Social Media Audit Outline

Transcription

1 Social Media Audit Outline Compliments of Communication One Exhibits, LLC. No matter where you are in your social media efforts, it s a good idea to periodically take some time and assess where you are, how far you ve come and where you want to go. As George Harrison sang, If you don t know where you re going, any road will get you there. But if you want to go someplace specific, it s a good idea to know the lay of the land better than how George characterizes it. So where to start? The most obvious place is at the beginning. Look back at how long you ve been involved in social media. Has it been a year? Two years? Three? Or are you just starting out? If you poke through your social media accounts, you can usually find out when you signed up for them. While those dates might be useful, if you didn t really get going and get involved for a while, don t worry too much about the original sign-up date. A basic social media audit should include an internal review and an external review. The internal review assesses what you re already doing in the social media world, who s doing it, and what the missing pieces might be. It also looks at some basic goals you may have in your social media. An external review looks at well you re doing social media compared to your key competitors. Based on these initial assessments, you can start to formulate your short and long-term goals for social media engagement, and put the tools and personnel into place that can ensure your growth and increase your community engagement and overall success. Identification of Current Social Media Practices Basics Who is responsible on your social media outposts, and who else is part of the engagement team? In-House:

2 _ Outsource Company /Agency (if applicable): Comments: Are members of the staff allowed to access social media during the working day? What are the senior staff reactions to social media tools such as Facebook and Twitter? Perceived strengths and weaknesses of current social media practices: Current methods of measurements for social media engagement: What systems or procedures are in place to help the company deal with adverse or negative comments and discussion on social media sites?

3 COMPETITION List three major competitors of your business. Note the social media tools they re using and briefly assess their capabilities, skill and level of engagement in social media, ranked on a scale of 1-5: Competitor Website URL Facebook followers Twitter followers YouTube channel Y/N Level of Engagement Establishing who your competitors are and how well they engage in social media and other online outlets will help determine your overall goals and desired level of engagement. While this information will prove useful, don t worry if it s incomplete any information will be helpful and you can fill in any major holes later. Website and Social Media Search Visibility List any keywords or phrases that show how you are best found in online searches. This helps determine visibility. Keyword or phrase Visibility/website rank Search demand Comments Social Media Platforms

4 Approximately how long have you been on Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube Others? Website Presence Are links to all relevant social media outlets prominently displayed on main website? Facebook YES NO LinkedIn YES NO Twitter YES NO YouTube YES NO Other YES NO (what are they? ) Do You Blog? YES NO Blog URL or Name If yes, how often do you post on your blog? Once a month or less 2 4 times a month 1 3 times a week Almost daily How many regular contributors are there to your blog? or more Who are the most consistent, regular contributors to the blog?

5 What is the mix of types of postss on your blog? Text approx % Video approx % Photographs approx % Podcast approx % What blogs or websites link back to your blog? (this is usually found in WordPress dashboard; if unavailable, leave blank) FACEBOOK (these first few bits of pieces of information can be obtained from your Facebook insights page) Interactions: Post views in the past month Post feedback in the past month How many likes does your Facebook page have? New likes this week Monthly Active Users

6 When was the last time the page was updated? How often do you post on Facebook? less than once per week 2-5 times per week at least once per day several times per day varies depending on events, but at least 5 10 X per week, and more during events. Use of Facebook tools: Do you use specific landing pages or apps to engage people before they can like your page? Yes No Twitter Feature Biography Notes/Level of Usage Competitors Comments Frequency of Tweets Engaging with followers Types of Tweets? (promotions, sharing, helping, influencing) Number of followers Klout score (go to Klout.com)

7 CAMPAIGNS Do you use a social media editorial calendar? Yes No Do you plan for specific events or promotions for social media? Yes No If yes, how many events/promotions do you plan for in the next year? Do you prepare advance tweets for events, using tools such as Hootsuite.com? Yes No What measurement tools do you use to gauge the success of your promotions? WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS IN SOCIAL MEDIA? There are two major goals that likely apply: brand-building/market penetration, and product showcase, which would optimally lead to sales. A third goal could be market research: what do your customers think or feel about your products; what is missing from your products, how can they be improved, what resonates with them, etc. There are numerous social media writers and speakers who say that if you re not making money from social media, you re wasting your time. That s a given and should be your ultimate goal. But creating sales from social media without building and nurturing a community is impossible. Creating sales from social media without being of service to your community doesn t work. So at the beginning you have to spend time making those connections, nurturing the relationships, answering questions and responding to comments before you can expect much of a sales bump. And after your initial foray into social media, when you get to the point that you are getting comfortable with the interaction and discovering what works and what doesn t work with your community, you ll still be involved in social media with all of those things. Your enthusiastic customers will often chime in on your social media outlets and answer questions, share tips and provide recommendations. Enthusiastic customers are your best brand ambassadors. They help out without asking, simply because they are enthusiastic, and they are seen as more credible in the eyes of potential customers.

8 Social media efforts will ideally show a reduction in costs and an increase in sales, which results in a positive ROI. By measuring the real cost of people and processes involved in social media and comparing to the costs of your customer service departments, you should discover, like most other companies, that social media is more economical. We hope you enjoyed this Social Media Audit Outline, courtesy of Communication One Exhibits. Feel free to share it with colleagues and friends who might have an interest in assessing their social media using this tool. Contact Information: Communication One Exhibits Tim Patterson, Principal th Street NE Salem, OR on Twitter Facebook.com/tradeshowguyblog Youtube.com/tradeshowmarketing LinkedIn.com/in/timothypatterson