Why do people clean the office once a year, organize the garage, and clean their car? Over time, things get messy and cluttered: we lose sight of the goal. It can also cost more not to have people cleaning a service you have to pay for twice because it wasn’t done the first time. And this is especially important for anything related to social media. This is especially true for online content: for Spotify accounts, Instagram profiles, and the like.
What is a “feed audit?” Well, think of it as a health check-up, but for your online presence. It means going through all the things you put out online, from posts from ten years ago to the links in your bio. It is about taking an honest, hard look to see what is still working, what is just taking up space, and what is actually hurting your growth. People who have been running social media management tools will be able to tell you this stuff needs to be changed all the time to keep up with all the trends. It is important. People want up-to-date news. If it’s older than 6 months, it better be a classic.
Seeing Old Posts and Getting Real with the Numbers
The start of everything is looking at what already exists. How are old posts performing now? Getting access to older data like this can actually be really hard because it needs a strong level of data analytics, in addition to knowing what the heck you are looking at. This requires, more often than not, an SME to handle. If you see a post bombed like 10+ years ago, delete it, and start from scratch.
This is when it can also be helpful to look at why the content is still failing. Why are people not engaging with older content anymore? Do people just not read the comments on old posts? Maybe it’s outdated, or the quality wasn’t that great to begin with. You have to realize that you will not always get a win. If you didn’t get likes on a post, don’t be discouraged; just get back on the grind; the world isn’t going to end if you do not get likes.
Knowing Your Goals and Setting New Ones
Before you keep trying to clean things, you need a vision of what you want in the future. What is the main point of your entire presence? Do you try to sell stuff, build a community, or just get new people to follow what you do online? People do a bad job of defining this because they just want to build a product. Start a purpose, and the products should follow.
With great goals in mind, you can tailor everything to fit them. Then review recent work to fit, and decide if it will increase the chances that it brings value or not. You should measure and see if efforts hit the mark. If not, then you can make new ones, until success. Like, you can compare the current plan to a previous plan from 3 years ago to see if it can be improved with new material.
Making Changes: More than Just Deleting
Making improvements is much more than just clicking the delete button. It also may mean updating old content, fixing broken links (that is bad, by the way), or reposting stuff with a new angle. You may need to reach out to new fans or old ones that have been dormant. You definitely need time to study all the data, to make new creative changes that can boost your feed. This can include the need to buy Spotify followers to increase the chances of success, but you need to consider many ways; you don’t want to depend solely on one method for growth.
It is also the perfect time to test new things. Trying new types of posts, going live, or finally giving Reels a shot. New features are always worth trying when they come out because people are always experimenting. The only way to find a recipe is to try different variations.
Learning and Adjusting
A big part of an audit is not just deleting and changing, but learning from all the data collected. What kind of content really vibes with your audience? Are there types of posts you consistently miss? There needs to be a dedicated record; you cannot improve on the data unless there is a dedicated track record of consistent improvement. A good business is ever-changing.
Then, after a month, revisit analytics. Did things actually get any better? Now, there also has to be good measurement; it needs to actually impact and provide valuable data. Otherwise, this is a waste of time and money. There would be no point in doing a feed if it just goes into a pile of garbage. It can actually make it worse.
Conclusion
Seriously, though, building some time to review the online feed is like everything else. If you do not have time, you will not improve. Social media managers have other priorities. Owners need to make space within the budget and the timeline so this type of work can be delegated. If no company handles it, that could be a fatal strike. They have to invest time, energy, and money.
Sources:
