Josh S. Peters is the co-author of TwittFaced, and is the social media manager at The Search Agency. Follow him @JoshSPeters.
Every company should run a quick social media audit each quarter to make sure content is properly optimized and every aspect of their social presence aligns with their brand. The great news is that it shouldn't take more than an hour to perform.
This 60-minute audit is different from a full social business audit. You're not looking deeply at goals, competitors, engagement rates, campaign efficiency, or ROI. The purpose of this is to address the kind of company maintenance issues that often get pushed off into the distance and are then forgotten. Addressing these small issues should help you build a better, more effective, and well branded social media presence. Here's what you should cover.
1. Refine Your Design
The design of your social media profiles is part of your branding. This is why you should make sure to customize your backgrounds, avatars, and profile images so that they reflect your brand.
When it comes to a profile image, use the same one on all social media platforms to promote consistency. Check out Apple Vacations social profiles for a good example of this. They have a great looking Apple taken from their company logo that has a nice modern feel and is consistent across all of their properties.
Also, when you create your main company image make sure to give it a descriptive label, such as YourCompanyName.png. Do not upload something generic like "small_cropped_profile_image_3456789.png." The reason is simple: A descriptive label helps your SEO.
Finally, keep in mind that your page backgrounds on platforms like Twitter are a good place to advertise yourself. So, when possible, add links to all of your social profiles in the design.
2. Fill Out all Important Pages
The profile, bio, and about pages are very important from an SEO perspective because that is where search engines pull the meta description that shows up in search results. This is also, usually, the first thing people read when they want to learn more about a company.
Always fill these pages out completely, and make sure that they contain keywords that are relevant to your business. For example, if you're in interior design, that should be one of the key phrases listed. This will make it easier for people to find you on traditional search engines as well as social search engines.
In addition, double check phone numbers, dates, pricing, and email addresses to make sure they are up-to-date and the same across your various pages. You should also link to your other social profiles from these pages.
3. Gauge Online Engagement
Looking at your engagement on social platforms is a quick way to gauge if you could be doing a better job of interacting with your audience. Make a list of any potential issues you see and set aside some time to figure out how best to address them.
Next, scan your profile walls for engagement opportunities. Did you miss anything worth addressing? If so, take some time to respond, whether it's directly on the wall or via private message.
Run a search for your company name on social media platforms, major search engines like Google and Bing, and on at least one service like NameChk. You essentially want to look for any red flags and imposters.
Then run a second search for your brand name and words like "love," and "hate." This will give you a sense of the kind of pages that come up were a customer or client to do the same kind of search. Also, it will help you see if there are any comments worth addressing. Make a note of any positive or negative issues you want to investigate at a later date. If possible, save those searches or subscribe to them via RSS so you don't miss anything in the future.
After looking at the engagement on your profiles and mentions of your brand identify, take some time to jot down ideas for addressing them. For example, are there common themes that you could answer with a blog post or campaign?
4. Look Over Internal Accounts
This particular part of the audit could be tricky, depending on how your company is set up. The upside is that once you do this a few times, you will start to develop a process for addressing any issues that come out of the audit.
First off, ensure all login information for company accounts is current and in a secure location accessible to those who need it. It's a good idea to use the same email address for all social accounts, but use something like social@thecompanyemail.com or yourcompany@gmail.com. That way your social profiles aren't tied to a single employee and you'll always have access. I had a client whose marketing manager left on bad terms and no one could access the social accounts. They were all tied to the ex-manager's personal Gmail account. It took two months to get access and change everything.
Also, review internal policies and guidelines for employee social media usage, and check public employee profiles for compliance. If an employee's account is set to private, don't worry about it unless you suspect issues. If it's been a while since you've circulated your policy, send it out, along with a few reminders on how to remain compliant.
Next, review training materials. Double check privacy policies and instructions on how to post to platforms. The reason: you want to make sure that the next time you have a training class you aren't using outdated information.
This audit outline is by no means complete, it's a starting place. Each time you go through this process you're going to discover things you do and don't want to look at and end up evolving it into something that fits your needs. Just like everything you do in social media, make this your own.
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