How to Do a Social Media Audit (and What to Fix First)

A social media audit is a structured review of how your accounts are set up, what your content is achieving, and whether social is supporting the business. The point is not a long report. It is to find out what is working, what is wasting time, and the handful of changes that will make the biggest difference next.

Plan to audit every six to twelve months, or whenever results drop or goals change.

Step 1: List every account

Start with an inventory. Include every platform where your business has a presence, even abandoned ones. Note the handle, who has access, when it last posted, and the follower count. Old or duplicate accounts confuse customers and should be updated, merged or closed. Make sure account ownership sits with the business, not an ex-employee or former agency.

Step 2: Check profiles for consistency and clarity

For each active account, check:

• Is the name, logo and description consistent with your brand?
• Does the bio clearly say what you do and who for?
• Are contact details, address and hours accurate and consistent with your website and Google profile?
• Does the link go to a useful, working page?
• Are highlights, pinned posts or featured sections up to date?

Step 3: Review content performance

Look at the last three to six months of posts. Export the data if possible and sort by meaningful metrics: reach, engagement rate, saves, shares, link clicks and messages. Then look for patterns:

• Which topics or pillars perform best and worst?
• Which formats, such as video, carousels or single images, work best on each platform?
• Are some posting times or frequencies clearly better?
• Which posts led to actions such as messages, clicks or enquiries?

Use engagement rate rather than raw likes for fair comparisons. Our engagement rate calculator helps standardise this, and our guide to social media metrics that matter explains what to focus on.

Step 4: Understand the audience

Check follower demographics and locations against your actual customers. A local business with most followers in another country, or a B2B firm whose followers are mostly students, has an audience problem that no amount of content will fix. Look at who engages most, not just who follows.

Step 5: Compare with competitors

Look at three to five competitors or businesses you admire. Note what they post, how often, what gets engagement, and how they respond to comments. The goal is not copying but spotting gaps: topics nobody covers well, formats nobody uses, or questions nobody answers.

Step 6: Check community management

How quickly are comments and messages answered? Are any unanswered? How are complaints handled? Slow or missing replies are one of the most common problems found in audits and one of the easiest to fix. See our guide to responding to negative comments.

Step 7: Trace the path to conversion

Follow the journey a prospect takes: from a post, to your profile, to the link, to the website page, to the enquiry. Is each step clear? Are links tracked so you can see social traffic and conversions in analytics? Our UTM builder makes tracked links easy. If engagement looks fine but enquiries are low, the problem is often in this path rather than the content.

Step 8: Turn findings into priorities

Group what you found into:

1. Quick fixes: bios, links, outdated details, unanswered messages, abandoned accounts.
2. Content changes: do more of what works, drop what does not, test one or two new formats.
3. Strategic changes: platform focus, audience targeting, goals and measurement.

Set two or three measurable goals for the next quarter and review progress monthly. If engagement has dropped sharply, our engagement drop diagnoser and article on why engagement drops help find the cause.

Want an outside view of your social media?

We review business social media accounts and turn the findings into a clear, prioritised plan, then help deliver it if you want support. See our Social Media Management service or get in touch to talk about your accounts.