200px-charles_williams“I think in order to move forward into the future, you need to know where you’ve been.”

-Charles Williams

Do you ever feel like you’re unsure whether or not social media is working for you?

Many clients come to us not knowing how they’re even doing with their social media marketing. They’ve been running a Twitter account for a while, they’ve watched Facebook reach decline steadily, and they don’t even know where to look for evidence that “it’s working.”

We, like other agencies, start with an assessment of what our client have already done, before advising where they should go. It’s a standard practice, and I’d wager each of our competitors is probably going through similar steps.

Here’s where we differ

Where most agencies conduct a social media audit by looking at their client’s social channels, measuring things like engagement, clickthrough rates, and content strategy, we go a step further.

Truth be told, we actually go 7 steps further.

Social Media success is not simply a product of what they company does on its branded channels. That’s not even half of it. The truth is that there are four key areas to look at when assessing the social media footprint of a company.

In order to get a complete picture, you must look at:

  1. The Company
  2. The Employees
  3. The Customer/Audience
  4. The Competitors
  • If you only look at the company, you are neglecting to look at the company in the context of it’s competition.
  • If you only look at the company, you are neglecting the opportunity posed by the employees who are overwhelmingly more trusted than the brand.
  • If you only look at the company, you are neglecting to see what valuable insights that the customer is giving you.
  • It is at the intersection of these four data sets that you find the most value relative to your goals.

BUT WAIT…There’s MORE!

If all you do is think about the company goals, and review each of these channels from that perspective, you are missing something. Hmmm…what could it be?

I know! The CUSTOMER!

The customer is able to see each of these four data sets as well.

  • You are not the only option they are looking at
  • They are looking at their peers for advice
  • They are running into your employees, what do they think about that

Most importantly, they have different goals than your company does.

While you may be interested in generating more revenue, the customer is looking for help.

It is only when you find the complete and balanced intersection between what the customer wants and the organization’s goals, that you will find an effective strategy.

So, what should you do next?

We’re going to give you our template that we use to conduct a social media audit. Go through it step by step and assess where you could better serve your audience, and improve your own results.

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