Updated November 22, 2021
Reading Time: 2 minutesConducting a SoMe Review
Social media content is like anything else in your business — you expect it to perform. Content that doesn’t bring in traffic or convert visitors is content that should be “fired.” To find low-performing content, you first need to conduct an audit of web pages and blog posts. Content reviews are especially important in the context of ever-changing Google updates, jaded consumers, and increasing noise on the Web.
Tips for a Social Media Content Audit
The Content Marketing Institute offers an in-depth look at managing content audits via spreadsheets and other tools. An accurate social media content audit requires some number crunching. You should be tracking page views with Web Analytics tools. If you use a paid social media tool like HootSuite, you also have access to important performance data. Your social media content audit starts with downloading these nuggets into a spreadsheet. Then, when you’re ready, follow these steps to identify your poorest (and best) performing content.
- Use data analytics to create a list of every piece of original content. If that’s an unmanageable task, start at a higher level — list each referring network. In Google Analytics you can track referral sources for each of your social media platforms.
- Record how many hits each link generated for your pages.
- Note the average length of stay associated with each link.
- If possible, tie conversions to each link — how many people from that link clicked through to another page, signed up for a newsletter, or made a purchase?
- Use the information to score each link. The highest scoring links should generate high traffic volumes with high conversion rates.
Measure, Make Changes, Measure Again
Once you identify links with the lowest performance, review the posts associated with those links. Compare them to higher performing links. How is the content different? Are certain phrases or posting times performing better, or does it seem like luck of the draw? Make changes to your social media content campaigns when you identify a possible area of improvement. Conduct another audit in a few weeks to see if the change worked.
Have you conducted a social media content audit? What’s your process?