We get it, understanding the effectiveness of your social media can be quite overwhelming, and with the algorithm seemingly constantly changing it’s hard to know what to measure and when.
Join us as we explore the five crucial social media audit areas to monitor: audience growth, organic post performance, paid post and advertising performance, website traffic return, and overall engagement. By the end, you’ll have a clear understanding of what metrics to track and how often to measure them to ensure your social media strategy is on the right track.
1. Audience growth
2. Organic post performance
3. Paid post and advertising performance
4. Website traffic return
5. Overall engagement
1. Audience growth
What should I look out for?
An increase in page followers and likes over time on active social channels.
Audience growth is a good indicator of your social media performance. A growing follower base suggests that your content is resonating with your target audience. To effectively measure audience growth as part of a social media audit you need to:
- Track the number of followers/likes on your social channels monthly
- Compare these numbers over different time periods (e.g., month-over-month or year-over-year)
2. Organic post performance
What should I look out for?
In terms of organic post performance the key areas a social media audit will consider include high engagement levels, including comments, likes and shares, strong click-through rates (CTR) of 2-3% or above and quality of impressions rather than quantity to ensure relevant intent.
To measure organic post performance:
- Check in weekly to monitor engagement levels and CTR
- Report and action any changes monthly
- Review your strategy quarterly, comparing results with previous months or years to identify effective messaging
- Utilise social channel analytics or integrate data into a social analytics dashboard, such as Buffer’s analytics
3. Paid post and advertising performance
What should I look out for?
For paid social performance analysis, similar to organic you need to be looking at high engagement levels and CTR over impressions. As well as this you should also be paying attention to lower cost per clicks to manage your budget efficiently.
To monitor paid post and advertising performance:
- Check in weekly to optimise and monitor budget
- Report and make any necessary changes monthly
- Review ad creative and strategy quarterly, comparing with previous months or years
Leverage social channel analytics, such as Buffer’s analytic tool.
4.Website traffic return
Most social media posts aim to drive traffic to your website, making it crucial to track this traffic’s behaviour.
What should I look out for?
The 2 key things to look for with website traffic return are, increased sessions and engagement rate and higher conversion rates on your website overall.
To effectively measure website traffic return:
- Compile a monthly report with recommendations
- Review the data quarterly and compare year-over-year results
- Use Google Analytics 4, ensuring your event and conversion tracking is properly set up and make use of their analytical dashboard
5.Overall engagement
What should I look out for?
Consistent interaction with your audience will be key to look out for here. As well as, genuine conversations and community building through comments and shares.
Regular engagement indicates that your audience finds your content valuable and is willing to interact with it. With a social media audit you can track overall engagement by:
- Monitoring comments, shares, and likes on all posts
- Comparing engagement rates over different periods to identify trends
Overall, tracking these indicators will provide a comprehensive view of your social media performance and help make it easier to refine your social strategy.
Can’t keep up with reporting or unsure where to start with measuring your analytics, and need support and resources? Let us handle the heavy lifting with our social media audit and reporting service. Contact us today to optimise your social media strategy.