How to Do a Social Media Audit: A Step-by-Step Guide With a Checklist

Most small businesses open social accounts one at a time, over the years, and never look at the whole picture: a forgotten Facebook Page with an old phone number, a TikTok that was tried for a month, an Instagram bio that no longer says what you sell. A social media audit is the habit of stepping back, listing what you have and deciding what to keep, fix or close. This guide walks you through a practical audit you can finish in one or two working days, with a checklist and a way to turn the findings into a 90-day plan.

1. When and why to audit

Run an audit at least once a year, and also when something changes: a new product, a rebrand, a new person taking over social media, a sudden drop in results, or a plan to enter a new network. The audit prevents three common problems:

• Scattered effort. Posting on six networks badly instead of three well.
• Brand inconsistency. Different logos, tones and contact details across accounts.
• Blind spots. Not knowing which content brings enquiries and which only brings likes.

Before you begin, write down your goals for social media in one or two sentences. Without them, you cannot decide whether results are good. If you do not have goals yet, our social media marketing strategy guide helps define them.

2. Step 1: Inventory every account

Create a simple spreadsheet and list every account connected to your business, not only the ones you currently post on. Search your brand name on each network, ask the team, and check old email notifications.

Column	What to write
Network and handle	Instagram @yourbrand, Facebook Page, LinkedIn company Page, and so on
Owner	Who has the login, and who is the admin
Status	Active, dormant, duplicate, unknown
Followers	Current number and the number a year ago if known
Last post date	Shows how alive the account is
Purpose	Why the account exists; if you cannot answer, that is a finding

Look especially for: duplicate Pages, impostor accounts using your name, accounts only one former employee can access, and networks where you have a handle but no content. Secure access first: confirm recovery emails, phone numbers and two-factor settings for every account that matters.

3. Step 2: Check branding and profile consistency

Open each profile as a new visitor would. Does it say clearly who you are, what you offer and what to do next?

• Name and handle. Same or close on every network, easy to search.
• Profile picture and cover. Same logo, correct sizes, not cropped badly.
• Bio. One clear sentence of what you do and for whom, with a keyword a customer would type.
• Link. Points to the right page, works and is tracked. A link in bio page can combine several destinations.
• Contact details. Phone, address, hours and email are current everywhere.
• Tone and visual style. A stranger should recognise it is the same brand. A written social media style guide makes this easy to check.

Score each item from 0 to 2 (wrong, partial, good) so the weakest accounts stand out.

4. Step 3: Review the content

Take the last 30–60 posts per active account. Do not just scroll; classify them in your spreadsheet.

• Format: photo, carousel, video, Reel, Story, text, link.
• Topic or pillar: product, education, behind the scenes, proof, offers. See content pillars.
• Goal: reach, trust, sales, community.
• Quality: sharp visuals, clear first line, a call to action.

Then count. What share is promotional? Which format dominates? How many posts had a clear call to action? Many accounts discover that 70% of their posts are the same format, or that no post in the last two months showed customers or results.

5. Step 4: Analyse performance

For each active account, collect the numbers for the last 90 days (or 12 months for seasonal businesses). The core set:

Metric	Question it answers
Follower growth	Is the audience growing, flat or shrinking?
Reach per post	How many people see us, and how does this change by format?
Engagement rate	Do people care? See engagement rate formulas.
Top and bottom 5 posts	What do the best have in common, what do the worst repeat?
Clicks, messages, enquiries	Is social media producing business results?
Audience demographics	Is the audience who we want: age, location, language?

Not every network provides every number. For X and Telegram you will not find the same analytics in AI SMM, so use the network’s native tools or manual counts. Whatever you choose, use the same method each time. For the broader list of numbers to track, see social media KPIs and metrics.

6. Step 5: Know your audience

Compare who follows you with who you want to reach. Check age, location and languages in the analytics. Read comments and direct messages from the last month and write down the questions people ask most. Those questions are a free list of content ideas and objections your posts should address. If the audience on the account does not match the customers in your shop, the problem is in targeting, not in posting frequency.

7. Step 6: Look at competitors

Pick three to five businesses your customers also consider. For each, note which networks they use, how often they post, which formats they favour and what gets visible reaction. You are looking for gaps and standards: topics nobody covers well, formats that clearly work in your niche, a tone you want to differ from. Do not copy; use it to position yourself. Our guide to social media competitor analysis shows a fuller method.

8. Step 7: Check process and tools

Many problems come from process, not content. Ask:

• Who plans, writes, approves and publishes? Is that written down?
• How long does it take from idea to published post?
• Where do comments and messages arrive, and who replies? How fast?
• Do we have a content calendar for the next two to four weeks?
• How many tools do we pay for, and do we use them?

An average response time to messages is one of the most useful numbers in the whole audit, because customers judge you by it. See how to build a social media workflow if the process turns out to be the weak link.

9. Step 8: Sort the findings into an action plan

Take everything you found and classify it into three lists:

1. Fix. Outdated bios, wrong links, inconsistent logos, unanswered messages. Mostly quick, high impact.
2. Stop. Networks that bring no results and no audience, formats that never perform, accounts without an owner. Closing a dormant account is a good outcome.
3. Start. A format that your best posts share, a content pillar that is missing, a regular review habit.

Choose no more than five priorities for the next 90 days, give each an owner and a date, and decide how you will measure it. Put a reminder to repeat a lighter version of the audit in three months.

10. A one-page social media audit checklist

• All accounts listed, with owners and recovery access confirmed
• Duplicates and impostor accounts reported or closed
• Names, pictures, bios, links and contacts consistent and current
• Last 30–60 posts classified by format, topic and goal
• Last 90 days of reach, engagement and conversions recorded
• Top and bottom posts compared, patterns noted
• Audience compared with target customers
• Three to five competitors reviewed
• Response time to comments and messages measured
• Fix / stop / start list with owners and dates

11. How to apply this in AI SMM

An audit goes faster when everything is in one place. In AI SMM you connect your accounts on one dashboard, so the inventory is visible at a glance, and analytics shows followers, reach, engagement and audience demographics for supported networks, which covers most of steps 4 and 5. Post history and the content calendar show the format mix you actually published. The shared inbox collects comments and messages from connected networks, which makes response time measurable, and AI Content Studio can draft posts for the formats and pillars your audit shows are missing. Remember that TikTok, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Reddit and Odnoklassniki do not have comments or messages in the inbox, and X and Telegram have no analytics in AI SMM, so for those networks part of the audit stays manual.

FAQ

How long does a social media audit take?

For two to four active accounts, one to two working days. Doing the inventory and the profile check alone takes a couple of hours and often finds the quickest wins.

How often should I audit my social media?

A full audit once a year and a short review (numbers and top posts) every quarter. Run an extra one after any rebrand or change of strategy.

Do I need special tools for an audit?

No. A spreadsheet, the native analytics of each network and a few hours are enough. A scheduling and analytics platform speeds up the data collection.

What if the audit shows that a network is not working?

Decide on purpose. Either set a clear 90-day test with a goal, or stop and spend the time on the networks that work. Keep the account only if it protects your name or serves a clear purpose.

Block half a day this week, make the inventory and fix the five most obvious profile problems. When you are ready for the rest, open your analytics in AI SMM and continue from step 4.