How To Do a Social Media Audit [9 Easy Steps]

A social media audit can seem like one of those tasks that you pushed to the bottom of your to-do list. It requires time, focus, and, above all, experience. But I have some good news: conducting a social media audit doesn’t have to be overwhelming and can completely transform your social media strategy and online performance if you know where to look.

A social media audit helps you evaluate your strategy’s performance, spotlighting your strengths and weaknesses. It’s not just about fixing what’s broken. 

It’s about finding opportunities to grow and level up your online presence.

Quick summary:

• A social media audit helps to clarify how your content is performing, how your audience is engaging, and whether your strategy aligns with your goals. It is a key step to understanding what is working and what needs to be improved.
• You can spot trends, identify areas of underperformance, and optimize your efforts accordingly. By regularly reviewing key metrics such as reach, engagement, sentiment, and audience growth,
• Using social media audit tools like Brand24 will streamline this process. These tools combine data from different platforms in one place. They simplify reporting and offer intelligent recommendations based on your internal data.

In this article, I’ll break it all down for each question: 

How do you conduct an effective social media audit? Which tools should you use? How often should you run one? And is there a reliable social media audit example or template to follow? 

Step by step, so you can run your audit using this social media audit template with confidence and clarity.

Let’s dive in!

What is a social media audit?

Starting from the beginning. 

A social media audit compiles and analyzes information about your account on all platforms. This includes everything from your posts and comments to your social media strategy and goals.

And even though the word audit might sound a little intimidating, don’t worry. Think of it more like a health check for your social media presence. You’re simply making sure everything is working the way it should and delivering the results you’re aiming for.

A social media audit is essential for any social media marketing strategy. When doing one, I like to follow the rule: from the general to the specific.

So, I start with preparation, overall business objectives, and a first glance at the brand across social media platforms. From there, I dive deeper—analyzing key social media metrics, reviewing the performance of each social media page, and even looking at individual posts to understand what content truly resonates with the audience.

Finally, I move into competitor analysis to see how we compare in the industry and spot new growth opportunities.

And Voila! The social media audit is complete.

How to do a social media audit in 9 steps

01 Define the goals of the marketing strategy

Let’s start from the beginning!

Setting clear goals is the first and most crucial step in any successful social media strategy.

I wouldn’t start training in the gym without knowing what I want to improve (whether that’s strength, endurance, or flexibility), and I wouldn’t dive into a social media audit without a clear sense of my goal. 

After all, without goals, it’s way too easy to lose motivation, act without purpose, or even sabotage one’s results. 

The trick is to be both specific and realistic. Once you have a solid understanding of what you want to achieve. Not just overall, but for each individual platform, you can craft a plan to help you get there.

Here’s an example of social media goals:

• Increasing brand awareness
• Discovering audience actionable insights
• Generating sales
• Building audience engagement
• Growing traffic to your site
• Gaining a broad social media reach

02 Create a social channels spreadsheet

Writing down all the necessary data is essential for a successful social media audit. 

You need to gather relevant data from each of your social media accounts. Even if it feels time-consuming at first. But trust me, having everything in one place makes a huge difference.

When I centralize all my social media audit data in a single file, it becomes much easier to compare results over time: month to month, quarter to quarter, or year to year. This lets me get a clear, data-driven performance overview across all channels.

How I do it:

Since each platform has different metrics, create a separate row for each channel to track performance more effectively. 

I am also adding a special column to note any observations or ideas during the audit process. 

03 Create a list of all your social accounts

Once your goals and spreadsheet are set, it’s time to start filling in the data!

I always begin by listing all the brand’s social media accounts. Even the ones that are no longer active or only used occasionally.

It’s normal not to be active on every platform, but it’s important to remember these accounts still exist. 

Who knows? They might serve as a valuable point of contact with a new target audience or confuse your followers. A social media audit is a perfect time to check it out!

04 Make sure your branding is consistent

While creating the list of all your social media platforms, look closely to ensure your branding is consistent.

Branding is essential.

It sets you apart from competitors and communicates who you are to your audience. Ensure your followers can immediately recognize your company’s profile, no matter where they see it. Consistency is key.

How I do it:

• Check Profile and Cover Photos: Ensure they align with your current branding and meet each platform’s image size requirements.
• Use Consistent Usernames: Use the same username across all social media profiles for easy recognition.
• Update URLs: Double-check the link in your bio. It’s easy to forget links from past campaigns that are no longer relevant.
• Write a Clear Bio: Craft a user-friendly bio that accurately describes your brand and what you offer.
• Verify Your Profile: Use platforms that offer verification. A verified profile boosts brand trust and helps your audience know they’re in the right place.

05 Identify key performance indicators

One of the toughest tasks in a social media audit is identifying the right metrics to track. 

With so many options available, how do you know which ones matter most for your business?

Here’s a list of key metrics for social media audit, which I always check first:

• Social media engagement metrics
• Shares
• Number of mentions
• Impressions
• Referral traffic
• Clicks on links
• Social media reach

How I do it:

So, there are two options. 

First, you can manually manage each of your social accounts in native apps (but it will take a lot of time, and honestly, it’s hard to get a full picture of your social media performance). 

That’s why I preferred the second approach. 

Advanced tools like social listening tools gather data across all my social media profiles and collect even those channels where I don’t have accounts but where people are talking about me (the best choice for brand awareness, measuring social media presence, and competitor analysis!). 

Take a look!

As you can see, Brand24 provides a comprehensive summary of key performance metrics for your online presence, in one dashboard. 

You can easily filter by channel to see a specific account’s performance

Here you can read more about social media metrics to check them out while conducting your social media audit.

06 Identify content that matters

Metrics are crucial in a social media audit. But remember that behind every number is a real person. 

The real goal? Understanding what your audience cares about, what they’re searching for, and how your brand can meet those needs.

Now, comparing posts across different platforms isn’t always easy. Even with a spreadsheet, drawing meaningful insights can take time and effort.

That’s where I turn to a social media monitoring tool. It helps me uncover key insights like:

• The most popular authors
• The most popular mentions
• Estimated social media reach
• Social media interaction
• Social media likes
• Social media comments
• The volume of mentions

And many more! 

How I do it:

I have three favorite ways to monitor my brand’s current social media presence using Brand24:

1. Track Spikes in Mentions (Main Dashboard)
   I always keep an eye on the main graph for any sudden spikes in mentions or unusual buzz. Just look for the exclamation marks. They instantly show what triggered the spike and how people interact with the brand.

2. Find Top Mentions (Summary Tab)
   The Summary tab helps me spot the most popular mentions and top public profiles about my brand. This is where I can quickly catch attention-grabbing shoutouts from influencers, magazines, or key industry players.

3. Understand Audience Trends (Topic Analysis Tab)
   Once I’ve reviewed immediate mentions, I head to the Topic Analysis tab. This is by far my favorite feature. In seconds, I can see what my audience discusses across social platforms.

AI Topic Analysis is a goldmine for understanding the audience’s behavior and engagement trends. Discover new ideas for future social media campaigns, aligning the content calendar, and basing future social media activities.

07 Conduct sentiment analysis

One of the most important, and sometimes most overlooked, parts of a social media audit is understanding how your audience feels about your brand, products, and customer service.

A big goal of any social media effort is to build and maintain genuine relationships. 

That’s where sentiment analysis comes in. It helps you determine whether brand mentions are written in a positive, negative, or neutral tone.

What I track:

• Number of mentions by sentiment type through various social media platforms
• Changes in positive/negative tone over time
• Buzz triggers: What caused sentiment spikes?

Here you can see mentions detected by Brand24, and categorized by sentiment:

How I do it:

On the Brand24 dashboard, I switch the graph from Mentions & Reach to Sentiment. This gives me a visual breakdown of how people feel when they talk about my brand.

Then, I filter mentions by positive or negative to assess feedback quickly. It’s helpful, especially after launching a new campaign, product, or partnership. It’s the fastest way to know what’s working and what’s not for the target audience.

I go further and break down the sentiment on each social media platform. To capture the differences in social media presence, some platforms naturally perform better than others.

Knowing this helps me allocate budget and effort wisely in my content strategy and upcoming social media campaigns.

After all, social media sentiment analysis can also help detect early signs of potential problems or opportunities for growth in social engagement.

08 Determine your social media ROI

I know how tricky measuring ROI from your social media activities can be. Especially when conversions aren’t your primary goal.

Yes, you can count direct sales or downloads from multiple channels, but what if your objective is brand awareness or influence on offline sales?

Still, ROI is a vital part of any media audit. It helps ensure you’re not wasting time or budget on social channels that don’t deliver real value to your company.

You can measure impact by:

• Track the number of downloads
• Using Google Analytics to measure organic sessions and traffic sources
• Monitoring hashtag performance for visibility and audience interest

How I do it:

The tool will calculate all the metrics for you. In the Summary tab, you’ll find the most important information, e.g.:

• The total number of results
• Social media reach
• Social media interactions
• Positive vs. negative mentions

These insights help evaluate audience engagement, assess performance across social media channels, and ultimately show where to focus future social media efforts.

The best part? 

You will immediately see the difference in the selected time range. It compares the two periods side by side. It highlights changes in key indicators. 

09 Competitive analysis

It’s time to assess how your organization’s social media presence compares to others in your market.

Rising performance is always exciting, but if your competitors are doing even better, it’s a sign that there’s still space to refine your social media content and stay competitive.

How I Do It

I typically start by reviewing the Comparison tab. This lets me compare my social platforms directly against key competitors, allowing me to assess our online performance.

Then, I check my online presence score, which is a reliable snapshot of how strong my digital visibility is.

What Is an Online Presence Score?

It measures how well-known and active your brand is across social and digital channels at any given time. This includes engagement, mentions, reach, and more.

It’s especially useful for benchmarking brand awareness and tracking how your organization’s social media presence is evolving. 

If the score is rising, you’re moving in the right direction. If not, it’s time to dig deeper and adapt your social media strategy.

Best Social media audit tools

Having the right social media audit tools is essential to conduct a truly comprehensive social media audit.

But with so many options available, choosing the best fit for your needs and business objectives can feel overwhelming. That’s why I’ve compiled a quick checklist of key features to consider:

What to Look for in a Social Media Audit Tool:

• Platform Coverage
  Check, which social platforms the tool supports. Ensure it covers your active social media accounts and all major social networks where people can discuss your brand.
• Performance & Engagement metrics
  The tool should help you gather all the data in one place (from audience demographics to analysis of each social media post, follower growth), speeding up your auditing of social media accounts.
• Insights & trends
  Choose a tool to help you uncover valuable insights, even those not apparent at first glance.
• Reporting & sharing options
  Save your time, especially when reporting to clients or teams. Choose a tool with easy-to-read charts, graphs, and other visualizations useful for auditing.
• Benchmarking
  Many tools don’t have built-in benchmarking features. Without them, you’ll be deprived of insights into deeper audience data in the same niche or be stuck manually comparing accounts or competitors.

Thus, those key features will speed up your auditing process! Are you curious about my 4 top social media audit tools for a comprehensive audit?

Let’s dive into them!

My 4 Favorite Tools for a Social Media Audit:

01. Google Analytics

Sure, it’s technically a website analytics tool, but it’s indispensable for understanding how social media activity impacts your social media traffic, user behavior, and conversion goals.

Google Analytics is a foundational platform in any social media audit, offering powerful insights that bridge the gap between social engagement and on-site performance. It reveals how users from various social channels behave once they land on your website, making it a critical tool for optimizing your social media marketing strategy.

Whether you’re measuring the effectiveness of a campaign, identifying which platforms drive the most qualified traffic, or uncovering key audience insights like demographics and interests, Google Analytics delivers the data analysis you need to make smarter marketing decisions.

Why I Like It:

• Traffic Source Analysis: See which social media accounts drive the most traffic.
• Audience demographics data: Gain detailed demographic data on age, gender, location, and interests.
• Conversion Tracking: Understand how social efforts contribute to your goals.
• Custom Reports: Create tailored dashboards for tracking specific marketing goals and KPIs.

Pro Tip: Combine Google Analytics with UTM parameters for deeper insight into the performance of specific posts, campaigns, or emerging platforms.

While it doesn’t analyze your social media content, Google Analytics is a must-have tool for website analysis to understand how social media efforts translate into business value.

02. Brand24

These days, tracking content performance alone just isn’t enough. A truly effective social media audit requires a comprehensive view of how your brand is perceived across the web. 

What are people saying about you? Are your campaigns generating positive buzz or falling flat?

Brand24 is an AI-powered social listening tool that helps answer those crucial questions. It monitors conversations across all major social media platforms (including blogs, forums, podcasts, and review sites). So you can stay fully informed about your brand’s online presence and reputation.

Why I Like It:

• Easy Reporting: Export clean reports in PDF, Excel, infographics, or use Quick Share Reports to send updates to anyone—clients, teammates, or stakeholders. It saves me hours every week.
• AI Features: Get instant sentiment analysis, trending topics, audience reactions, and in-depth recommendations with Brand24’s intelligent assistant.
• Collaboration-Friendly: Integrated with Slack and Microsoft Teams, it delivers real-time alerts to your workspace. Especially useful for daily team communication and client updates.
• Content Discovery & Influencer Tracking: Identify high-impact social posts and interactions. Thanks to influencer analysis, you can find creators driving conversations in a niche more naturally.
• Benchmarking: Not limited to brand names, monitor any slogan, hashtag, product name, or campaign to see how competitors are performing, too.

Ideal for marketers, agencies, and enterprises that care about building loyal, data-informed communities. Social listening is essential for any social media marketing strategy.

03. BuzzSumo

BuzzSumo is a tool for social media analytics. Designed to track brand mentions and online trends, rather than tracking brand performance across all your accounts. 

It identifies community engagement content, spots emerging topics, and identifies influential voices in the industry. It’s one of the easiest tools to identify what’s working and why.

Why I Like It:

• Content Auditing: Analyze top-performing content across platforms, competitors, or specific topics.
• Influencer Insights: Identify key people amplifying your content or your competitors’.
• Trend Spotting: Set up alerts for emerging keywords and get notified when something goes viral.
• Topic Research: Discover content gaps and explore strategic opportunities to guide future content.

BuzzSumo doesn’t integrate with Instagram, so if that’s your focus, consider pairing it with another tool.

04. Buffer

Buffer makes day-to-day social media management easy. Especially for small teams or solo marketers. 

While it’s not built for in-depth insights and analytics or trend tracking, its intuitive scheduling and clean interface make it a favorite for staying organized and consistent.

Why I Like It:

• Post & Stories Analytics: Track followers’ growth, likes, clicks, and engagement on individual social media posts.
• Account Performance: Measure metrics across multiple platforms.
• Audience demographics data: Understand who you’re reaching and tailor content accordingly.

Use Buffer to schedule posts consistently, then combine its data with Google Analytics or Brand24 for a broader view of performance and impact.

Tips for analyzing social media audit results from experts

1. Don’t ignore context: Gathered data are essential, but behind them are people. Understanding audience preferences, good timing, and content relevance is your secret weapon.
2. Be consistent: Conduct regular social media audits to ensure your strategy is rooted in relevant data.
3. It’s about people: At the end of the day, you’re building a social network. Prioritize authentic engagement, keep your social media content fresh, and explore new platforms where your audience might hang out.
4. Customize templates: Social media audit templates are great starting points. But don’t be afraid to tweak them. 
5. Leverage an AI tool: like Brand Assistant, to gain insights faster, spot patterns, and save time across multiple social media channels.

The social media audit template & checklist 

Here you can use this ready-to-use social media audit checklist that I have prepared for you: