing? Much like a style guide having a schedule and/or plan in place will help to ensure consistency.
- Style guide in place: Brand marketers should be familiar with this document. In social it is just as important. An effective audit should look at whether one exists for social channels and whether or not it’s being adhered to.
- Promotions
- Schedule or calendar: Are promotions being mapped out? If there are specific boundaries involved this should be documented as well.
- Terms of service: This is important. Your legal team will agree. For promotions or contests it is extremely important to have a Terms of Service in place to ensure you are protecting your organization in all instances.
- Wrap-up process: Is there a reporting mechanism in place that measures the effectiveness of all promotions and contests? Evaluate this to be sure that the efforts being taken are being promoted internally to their best advantage on a regular basis.
- Tracking
- Site analytics: Likely the SMM is not the person in charge of analytics on the site. Has there been sufficient cooperation between the SMM and the (likely) SEO/SEM in charge of site analytics to ensure all social efforts are being tracked? Proving ROI is HIGHLY dependent on this. Be sure to note opportunities for improvement here.
- Sentiment: Tracking sentiment is tricky. Very tricky and time consuming. But in the audit process be sure to look in to how it is being tracked, how it is being reported on and what kind of meaning is being drawn from it.
- Engagement: This can be measured in a ton of different ways. How you do this really depends on your own goals and needs. Some suggestions are looking at Facebook insights to see how people are responding to the content you post there, number of comments on each blog post, number of ‘shares’ on submission sites (Reddit, StumbleUpon, Digg, Delicious, etc)
- Tool sets being utilized: During an audit is a great time to look at what tools you’re using to conduct your business.
- What’s missing: Take a look at what you wish you could have. Some things you’ve been wishing for in the sidelines of doing your job may actually exist. Bringing these opportunities to light in an audit is the first step in finding the tools that will make your life easier.
- What’s superfluous: Are there features of tool sets you’re currently paying for that you aren’t using? Are you paying too high a price point or perhaps too advanced a package?
- Offline Presence: Merging both your online and offline presence is not only important but extremely beneficial. If you haven’t yet done this, look for opportunities, and if you have audit to take inventory of those initiatives and be sure they’re up to date.
- Conversation coverage: Take a look at the conversation happening around your brand and products. During the audit process you’ll want to take a look at how much of that conversation you are engaging in or potentially missing. Opportunity may be knocking.
- Social touch-points: What other employees are socializing on behalf of the brand? If your customer service team is active or your developers are tweeting you’ll need to know about it. Any and all social touch points should be documented and noted for continuing analysis, training and improvement.