Improve your social media presence with this step-by-step social media audit template. (Available in Word, Google Docs and as a PDF.) Use it to keep track of your social media marketing. See what’s working and what isn’t. And stay ahead of the competition.

Why Use a Social Media Audit Template?

Social media marketing takes constant attention.

Networks like Facebook and Twitter are always changing their algorithms. And user behavior is changing even faster than that.

So what worked yesterday may not work tomorrow.

That said, lots of businesses don’t even know what’s working right NOW. They may spend big money on staff to keep their profiles active. But they don’t have a way to see if their efforts are paying off.

That’s what makes social media audits so important. They’re an organized way to see:

What’s being done.

What’s working.

And what’s not.

Not sure where to start? No problem. This template will help you through the entire process.

What’s Included

Here’s what’s included in this social media audit template:

1. Current state: What’s being done, and where.
2. Performance: How well your social media efforts are working. (Both in terms of engagement and real business results.)
3. Opportunities: The most important part of any social media audit. This template has an entire section devoted to recommendations for improvement.

How to Use This Template

1. Download the free Social Media Audit Template on this page
2. Log into your Google Analytics and social media accounts
3. Follow the template’s step-by-step instructions, filling in all the information
4. Implement the recommendations
5. Repeat the process regularly to improve your results over time

How to Improve Your Social Media Marketing

Social media audits are incredibly valuable. It’s almost impossible to run a cohesive social media marketing campaign without starting with an audit. But it’s hard to make progress in a vacuum. Here are some places to look for outside inspiration and opportunities to do even better.

1. Check out accounts in your industry. Your competitors are on social media, too. What are they doing differently from you? What gets the most traction? You can also look at what popular industry publications and events are doing.
2. Team up with accounts in shoulder industries. When it comes to opportunities, people in shoulder industries are the sweet spot. Why? Because their audiences overlap with yours. But they aren’t direct competitors. Offer to team up by doing a collaboration, account takeover, shout-for-shout or something else.
3. Take cues from accounts that are completely outside your industry. Anyone that’s getting results will be doing SOME things you can copy. Even if they’re in a completely different niche. (In fact, the farther they are from your industry, the less you have to worry about getting criticized for being a copycat.)
4. Sometimes it pays to pay up. I get it. You don’t want to spend money on your social efforts until you know they’re turning a profit. But social media marketing tools like BuzzSumo and Hootsuite can save you a TON of time. And if you’re on a shoestring budget, they also have free versions.
5. Use our free Social Media Strategy Template to plan a cohesive SMM strategy. And dominate social media this year.