---
title: "7 Steps to a Complete Social Media Audit"
description: "Social media audits are presented as a way for marketers to connect channel activity with business goals and improve return on investment, especially when a small share of content or actions drives most results. The guide organizes the work into seven steps: reviewing analytics and presence, setting goals, analyzing performance, understanding the audience, studying competitors, and creating an action plan. It recommends consolidating channel data with a social media management platform or native analytics, using social listening to examine conversations, interests, and sentiment, and evaluating metrics such as engagement, reach, posting timing, website behavior, and conversions. The process ends with documented findings, team discussion, and prioritized changes aligned with company objectives, with an annual audit recommended."
---

# 7 Steps to a Complete Social Media Audit

[Brandwatch](https://yomu.fyi/company/brandwatch) · Gemma Joyce · Jul 21, 2023

**Type:** Tutorial

## Summary

Social media audits are presented as a way for marketers to connect channel activity with business goals and improve return on investment, especially when a small share of content or actions drives most results. The guide organizes the work into seven steps: reviewing analytics and presence, setting goals, analyzing performance, understanding the audience, studying competitors, and creating an action plan. It recommends consolidating channel data with a social media management platform or native analytics, using social listening to examine conversations, interests, and sentiment, and evaluating metrics such as engagement, reach, posting timing, website behavior, and conversions. The process ends with documented findings, team discussion, and prioritized changes aligned with company objectives, with an annual audit recommended.

## Context

Marketers may struggle to track social media ROI, while audits are described as under-used despite their value in understanding brand performance, identifying effective activity, and aligning social channels with company goals.

## Approach / What changed

The guide proposes a seven-step audit covering analytics and presence, goals, performance, audience understanding, competitor research, and an improvement plan. It recommends using social media management or native platform analytics, social listening, documented findings, team review, and annual repetition.

## Takeaways

- A social media audit should track channel purpose, audience details, followers, engagement, posting frequency, reach, post metrics, and other measures relevant to company goals.
- Channel performance should be weighed against team time, potential ROI, platform-specific strengths, posting schedules, community management, and message sentiment.
- Audit findings should become a documented, team-reviewed plan for changes that connect social media activity with broader company objectives.

**Tags:** [Analytics](https://yomu.fyi/topic/analytics), [Social Media](https://yomu.fyi/topic/social-media)

- Source: [Brandwatch](https://www.brandwatch.com/blog/roi-social-media-audit)
- Source URL: https://www.brandwatch.com/blog/roi-social-media-audit
- Ingested by Yomu: 2026-09-10T16:10:26.041Z

[Read original post](https://www.brandwatch.com/blog/roi-social-media-audit)