Tag : social media audit

How to Perform a Social Media Audit

23May

Our previous blog explained the importance of performing regular social media audits. Today we’re sharing the auditing process.

It’s just five simple steps. They won’t require any advanced software or programs (though certain types of tools can be helpful). You just need Google and a spreadsheet.

Take it step by step and discover for yourself how valuable the information you gain from a social media audit can be.

Phase 1: Create a Spreadsheet

You can do this with any spreadsheet program so let’s start by creating one using the program of your choice (Google Docs, Excel, Numbers, etc.).

Use one column for each social media platform, the next column for the URL to that account, and a column for the owner of each account.

Here, “owner” refers to the person in your organization who runs your social media, or at least that specific account. He or she is also the person who has access to the login information. If you have a department for social media, use either the head of that division or the individual employee who is responsible for each social media account. Likewise, if you use an outside social media marketing company, the “owner” would be your contact person or account manager.

Phase 2: Research

Search for your social presence on Google, using the name of your brand/company. If your company has any nicknames or shorthand versions (e.g., Chevrolet and Chevy, The Walt Disney Company and Disney), search for those as well.

Check each social media profile in the results. The objective of this phase is to gather data and discover any accounts you may have forgotten about or any accounts that someone else created (rogue accounts). Contact site administrators if you believe that someone set up a fake account in the name of your business.

Track the results with your spreadsheet, but only focus on the platform and URL for now. After you have listed every account, you will be ready to move on to the evaluation.

Phase 3: Evaluate the Platforms

Add a column labeled “Goals.” Knowing your goals for each platform will help you ascertain if your presence on that social media platform is beneficial to your brand.

Goals can include more reach, more engagement, etc. These goals can be as specific or as general as you prefer. Once you’ve established the goal for that platform, you can determine if a profile is working.

For example: The goal for your Instagram account is to increase brand awareness among retirees age 85 and over. Instagram, which skews towards a younger audience, is simply not the best platform for your brand.

After this phase, you should know which – if any – of your social media profiles you will delete.

Phase 4: Polish the Profiles

Make sure that each profile looks amazing. Check that all logos, icons, and other branding materials are current, and that the color scheme is also in-line with the brand. Update every bio and description. Ensure that all web addresses and contact information are correct.

After the cosmetic overhaul, you should take the audit further and look at each profile and answer the following questions:

Is the content aligned with the brand’s current marketing strategy?
Is the content consistent and on-message?
When was the last update?

This is also a good time to gather the login information for all of your social media profiles in one place so that you and your team can access any profile as needed.

Phase 5: Analyze Performance

Now, for the final step: analyzing the performance of each social media profile.

You need to determine how well each platform is working for you. What is the rate of engagement? How many clicks or comments did a given post receive?

You’ll also need to delve into your content: what type drives the most engagement? What is the quality of your engagement? We’ll discuss this step (and some of the tools you might use to simplify this process) in our next blog.

Getting the Most Value from Your Social Media Audit

You don’t have to rely on guess work or “gut feelings” when you make decisions about your social media marketing campaigns. If you follow these simple steps to do an effective audit of your social media activities, you can gain some important insights and make informed decisions about how you build your brand online.

Of course, there’s always more to learn, and at The Go! Agency we can provide a social media audit that gathers all the relevant data so we can provide actionable recommendations for optimizing your campaign.

Do you want to get more from your social media presence? Contact us today to get started.

“Hey, Your Links Aren’t Working!” – How to Avoid This and Other Social Media Pitfalls

By Christopher Tompkins

8Jul

Facebook, LinkedIn, Marketing, Pinterest, Social Media, Twitter, Uncategorized

There is nothing worse than being called out by your target audience for a broken link, mis-spelling or grammatical mistake on one of your social media updates or profiles. The obvious way to avoid this would be to proof-read and double check all of the links and content before you post.

But what happens when some of the changes are out of your control?

This is commonplace in the ever changing world of social media marketing. Sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter are constantly evolving and enhancing their onsite offerings. To stay competitive, each of these sites is in a constant state of change and improvement. While this is good news to users, if you are a passive social media marketer (like many businesses out there), you can put yourself at risk of looking out of date and unprofessional.

In order to keep your branding and content looking top-notch, at LEAST once a month, run the following check on all of your social media profiles. Depending on your content it could take a little while, but it is very much worth it. Just think of how many business pages on Facebook that you have seen without a cover image. This is because these companies STILL don’t know that Facebook has changed into the “Timeline” layout. Even more embarrassing? Some of these companies are multi-million dollar juggernauts!

Here are my top suggestions for places to check when auditing your social media accounts each month/week:

1. Layout: Each of these sites has gone through major layout overhauls during the past year. So if you are reading this, have profiles on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, AND haven’t logged in during the past year…log in immediately! Look at how your public profile appears to your target market. Remember, having a profile is more than just creating it and waiting for people to come. You need to keep it current. If you are not updating it, that doesn’t mean that people are not going to find your inactive page when searching. Make sure that your branding is on point, as well as your pictures, video and other branded elements. Ensure the logo and images you are using are aligned with what your company is currently utilizing for promotion.

2. Links: This is a big one as well. Many sites have been switching up how they use links, and this can result in links being broken. So painstakingly go through each of the hyperlinks in your profile, click on them, and ensure they are going to the correct corresponding location. If not, update, remove or replace. Also, perhaps you have added a landing page or another online profile since your last update. Add these while you are checking through your profiles.

3. Content Display: This is another important one. So many people are trying their hand at using third party posting tools, but never check to see how these tools actually posted to their profile(s). Sometimes these tools have an issue with site permissions and NEVER post your content. We have seen prospective clients complain about not getting any traction on social media, when in the past 30 days nothing they sent out via their Hootsuite account was posted. So go through your profiles to see if the content was posted, if the links work, if the right picture or video was shown and if the description was accurate. Then you can refine your postings going forward.

4. Spelling/Grammar: This is a no-brainer, but you should do a quick run-through of your description. While you may have already done this before, writing your description once and never changing it doesn’t make sense. What if you win awards, get press coverage, add products, add services, change your operating basis, etc? All of these need to be updated when you do your audits. If you make sure to look at these at least once a month, you can constantly tweak them so that they are 100% current and reflective of where your company currently is. Also, if you have a few people posting comments and replies, make sure that they have mastered that art of spelling and grammar.

5. Comments/Likes/Shares: Many busy marketers use email updates to let them know that someone interacted with their social media profiles. The only problem? These emails don’t always cover everything. Go into your profile and look through your updates, discussions and tweets to see if you have missed any interaction points. After all, this is why you are doing social media marketing in the first place! These interaction points are gold.

6. Inbox: One of the forgotten aspects of Facebook and LinkedIn is checking your inbox (and with Twitter, your Direct Messages or DMs). This is another case of waiting for a message that never comes. Sometimes setting the message settings on your social media accounts (like above) can be tricky. So double check your inboxes (and DM inbox) to make sure that you haven’t missed any communications. If you have, consult the email settings on the corresponding social media site to ensure you are able to get all of the communications you want to follow. I’ve seen people miss opportunities due to the lack of focus on keeping current with their inboxes.

These 6 ports of call are helpful in not only keeping you current and your branding on-point, but also in helping you see where you need to spend a bit more time going forward. One glaring point is where the email updates are concerned, and this is something that you need to keep track of.

This process is much simpler when you have a consistent social media marketing schedule, and more difficult if you don’t even have time to login to Facebook even twice a week. If you want to be effective on social media and do not have the time, consider outsourcing this work to a professional firm or agency that specializes in social media marketing for businesses. Your reputation is too important to risk, and if you take your eye off of the ball – the only thing to get tarnished is your valuable professional reputation.

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