It’s 2:00 a.m. I am tossing and turning in my bed, mumbling incoherently about “Groups” and “Engagement” and “blog frequency.” My husband is used to my restlessness and simply rolls over.
The cause of my anxiety? I’m in the middle of a B2B social media audit. Again.
As a digital PR agency, social media audits are part of the daily routine of our firm. So what’s keeping me up at night?
Audits are messy affairs. If you want to do them right, you are going to spend a lot of time going down rabbit holes. For example, you may find your best piece of intelligence when you follow the client’s “keyword” to a new “LinkedIn group” that identifies the “emerging influencer.” These are tremendously time consuming projects.
But it’s getting better, thanks to a checklist that ensures our team is approaching the research in a consistent manner. Here are the basics, plus advanced suggestions if you have the time – and the budget:
The Basics
- Codify presence on major social networks: LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, flickr
- By the Numbers: Twitter lists to update frequency to number of Groups
- Marketing Posture: News-blaster or marketing savant or timid starter?
- Quality of content: Use 1-5 ranking system with clear categories
- Skin in the game: How long have they been experimenting? How much attention and investment have been given?
- Grapevine: Classify existing social commentary about the client
- Select Competitors: Agree on 2 peers and 2 aspirational institutions, run through entire “Basics” section
- Use monitoring tool to find smaller or emerging communities: But do not think your tool can do the analysis for you. Don’t be lazy – this is where you actually get to stretch your brain.
- Prioritize keyword searches: Don’t just rely on what your client’s phrases, research the terms that keep coming up in audience conversations and search queries. Have you stress-tested what topics do not come up?
- Find Influencers: Who are the people that already have attention and traffic in this space? How did they build presence?
- Distill audience conversation themes
- Must have a “needs” POV – don’t just report on topics
- Compare blogs: Client vs. competitors vs. influencers vs. niche news
- Tie discoveries to traditional B2B thought leadership program themes, media relations strategies and future goals
- Create audience personas to guide future content development
Advanced
- Determine Delicious bookmarkers who are interested in your client’s content
- Evaluate if crowdsourced content offers additional clues
- Jump into every blog on influencer blog rolls: who stands out? Why?
- Chase who is influencing your influencers: What are the meta trends that impact your client?
- What are the demographic trends that emerged? Supplement your insights with supportive data on male/female, age, geography, etc.
- Build profile for most frequent commenters: They may not be influencers – yet. But they are often the “folks to watch.” What topics excite them? What moves them to action?
Extra Credit
- Identify “wows:” In every single audit I’ve ever done, I’ve “accidentally” found a piece of intelligence that was extraordinarily meaningful to my client. But you make your own luck by being diligent and persistent. If you want a wow, keep digging several more layers than you want to.
- Force deductions as you research: you may be only part of a team that’s completing the research, but if you keep each individual’s goals in mind, you are almost sure to find data that helps the entire team.
Are you spending a lot of time on your social media audits? Do you have any time savers that you can share? How would you add to our checklist?
To reach Elizabeth:
Phone: 212.840.0017
Email: elizabeth@blisspr.com
Twitter: @elizabethsosnow
LinkedIn: Elizabeth Sosnow
11/11/2010 at 2:43 PM Permalink
Rock solid info, as always. Seriously…can I steal this list?
The best value of a social media audit, in my opinion, isn’t in creating a clear-cut action path or in quantifying things, but in bringing a picture into focus. The threads of a common conversation about a brand are often scattered or layered under. A good audit pulls those threads to the surface and tells an often surprising story.
11/11/2010 at 10:54 PM Permalink
Scott, my friend, you are welcome to steal anything of mine. Lord knows you’ve inspired me.
I think you raise a good point about audits. Folks enter into an audit situation to gather data, but the best audits wind up offering compelling intelligence that lifts up your marketing and PR strategies.
11/12/2010 at 5:50 AM Permalink
Really useful post Elizabeth.
We get lots of questions looking for practical guidance on SM strategy. This is a great place to direct them to.
While Scott Hepburn’s comment makes sense at a high-level, often the most pressing need is for the action plan. And it is hard to think big with a pain in the way.
And this is a great way of getting to both.
Thanks for sharing.
Scott Armstrong
BrainRider
“sharing what we know about attracting and converting B2B customers is what we do!”
11/12/2010 at 11:45 AM Permalink
Elizabeth, Wish I had something to add.. this is a great list. I’ll be bookmarking for sure. I like the link to the monitoring tools at different price points, great to see low and no cost options (for small business). One of the free tools I use all the time are good old Google Alerts. Thanks for introducing me to Twiangulate and Wordloo, feel like a slacker not already using them. FWIW.
11/12/2010 at 4:52 PM Permalink
Davina, I still love my old, dear friend Google Alerts. I use them every day, all day, myself. They are invaluable. In fact, I’d argue that you could do a whole deep dive analysis on GA’s alone, as long as you put in place a rigorous analysis approach at the start. I know that the content patterns I see emerging from my own “B2B social media” alerts have changed in very interesting ways over the last few years.
And, by the way, you are not a slacker! There’s 5 new social media tools every minute – I think we are just hanging in by our fingertips. Don’t let anyone tell you differently
11/12/2010 at 4:55 PM Permalink
Thanks very much, Scott. Appreciate those kind words.
I think my clients — and probably yours — are almost always overwhelmed with the amount of intelligence now at their disposal. It’s true that a practical guide can really help with that analysis journey…and even have some fun along the way.
11/17/2010 at 8:38 AM Permalink
Ok, whew. Thought I was the only one doing all this late night rolling around. Great post!
11/18/2010 at 10:47 PM Permalink
Oh, no, James. You are not alone in this. I just found out yesterday I will be kicking off another audit next week – so pray for me! thanks for your visit
11/27/2010 at 2:56 AM Permalink
Superb. Thanks for sharing what many would consider a competitive advantage.
11/29/2010 at 9:19 PM Permalink
Doug, what a pleasure to see your comment and presence on our blog. Many thanks! I have to say, the “devil is in the details” with these audits. I’m not sure I can really offer anyone a significant advantage – the project scope for every audit always feels so unique…