Conducting a Social Media Marketing Audit

Most consumers expect brands to have a strong social media presence. But reaching customers on these platforms is not easy. According to Sprout Social, The average engagement rate on Facebook is only 0.063%, making it one of the lowest engagement platforms online. Yet, Facebook is the second-most popular platform for product discovery.

Many of our clients at The Brand Auditors struggle to connect with audiences on social media. We find the most common problem for marketing teams is with the content plan itself. That’s why we recommend a social media marketing audit.

In this post, we’ll explore the process of auditing social media and the benefits you can expect from performing one.

Why are social media marketing audits important?

There is a vast audience of potential customers on social media. So, most companies can’t afford to ignore the opportunity to build brand awareness and drive conversions on social channels.

However, the perception of “free and easy” access to a massive target audience is deceiving. Actually, depending on the product or service, reaching customers on these channels is one of the most difficult parts of a marketing strategy.

Thus, a social media marketing audit becomes essential. An audit shows marketing teams how well their current social media efforts align with their audience and goals, and how to optimize return on investment.

The role of a social media marketing strategy

• Businesses can use social media marketing to achieve a variety of goals, such as:

• Expand brand awareness worldwide

• Build brand authority and trust

• Lead generation and sales

For these, and other reasons, social media is a key tool for business growth.

Benefits of conducting regular social media marketing audits

How do you know if you’re creating the right type of content, for the right people, on the right platforms?

Most businesses create the content they think customers will like on the platforms they think customers use. However, clients are often surprised when we show them what their customers really want and where they want it.

For example, one of our clients, a national healthcare brand, spent most of their time targeting customers on Facebook and Instagram. What they didn’t know is that the majority of their audience (approximately 90%), preferred to get their information on YouTube. By adding YouTube to their social media marketing strategy, the brand could potentially increase its reach by 10-15% or more (estimated based on the customer’s current reach).

Regular social media audits keep businesses on track to hit marketing goals while keeping expenses optimized.

The audit process also helps companies determine which key social media metrics to watch. As a result, they can adjust the strategy incrementally and drive better results.

Examples of metrics tracked in an audit are engagement rate, reach, and other relevant metrics, like shares and sentiment. The insight from these metrics enable businesses to develop the social media content that has the highest chance of driving the most engagement.

Audits help brands improve their social media goals by:

• Refining the target audience for each social media platform.

• Optimizing content strategy based on top-performing posts.

• Identifying opportunities to improve engagement and reach.

Preparing for a social media marketing audit

Marketers must set clear goals for the audit and catalog social media accounts across various platforms.

Cataloging your social media presence

Creating an inventory of all your social media accounts includes the popular platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Pinterest, as well as any niche platforms relevant to your industry. List all accounts, even the ones you don’t use anymore, to get a complete view of your social media presence.

For each account, gather the essential profile information: usernames, URLs, profile and cover images, bio descriptions, contact information, and links. All this information should be up-to-date and consistent across all platforms.

By having a centralized repository of your accounts, you can efficiently track their performance, analyze trends, and identify any inconsistencies or gaps in your online presence.

Establishing audit goals

Before you begin your social media marketing audit, define its goals.

What do you want to achieve? Do you want to increase brand awareness, drive website traffic, generate leads, or get more sales?

Well-defined objectives will shape your audit template and help you focus on the right key metrics.

It’s possible that all the goals listed above apply to you. And it’s true that almost every brand wants to generate more revenue. But to do that, we must first break goals down and create a structure for them to move your social media followers from awareness to purchase. Smaller goals should work together to help your company achieve its bigger-picture goals.

For example, if you want to increase sales, you need more engaged follwers. to get more engaged follwers, you need the types of content that will generate more engagement. Each of these steps should have its goal.

Once you have identified your goals, convert them into specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) objectives. For instance, instead of just aiming to “increase brand awareness,” a SMART objective would be “to increase brand mentions on X by 20% in the next quarter.”

The social media marketing audit process

Now that you’ve laid the groundwork, it’s time to start the actual audit process. In this stage, you’ll put your social media profiles under a microscope to check brand consistency, engagement metrics across different channels, and top-performing content.

Evaluating your social media profiles for consistency

Brand consistency across all social media channels is essential for creating a cohesive brand experience. Consistency breeds familiarity. Familiarity builds trust.

Elements, like your profile picture, cover image, bio, tone of voice, and posting schedule, are parts of the consistency check.

Review your profile pictures and cover images on each platform. Do they meet your brand guidelines? Do you have the most recent logo and brand colors? Also, check to make sure your bio is up-to-date, concise, and clearly communicates your company’s unique value proposition.

Check your contact information on each platform. Is it easy for your audience to find and contact you? Update any outdated information to streamline communication.

Analyzing engagement metrics across channels

Engagement metrics, such as likes, comments, shares, and click-through rates, show you how your content performs. These statistics also reveal which types of posts interests your audience most.

To measure engagement, start with the platforms that have the highest engagements rates. What kind of content performs best on these platforms? Also note the audience demographics for each platform to match the content to the audience.

Many marketers overlook the time of day content receives the most engagement. Are there certain days of the week when your audience is more active? These insights help you create a posting schedule that gives your content a better chance of getting in front of your audience.

Identifying areas for improvement

Once you’ve identified what’s working, think about how to apply what you’ve learned to improve your strategy. Can you create more content in a similar format? Can you repurpose high-performing content for other platforms?

At the same time, consider where your content strategy might fall short. Are there certain types of content or topics that get no or low engagement? Are there any platforms where your content isn’t performing as well as expected?

What does not work can be just as valuable for improving your strategy as discovering what does.

Advanced social media marketing audit techniques

Reviewing your profiles and content is a foundational step in an audit. But getting comprehensive findings requires a more in-depth approach.

Competitor analysis is one such advanced audit technique. Reviewing competitors requries you to benchmark your performance against industry leaders. It also means learning more about your audience’s sentiments, preferences, and pain points.

Competitor analysis and benchmarking

Social media competitor analysis reveals your brand’s position in the marketplace as it pertains to direct and indirect rivals. Comparing your business to competitors shows you what you’re doing well that they aren’t and vice versa.

The purpose of this analysis is not to copy what competitors are doing. Instead, learn from what they do well, and what they don’t.

Identify your main competitors and analyze their social media presence. Which platforms are they active on? What kind of content are they publishing? How large is their following, and what is their engagement rate?

Competitive analysis helps you understand industry best practices, identify content gaps, and uncover opportunities for differentiation.

Remember, the goal of competitive analysis isn’t to copy your competitors but to learn from them.

Leveraging social listening for deeper insights

Social listening is another key part of any social media marketing audit. Listening tools track and analyze online conversations about your brand, competitors, and industry. Many think listening is about sorting comments into “positive” or “negative.” However, real listening focuses on understanding the reasons behind people’s opinions. Sentiment helps brands uncover what their audience’s feelings and actions.

Collect data

The process starts by gathering data from different platforms where your audience is active. Businesses can use tools to track brand mentions, hashtags, keywords, and competitors. This information includes everything from Instagram comments to blog posts to reviews.

Analyze sentiment

Then, the feedback is grouped into positive, neutral, or negative categories. These categories provide a general sense of how people feel about your brand. But the real value comes from understanding why people feel a certain way.

Understand what drives opinions

The goal is to uncover the reasons behind customer feedback. For example:

• Pain points: Are people frustrated with your company? Why?

• Positive triggers: Do they love your products?

• Trends: Are customers asking for specific features?

Patterns and trends in sentiment can show companies what to improve, highlight, or focus on.

Learn about your audience

Social listening also shows you more about your audience’s values and preferences. Their feedback—positive or negative—can tell you a lot about your customers. For instance:

• Younger customers might praise sustainability efforts.

• Older customers may value top-tier product quality.

Measuring Return on Investment (ROI) from Social Media Audits

A social media audit breaks down performance data to show where your budget and time deliver results and where they don’t. Here’s how it works:

By analyzing specific ROI metrics, audits pinpoint areas to improve:

• Reach and impressions: Measure how many people see your content. Low engagement with high reach could signal targeting issues.

• Engagement rates: Likes, shares, clicks, and comments show how actively your audience interacts. Higher engagement often leads to better ROI.

• Conversion rates: Tracks actions like purchases, sign-ups, or downloads that result from engagement.

• Cost per conversion: Divides spending by completed actions to assess cost-effectiveness.

For instance, if you spend $10 per lead on LinkedIn but only $5 on Instagram, you know where to focus your budget.

Audits compare how different platforms perform side by side to find the most effective ones:

• Performance trends: Are Instagram posts driving website visits more effectively than Facebook?

• Audience match: Does your audience prefer TikTok videos or Twitter updates?

If Instagram Stories outperform Facebook posts in engagement and conversions, invest more in Instagram and reevaluate Facebook efforts.

Audits review how well ads convert and whether they’re cost-effective:

• Are clicks leading to sales, or do users leave your site without buying?

• Which audience segments respond best?

For example, a lifestyle brand may find Instagram ads targeted at eco-conscious users lead to $1 per click and strong sales, while Facebook ads cost $3 per click with fewer results.

Content performance varies across formats. Audits help identify what resonates with your audience:

• High-performing formats: Do TikTok videos outperform Instagram captions?

• Content-action Link: Does how-to content drive sign-ups better than promotions?

For example, reels showing workout routines on Instagram might drive more fitness app sign-ups than Twitter quotes.

Audits tie metrics to business objectives:

• For lead generation, they highlight conversion rates and point out costly areas needing adjustment.

• For brand awareness, they focus on reach and engagement, ensuring content targets the right audience.

Optimizing your strategy post-audit

Once you’ve completed your social media marketing audit, it’s time to turn findings into action. To do that, you must set realistic goals and KPIs based on your audit results.

Crafting a data-driven social media strategy

Your social media marketing audit has provided you with a wealth of data. Now, it’s time to put that data to work. Here are a few tips for developing a strategy:

• Don’t force it. If one platform isn’t performing well, re-assess whether that channel aligns with your goals. If it doesn’t, you’re better off allocating those resources somewhere else.

• Match content types to each platform. One type of content may work well on one platform, but that doesn’t mean it will work everywhere. Always consider your audience’s preferences on each channel.

• Think direct and indirect results. Keep in mind that having a social media presence builds brand authority and trust. Don’t base success solely on how many leads and sales you get. For example, even though Google hasn’t confirmed this, a presence on social platforms increases your website’s visibility, traffic, and authority—essential components of SEO success.

• Consistency is key. Create a posting schedule you can maintain. Starting strong out of the gate and then slacking off will undermine your efforts.

Setting realistic goals and KPIs

Setting realistic goals enables marketers to measure the success of social media efforts. These goals should be based on the audit insights. They should also consider factors like your target audience, industry benchmarks, and overall marketing objectives.

Avoid setting vague goals, like “increase brand awareness.” Instead, make them specific and measurable. “Increase Instagram followers by 15% in the next quarter,” or “drive 10% of website traffic from social media,” ar examples.

Implementing changes and monitoring progress

Once you’ve crafted your strategy, it’s time to move forward with the recommendations. This might include making changes to your posting schedule, experimenting with different content formats, or trying out new platforms.

Track changes using KPIs and and pay attention to any fluctuations in engagement, reach, or other relevant metrics.

Using tools for social media marketing audits

Social media audit tools can streamline the audit process while offering deeper insights than manual audits. These tools automate data collection, analyze key metrics, and generate comprehensive reports.

Overview of top social media audit tools

In this section, we’ll list some of the top social media audit tools available.

Tool	Description
Sprout Social	Offers a comprehensive suite of social media management tools, including robust analytics and reporting features.
Hootsuite	Provides in-depth analytics, competitor benchmarking, and social listening capabilities.
Brand24	Offers valuable insights into mentions, competitor analytics, and other social media analytics.
BuzzSumo	Helps identify top-performing content, influencers, and trends in your industry.

These tools vary in features and pricing, so it’s important to carefully evaluate your needs and budget to choose the most appropriate tool.

Choosing the right tools

The tools you need depend on various factors. Examples are the size of your business, budget, and social media marketing goals. To pick the best tools, consider the most important aspects of social media management for your business.

If you’re looking to streamline your content scheduling and publishing, tools like Hootsuite and Buffer enable you to schedule posts. If your focus is on mentions and sentiment analysis, Brandwatch or Brand24 might be more suitable.

Conclusion

A social media audit is a vital process that helps you optimize your online presence. Advanced techniques, like competitor analysis and social listening, provide valuable information and insights companies can use for strategic decision-making.

Regular audits enable your team to stay updated on evolving trends and maintain a competitive edge online.

Do you need help with a social media marketing audit? Connect with a strategist at The Brand Auditors to schedule a free consultation.

Frequently asked questions