So You've Completed a Social Media Audit...Now What?

A social media audit can help any business or organization rally their team around a cohesive vision that fits seamlessly into broader marketing and business goals.

But to be successful after an audit is completed, you need to develop a roadmap to success. It’s important to prioritize what issues you’re going to tackle, and to develop a specific timeline for implementing those changes.

Creating a Roadmap to Success

Here are four questions you can ask yourself when making a roadmap.
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1. What tactics best support your vision and your goals?
   
   Part of a successful social media audit process should include the creation of a vision statement for your social media program.
   
   You can then use your vision statement as a guidepost for making decisions about what you should tackle first.
   
   To think about this another way, you should stay laser-focused on your core goals. Tackle tasks related to those goals first, then move onto other lower priority activities.
   
   
2. What roadblocks preventing your success do you need to overcome most urgently to achieve that vision? 
   
   There are simple steps that you can take to improve your social media marketing team’s workflow, such as establishing editorial deadlines so that your team gets content on time.
   
   Or perhaps your team lacks access to professional social media management tools. Your social media managers may wish to report on the success of their efforts, but may lack the tools that would help them make those reports quickly and efficiently. Giving them those tools can create an immediate impact on your program's ability to report on return on investment, also known as ROI.
   
   
3. What efforts will work within your current workflow? 
   
   We get it. Rome was not built in a day. And you're dealing with a set of challenges and constraints that are unique to your business. Whether you're working in an industry that is regulated, or are just understaffed, taking the constraints that you are facing into account will be key for your success.
   
   We recommend developing a detailed timeline for implementing recommendations, starting with tasks that are either low effort (low hanging fruit), highest priority based on your goals, or which are easy to accomplish without making major changes to your team or your website. 
   
   Knock those puppies off your list and then bask in the energy and momentum you've gained by shortening your to do list.

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You've got to do lists for days. We get it.

4. How can you train staff to support them in achieving your company's vision? 

Training your staff is a common follow-up step to implementing audit recommendations. Identify any internal and external experts that can help improve competency in core areas.

Whether you are bringing in an outside consultant to address the issues that were uncovered by an audit or you’re engaging in peer-to-peer learning such as a brown bag lunch-and-learn series, it’s important to identify who will do the training and to put dates on the group's calendar for training sessions. 

5. How can you train your staff to address any issues uncovered during the audit?

If your social media audit has uncovered any issues that can be solved through training, get that scheduled too! If you have more than one person on your team consider assigning team members who are stronger on certain skills as a mentor to team members who show (through your social media metrics) or who self-identify as needing a little help. 

6. When will we reevaluate your program?

Getting a social media audit should not be a one-and-done activity. It’s important to set dates to re-evaluate your program, staff progress, and to check your progress against your timeline for implementing the recommendations from your audit. These deadlines will keep you accountable and ensure the success of your social media audit.

Read More in Our Social Media Audit Series

• What is a Social Media Audit?
• 7 Common Pitfalls in Social Media Workflow
• Why Audit Your Social Media Program? 
• 5-Minute Audit Tip: Fix Your Calls to Action
• 5-Minute Social Branding Tip: Look at Your Bios
• Let's Take a Radically Different Approach to Setting Social Media Marketing Goals​​

Sarah Best

CEO + Chief Strategist of Sarah Best Strategy, a boutique agency that makes social media work for you.  Award-wining social media strategy, social media advertising, content strategy & marketing consulting services. Follow us on Facebook, connect with me on Linkedin.