A strong social media presence can drive brand awareness, boost Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and showcase your company’s unique personality. Yet, many brands still rely on the “post and pray” approach when it comes to their social media marketing – posting on a whim without any semblance of a strategy.
Before you can start building or updating your social media plan, it’s imperative to conduct a social media audit. An audit is essentially an in-depth review of each of your business’s social media accounts. It is an opportunity to determine which techniques are working well and which ones need to be improved so that you can revise your strategy accordingly.
Let’s take a look at how to conduct a social media audit.
Simply knowing who your competitors are isn’t enough. To improve your brand’s social media presence, you must also understand what makes your competitors successful. That’s why it’s important to include a competitor analysis in your audit.
Start by compiling a list of each of your competitor’s and their social accounts. Then evaluate their performance on each network using the following questions:
If their fans and followers leave interesting comments or replies on specific posts, file these away for step three. Both the comments and the respective posts can be used to help form your strategy.
The goal isn’t to steal or mimic their content – it’s to identify patterns in what may resonate with your own target audience.
After you’ve taken a thorough look at your competition’s social media activity, it’s time to dive into your own. Be sure to devote plenty of time to this step, as you want to make sure your examination is as detailed as possible. Analyze each of the social channels you’re present on and review what you’ve been posting. As you’re evaluating your profiles, ask yourself the following questions:
Once you’ve completed this part of the audit, you can move on to the final step – building a strategy.
Armed with the information you gathered during your audit, it’s time to devise a plan. This will vary based on your findings and goals.
For example, if your brand presence is strong but fails to generate comments, you’ll want to deliver more posts that get people talking – whether that means posing an interesting question or directing them to take action in some way. In contrast, if you’re always asking your followers to click without a reason to care, your brand will need to showcase more personality.
This is where any saved comments or replies from step one come into play. Because these comments were taken directly from consumers, they offer substantial clues about what they care about. Use their responses to your advantage by creating posts that mirror their language. This will help you gain your audience’s attention and make them feel understood.
Set a few measurable goals (e.g., increase your followers by 10 percent within two months) to create a baseline for success.
Finally, remember that one size doesn’t fit all! Just because a post works for a competitor doesn’t mean it will be effective for your brand. With the right amount of time and effort, you’ll soon discover the key to increasing your social media presence.
Whether you currently have a social media strategy in place or need to build one from scratch, Zero Gravity Marketing can create a specific plan for your business that yields real results. Our social media experts will conduct a thorough, professional audit of your existing accounts to help you make a lasting impression online. Leave the work to us, so you can focus on running your business. Contact us today to get in touch with our social media team.