What is a Social Business Audit?

What is a social business audit and why is it crucial that any company have one?

Every day we hear about campaigns that incorporate social media taking off and driving new business for brands in all industries. Yet, so many companies still see their campaigns and initiatives fall flat when it comes to social media. In addition to knowing which networks are going to be best for your goals, it is important to take a step back and have a look at the program as a whole, completely objectively, to see what is going right, and where you might be going wrong. That’s what a social business audit is all about.

A social business audit evaluates every aspect of your social media strategy from top to bottom in order to get a clear picture of the working elements, the features that need tweaking and, most important, what aspects might be missing.

Below are five questions that should be among those asked when conducting an efficient social business audit.

Am I achieving my goals?

Before answering this question, take another step even further back; did you have a clear set of goals and objectives laid out when you decided to get started on social media? If not, you need to start from scratch. If so, are your efforts on social media working to achieve these goals? Find out how you are performing.

This may seem like a simple step, but a lot of brands tend to forget why they are active on social media to begin with. It is crucial that you keep your goals in mind from start to finish.

Is my business on the right networks?

Look at the activity your brand is generating on the networks where it is active. Are you in the right place? Not every brand needs to have a presence on every network. Some brands may benefit more from a Twitter campaign than one on Facebook, or maybe LinkedIn and YouTube should be included among your channels, among others.

There will be a unique mix that makes up a specific brand’s social business strategy. Take a step back and see if you might benefit from shutting down an account or two and maybe focusing your efforts elsewhere.

Am I sharing the right content?

Is you audience maintaining a conversation with your brand on social networks? Are you generating clicks through to landing pages and content from social? These are just a couple of the indicators you should be paying attention to when it comes to determining if you are sharing the right content to your networks. Again, every audience is going to react differently to different types of content. Find out what works best for you and modify your strategy accordingly.

Can I begin expanding my program?

To answer this question, you need to make sure that the three questions above have already been answered – positively. As your success grows – both in terms of your social media growth and your business growth – your social presence and activity will likely expand as well. Your profiles on social networks are extensions of your brand. They need to keep up appearances. As you begin achieving your goals, you need to start considering how you would like to expand into new markets and venture to achieve new goals.

Am I missing anything?

This is an ongoing question that can only be answered through education. You need to keep up-to-date with the changes and breakthroughs that are being announced every day  in the world of social media. Social business is an ever-evolving landscape. You need to ensure that you are caught up on everything that is taking place in order to continue finding success with your social business and marketing efforts. Put aside 30 minutes or an hour each day to catch up on your favorite reference materials to find out what’s new and fresh.

Have you conducted a social business audit? You can always reach out to t2 to conduct a social business audit for you! Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!