Are Online Social Media Audits Worth It?
Yes, online social media audits are worth conducting if you want to get an idea of how your brand, website, or business is performing online.
If you don’t know what is meant by “online social media audits,” then read on for more details.
In this article, we’ll explain what audits are, the value of making sure your online presence is active, and introduce you to Relevantly’s FREE social media audit tool.
Click the headings below to be taken to that section:
What is an Online Social Media Audit?
The Importance of Social Media Marketing
Relevantly’s Audit Tool
Next Steps
Fostering a thriving digital presence is a skill any business can benefit from.
If you want to learn more about the ins and outs of social media marketing, contact the experts at Relevantly today.
What is an Online Social Media Audit?
An audit can be helpful no matter which social medias you’re targetting.
Description
“Online social media audits” is a descriptive, informal term we’re using to refer to reports that businesses can perform in order to assess the performance of their brand on different social media platforms.
Businesses interact with social media differently than individuals. While an individual may use social media for communication, posting lifestyle updates, or browsing funny content, a business or brand exists on social media in order to market itself.
An audit is an easy, low-stakes way to see how well your business is doing.
Are you investing enough time and money into your online popularity? Are you reaching goals that will help your business grow? An audit can help you answer these questions.
Purpose
The goal of online social media audits is to define and quantify the different factors that are involved in your brand’s visibility on social media.
By performing an audit, you’ll be able to see what areas you excel in, and what areas could use some improvement.
With regular audits you should eventually learn what techniques are correlated with increased traffic or conversions, making your marketing team better at designing new high-engagement content.
Don’t be discouraged if you don’t see immediate success - keep at it.
Benefits
Performing regular audits of your social media activity has a few benefits, including:
Learning if your work hours are being used effectively
Showing you which social media bring the most traffic
When in doubt, start by targeting the social media platforms that have the highest number of users
Showing you which social media need more investment
Confirmation that your budget is being used well
These benefits become even more useful the more regularly you run audits, as you can compare each new set of results with what happened in the past to measure progress.
Are Audits for Everyone?
As of 2021, at least 71% of small businesses have a website (although this number might be higher), with almost 40% of them saying the website allows them to demonstrate their credibility to potential customers.
In this day and age, having a website, or at least a presence on social media is expected by consumers. And any business that’s even partly online can make use of online social media audits.
However, there are some cases where an audit won’t do you much good: namely if your social media accounts are inactive, or if you’ve just begun to post online, if at all.
In these cases, your online activity may not be generating enough interaction for an audit to be helpful, as there simply isn’t enough data to make any helpful conclusions about it.
But for the vast majority of companies, startups, or independent retailers, online social media audits are easy, quick, and can lead to useful insights.
The Importance of Social Media Marketing
If it’s good enough for Tesla, it’s good enough for you.
Not only does almost everyone own a phone, but one of the main ways people interact with each other or browse the internet is through social media.
Therefore, any business that wants to expand beyond mere word-of-mouth marketing needs to delve into the noisy world of social media and establish a foothold there.
Sometimes this online presence manifests as viral marketing, but often all it takes is consistency, good design, and the ability to get a clear message to your target market.
If you want to learn more about how some of the biggest businesses in the world have used the internet to grow their brands even further, check out our Case Studies.
In particular, both Tesla and PupSocks have had incredible success simply by driving excitement about their products through social media.
Relevantly’s Audit Tool
Click the button above to try out Relevantly’s free online social media audit tool.
We put together a series of easy-to-answer questions that will help you and your business get a handle on how successful and satisfied you are with your current social media activity.
If you like, you can re-use this same audit spreadsheet a couple of times a year, or better yet, edit it and make your own! No one knows your business more than you do.
However, if you want professional advice on what factors to focus on, or you’re unsure how to improve your audit rating, get in touch with Relevantly today and we can begin the journey to social media success.
Next Steps
To learn more about audits you can use for your business, contact Relevantly directly.
Now that your audit is complete, what next? Here are some next steps you can try to refine your social media strategy:
Branch out into other platforms - For example, if Facebook isn’t reaching your younger demographic, try making content for Instagram or Tiktok.
Post regularly - Your audience will lose interest if you don’t give them interesting content to consume.
Test for Different Devices - Make sure your web pages look good on desktop computers, tablets, and phones.
Don’t give up - It typically takes 6 months, and often up to a year, to start seeing the results of your diligent social media activity.
Don’t be afraid to try new marketing strategies or styles of social media posts. Just remember to keep it consistent and professional, and keep iterating your posts until you find something that sticks.
Expand Your Social Media Reach With Relevantly
With over 15 combined years of background and experience working with clients from a variety of different industries, Relevantly has the know-how and insight to help grow your brand online.
If you’ve conducted an online social media audit and you want to get advice on where to take your marketing strategy next, Relevantly can give you concrete suggestions and teach you how to measure your exposure.
Digital marketing in the 21st is an indispensable practice for any brand.
