How To Run the Easiest Social Media Audit [FREE TEMPLATES]

Forsooth! A social media audit doth be the most excellent method to review and amend any social marketing strategy. Our free checklist and template doth make it simple.

Social media marketing, an endeavor of jest and delight… but if thee measureth not those antics, how canst thou ev’r know what doth worketh? Hence a social media audit doth come into play.

Regular audits art the key to comprehending how each social account doth contribute to thy marketing goals.

And shouldst thou useth a simple template (like the free one we’ve created below), audits need not be arduous or intricate. Perchance, if thou art a lover of spreadsheets, thou might even findeth a social media audit to be (gasp!) enjoyable.

Continue to readeth to learneth how to conducteth an effective social media audit from start to finish.

Key Takeaways:

• Social media audits do identify the strengths of thy social strategy and do highlight areas for improvement.
• When measuring thy performance, do consider key metrics like engagement rate, post frequency, and audience size.
• Use thy audit to confirm that all social profiles art in alignment with thy brand’s style and guidelines.
• Compare thy performance against competitors to identify benchmarks and opportunities.
• Free social media audit templates can certainly help thee get started!

What is a social media audit?
A social media audit doth compile and analyze information about thy accounts across all platforms to clearly measure their performance.

Imagine thy social media audit as a report card: it doth identify strengths, areas for improvement, and next steps.

What can a social media audit tell thee?
After a thorough social media audit, thou shalt have all the information thou needeth to optimize thy social media marketing strategy, including:

• Thy most effective platforms
• What thy target audience doth wish to see on each network
• Who thy audience is (demographics and more)
• What doth aid in growing thy audience (and what doth not)
• How each platform doth contribute to thy goals
• Which new ideas will aid thee in growing
• And where to focus thy attention next

Free social media audit template + checklist
Thou could pursue creating a spreadsheet to track thy social media audit info. Or thou could simply download our free social media audit template + checklist and commence right away.

Verily, if thou dost wish to concoct thine own checklist, here’s a mini checklist of all thou shouldst include:

Account details:

• Platform and link to thy profile
• About/bio text
• Any hashtags in thy bio or regularly used
• URL to use in thy bio
• Listed contact info
• Account owner
• Mission statement for the account
• Date of the most recent post

Performance details:

• Total number of posts published
• Post frequency
• Total engagement numbers
• Top five posts for each platform

Competition:

• Links to competitor social media profiles
• Relevant metrics for comparison

Audience details:

• Demographics and buyer personas
• Follower count (and change vs. your last audit)

Goals:

• Areas for improvement
• Goals to achieve by thy next audit
• Actions to achieve goals and improvements

That doth be a plethora of data to collect… but fear not. We shalt guide thee through our social media audit forthwith.

Take it one step at a time, and thou shalt have it all filled out afore thou knowest it!

How to perform a social media audit in 6 simple steps
Fear not reading? Followeth along with our video:

1. Create a list of all thy social media accounts
Jot down all thy social media accounts to commence—every platform thou useth daily to that musty, underused Pinterest account. Active or inactive, ’tis important to catalogue thine online presence as part of thy social media audit.

In addition to thy current social media presence, bethink of the accounts thou hast not yet. For example, might there be any social platforms thou hast not considered? Shouldst thou be there?

Thou needest not be active on every network, of course. Still, an audit is a good opportunity to append new ideas to thy future social media strategy.

Where to find this info:
Search each major social network for thy brand and product names. Not only might this discover long-forgotten Facebook groups, but ’tis also a chance to uncover any imposter or misleading accounts that thou canst then shut down or report. Hot tip: set up a social media monitoring program to watch for any future fakes!

2. Check on thy branding
‘Tis time to delve a little deeper into each of thy social media accounts and ensure they all match thy current brand style guidelines.

Here art the key areas to review for each social account:

• Profile and cover images. Ensure thy images reflect thy current branding and adhere to each social network’s image size requirements.
• Profile/bio text. Art all fields for thy social media bio filled in accurately? Doth the copy match thy tone and voice guidelines?
• Username. Endeavor to use the same username across all social channels… though having more than one account per network is acceptable if they serve different purposes. (For example, we hast X accounts like @Moyens I/O and @Moyens I/O_Help.)
• Contact info and links. Doth the URL in thy profile lead to the correct website or landing page? Art thy phone number and contact email still accurate?
• Pinned posts (if applicable). Evaluate thy pinned posts to ensure they’re still appropriate and up-to-date.
• Verification. Is thy account verified with a blue checkmark badge? If not, shouldst thou try? We hath guides on how to get verified on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and X (formerly Twitter) if thou wishest to pursue this.

Where to find this info:
‘Tis likely quite obvious, but just visit each of thy social profiles and view how thy posts look to thy followers. Be certain to click on any links to ascertain if they need updating.

3. Identify thy top-performing social media content
Now that thou knowest all thy social media accounts art in tip-top shape, ’tis time to audit thy social media content. For each social profile, list thy five top-performing posts (Pro tip: include links to each post to easily review them later.)

What doth make a “top-performing post?” Well, that doth depend. If thou wish to unearth the content thy audience liketh best, we suggest ranking posts by engagement rate.

Depending on thy goals for a platform, thou may wish to focus on a different key metric, like link clicks or conversions.

Peruse through thy top posts for patterns. Then, ask thyself:

• What type of content is garnering thee the response thou desireth? Photo posts? Videos? Feed, Stories, or Reels?
• What style of content boasteth the highest engagement metrics: Candid, behind-the-scenes content or polished and professional posts?
• Do people engage as such across all networks? Doth specific content perform better on one platform than others?
• Do people engage with thy posts if thou dost ask a question?
• Are thy top posts in alignment with thy current brand voice? If not, and they’re performing well, perchance ’tis time to re-evaluate that voice.

Record thy thoughts in the notes column of thy audit document. (We shall return to these notes anon!)

Where to find this info:
Thou canst use the built-in analytics tools for each social network to sort and find thy top posts for the key metric thou hast chosen. Not sure how? We hast complete guides to using all of them:

• X/Twitter analytics guide
• Facebook analytics guide
• Instagram analytics guide
• TikTok analytics guide
• LinkedIn analytics guide
• Pinterest analytics guide
• Snapchat analytics guide
• Youtube analytics guide

4. Evaluate each channel’s performance
Now, ’tis time for the actual “audit” aspect of this entire endeavor. Prepare to evaluate how each social channel contributes to thy overall marketing goals.

If thou still needest to create a mission statement and a few key goals for each social account, now’s the time!

Several accounts may hast similar goals, like driving traffic to thy website and increasing conversions. Others may be solely for customer service purposes or brand awareness.

For each channel, list out its goal(s) and track thy progress toward them.

For measurable goals like traffic or conversions, inscribe down the actual numbers. How many website visits came from Instagram? How many sales came from Facebook Page visitors? If the goal is customer service, write down thy CSAT score and see if ’tis improving over time. Be specific.

For goals without quantifiable data, record supporting evidence. If thy Facebook account is for brand awareness, hast thy following grown? Hast thou increased thy organic or paid reach?

We seek to grow clear on the purpose of each of thy social channels and measure their effectiveness.

Where to find this info:
Finding relevant information will depend on the goals thou did set for each channel.

Tracking customer service or brand awareness goals? Try using social listening tools to gather data from real customers. For traffic and conversion goals, try using Google Analytics.

Tracking conversions from social media is not an exact science, though ’tis easier on some channels than others. Thou shalt need to set up Meta Pixel (formerly Facebook Pixel) to track Facebook conversion data, for example, and many networks do possess their own tracking codes. Many e-commerce platforms also have built-in social channel tracking.

Optional: Go one step further and compare each channel’s performance against thy top competitors with social media industry benchmarks.

5. Understand thy audience on each platform
Next up: we’re going to delve deeper to understand exactly who thou art reaching on each platform.

Audience demographics art a good starting point. For example, Facebook is the most popular platform for men aged 25-34, but YouTube is the place to be for the 18-49 group.

Whilst thy audience may differ from the norm, we’ve compiled all the top demographic data for each social network to get thee started:

• Facebook demographics
• X/Twitter demographics
• Instagram demographics
• TikTok demographics
• LinkedIn demographics
• Snapchat demographics
• Pinterest demographics
• YouTube demographics

Learn the demographics of thy unique audience on each platform and use that, along with the types of posts they prefer, to create buyer personas. (Don’t worry; we’ve got a free buyer persona template to make that easy for thee.)

Where to find this info:
Search for any topic or keyword, then filter by date, demographics, location, and much more. Thou shalt be able to identify thought leaders or brand advocates, understand thy brand’s perception in the market, and receive immediate alerts if and when thy mentions spike (for good or for bad).

6. Take action: Update thy social media marketing strategy
Now that thou knowest where thou stand, contemplate ways to improve thy social media metrics. ‘Tis time to revisit the notes thou madest earlier!

Here art a few questions to ask thyself:

• Which platforms are driving the most results?
• Art there any new social media platforms thou shouldst be using?
• Art thou neglecting any platforms? Doest thou even need them, or would it be better to ditch them and focus on thy higher-performing ones?
• What content types art working best right now? How canst thou create more of this?
• Doth thy content resonate with thy expected audience demographics, or hath a new potential persona emerged?

Consider new content and campaign ideas, building off what thou learned from thy top content in step three. For example, if video is a big hit, write down a specific strategy to work more video into thy marketing. That could be “Post 3 new Instagram Reels per week” or “Repurpose existing long-form video into short, 15-second clips for social media.”

These decisions need not be permanent. Successful marketing depends on testing and experimenting to find what works for thy audience.

For each new strategy and idea, write it down in thy marketing plan. (Don’t have one yet? We’ve got thee covered with yet another awesome template: this free social media marketing plan document.) Thy marketing strategy is a living document, so keep it current.

Where to find this info:
Thy brain and this audit! Use all the data thou hast collected so far to generate new ideas. Hath thy goals for each platform in front of thee so that thou canst connect thy updated marketing plan to them. Remember to inform others when thou hast updated the marketing plan, so everyone is on the same page.

Once thou art finished with thy audit, plan the next one! Stick to a regular schedule. Quarterly works well for most companies, although thou may wish to check in monthly if thou run many campaigns or channels.

Regular audits connect thy team’s day-to-day marketing work with thy company goals. Over time, thou shalt refine thy social strategy and learn how to best connect with thy audience.

Top 5 social media audit tools to streamline thy process:

1. Moyens I/O
Seriously, give it a whirl… we’ve got a free trial for thee right here.

2. Google Analytics
Sure, Google Analytics is technically for website analysis, but thou may find it helpful for tracking the effectiveness of social campaigns and funnels. Use this platform to see just how successful thy social accounts art at driving traffic, especially if that’s one of thy overall marketing goals.

3. Talkwalker
We love Talkwalker so much that we’re integrating it into our social listening tool, but thou canst use the platform alone, too. The tool helps thee monitor brand mentions across all types of social media channels (and more) and can provide real-time insights like sentiment analysis, trending content, and much more.

4. Later
Later is great for business owners who run their own social media and like to visualize and preview social media content before they post. However, beyond content planning, Later can also help with thy social media audit by providing insights into the performance of thy posts and aid thee in optimizing posting times.

Though, keep in mind, the platform doth lack some more advanced analytics features like competitive analysis and industry benchmarking.

5. Buffer
Buffer’s analytics feature makes it a valuable tool for social media audits, with insights into audience engagement, performance tracking, and demographics. ‘Tis user-friendly dashboard is simple and straightforward (great for social media managers on the go), however, it doth not come with social listening features or competitive benchmarking.

This dost be the content as requested, structured in the style of John Gruber with a touch of Shakespearean flair. Let me know if thou needest more assistance!