Social media audit template

The question most social audits avoid: is this channel earning the hours it costs?

Five channels each receiving a fifth of the necessary attention is the most common social setup I see, and the honest answer is usually fewer channels rather than more posts.

The audit checklist

5 groups · 22 checks

Is this channel earning its place? 4

• You can name the job this channel does — reach, proof, service or recruitment
• You know what it produced last quarter: sessions, enquiries or nothing measurable
• You would keep it if you had to justify the hours in writing
• Any channel that fails all three above is scheduled to be closed or dormant, not quietly neglected

Profile basics, per channel 5

• Profile name, handle and bio say what you do, not just who you are
• Link in bio points somewhere current and tracked
• Profile and cover images are the right dimensions for that platform, not stretched
• Pinned or featured post is the one you would choose today
• Contact route on the profile is monitored by someone

Content 5

• You can state the content mix — proof, useful, promotional — as rough percentages
• Promotional content is a minority of posts, not the majority
• Posts are written for the platform rather than cross-posted identically everywhere
• Every post that could is linked to something on your own site
• You have a repeatable format that works, rather than starting from nothing each week

Cadence and process 4

• A cadence exists that you have sustained for at least a month
• Posts are scheduled at least a week ahead, so a busy week does not create a gap
• One person owns the channel by name
• Comments and messages have an agreed response time, and someone checks

Measurement 4

• UTM tags on every link, so social traffic is identifiable in analytics
• You report referred sessions and conversions, not just impressions and reach
• Follower growth is tracked net of unfollows
• You know which post format produces the most site visits, from data rather than impression

The keep-or-close calculation

The workbook’s first tab takes followers, net growth, posts, hours, sessions and enquiries per channel, and returns cost per enquiry and a verdict:

• Hours spent, no enquiries, almost no sessions → Close or pause
• Hours spent, no enquiries, real referred traffic → Reach only — justify it
• Any enquiries → Keep

“Reach only” is a legitimate verdict, not a failure. Some channels exist for recruitment, for proof during a sales process, or for customer service. But it has to be stated, because an unstated reason is indistinguishable from a habit.

What to post

Type	What it is	Rough share	Note
Proof	Work you have done, results, client words, things you have built	Around 30%	The type that converts, and the type most accounts post least.
Useful	Something a viewer can act on without contacting you	Around 50%	Earns the right to be followed. This is where a template or a checklist does well.
Promotional	An explicit offer, launch or availability post	Around 15%	Works because the other 85% exists. On its own it is ignored.
Human	The team, the process, the mistakes	Around 5%	Cheap to make and disproportionately good at starting conversations.

The mix matters more than the frequency. Promotional content works because the other 85% exists — on its own it is scrolled past, which is why accounts that post only offers conclude social does not work.

The proof category is the one most accounts underuse. Work you have actually done converts better than anything else you can post, and it is the hardest thing for a competitor to copy.

The calendar

Four weeks, with channel and type as dropdowns and a counter at the bottom that tallies your actual mix against the target. That counter is the point — the mix is easy to agree and hard to hold, and it drifts towards promotional whenever there is something to sell.

Common mistakes