How to Do a Social Media Audit in One Hour
The word "audit" makes it sound harder than it is.
Most brands either never review their social media performance at all or they convince themselves an audit requires a specialist tool, a spreadsheet, and three days of deep focus.
Neither is true. A social media audit is simply a structured review of every social account you manage, in order to find out what's working, what's not, and where to invest next. Done properly, it takes about an hour and the clarity it gives you is worth every minute.
Here's exactly how to do it.
Before You Start: What You Need
Access to your analytics on each platform (Instagram Insights, LinkedIn Analytics, TikTok Studio, Facebook Insights)
A simple spreadsheet or note, even a Notes app page works
One uninterrupted hour
That's it. No specialist tool required at this stage
Step 1: List Every Account You Have (10 minutes)
Write down every social media account your brand has, including the ones you haven't posted on in six months.
You might be surprised how many outdated profiles are floating around, especially for brands that have been active for more than two years. Old Facebook pages, a Twitter/X account from 2018, a Pinterest profile someone set up and forgot, all of these represent your brand to anyone who finds them.
For each account, note:
Platform
Handle/username
Date of last post
Current follower count
Status: active, dormant, or needs to be deleted
Decision rule: If an account hasn't been updated in over six months and you have no plan to revive it, either update it properly or delete it. A neglected profile is worse than no profile. It signals a brand that started something and gave up.
Step 2: Check Your Profile Completeness (10 minutes)
Go through each active account and check the basics. This sounds obvious. It's shockingly often wrong.
For each platform, verify:
Profile photo is current, on-brand, and high resolution
Cover image or banner is current and correctly sized for the platform
Bio clearly states what you do and who you serve in clear language
Website link is working and pointing to the right page
Contact information is accurate
Username is consistent across platforms (or as consistent as possible)
Business category is correctly set
It's shockingly common to find outdated logos, dead links, or bios that reference a product or service that was retired years ago. Dormant or incomplete profiles actively hurt you.
Step 3: Review Your Content Performance (20 minutes)
This is the most valuable part of the audit and where most brands find the clearest gaps.
Go into your analytics on each platform and look at the last 90 days of content. You're looking for patterns, not individual posts.
Pull these numbers for each platform:
Metric | What to look for |
Reach rate | Are you reaching 15–25% of followers per post? Below 10% is a problem |
Engagement rate | 1–3% is average; above 3% is strong; below 1% needs attention |
Best-performing posts | What format? What topic? What day/time? |
Worst-performing posts | What do they have in common? |
Saves and shares | Rising or falling over the past 90 days? |
Follower growth | Net gain or loss over the period? |
The two questions to answer:
1. What is working? Look at your top five posts by reach or engagement. What do they share in common: format, topic, tone or posting time? This is your signal. Do more of it.
2. What isn't working? Look at your bottom five. Are they a particular format (static images, long captions, promotional posts) that consistently underperforms? Stop investing in what consistently fails.
A real audit covers four areas: profile completeness, content performance history, audience data, and your competitive landscape. Right now you've covered the first two, so we need to keep going.
Step 4: Check Your Audience Data (10 minutes)
Go into your audience insights on each platform and answer these questions:
Demographics:
What age group makes up the majority of your audience?
What locations are most represented?
Does this match who your ideal customer actually is?
Activity:
What days and times is your audience most active?
Are you posting when they're online or several hours before or after?
The mismatch test: If your content is aimed at 35–50 year old business owners but your Instagram audience is 18–24 year old individuals, your content is attracting the wrong people. That's a strategy problem and algorithms have nothing to do with it.
If your audience demographics align well with your ideal customer, great. If they don't, that's the single most important finding from your audit and the first thing to address in your next content strategy.
Step 5: Do a Fast Competitor Check (10 minutes)
Pick two or three direct competitors and spend two to three minutes on each of their profiles.
You're not looking for inspiration. You're looking for gaps.
Note:
What content formats are they using?
What topics are they talking about consistently?
What's their engagement rate roughly? (Divide total likes and comments on recent posts by follower count)
What are they not covering that your audience cares about?
The gap between what they're doing and what your audience needs is where your opportunity lives. Audits include competitive benchmarking specifically because your performance means more in context. This means that a 3% engagement rate looks different depending on whether your competitors are achieving 1% or 6%.
Step 6: Summarise Your Findings and Set Three Priorities (10 minutes)
Now pull it together. Based on everything you've reviewed, answer these three questions:
1. What is the single biggest thing working right now? The format, the topic, the platform, the time of day. Find whatever is consistently generating your best results. Write it down. Protect it and do more of it.
2. What is the single biggest problem? Inconsistent posting? Wrong audience demographics? A platform that's taking effort and producing nothing? Profiles that look outdated? Pick the one that would move the needle most if fixed.
3. What are your three priorities for the next 90 days? Keep these specific and achievable. Not "improve our social media", but "post three times per week on Instagram consistently," "update our LinkedIn bio and cover image," "cut Facebook posting and redirect that time to Reels."
Write them down somewhere you'll actually see them.
How Often to Run This Social Media Audit
Run a full audit quarterly to keep your strategy aligned with business goals. Run a lighter version, such as a content performance check, monthly to catch problems early.
The brands that grow consistently on social media are also making reviews regularly and adjust.
Your One-Hour Audit Checklist
Minutes 0-10: Account Inventory
List every account (active and dormant)
Decide: active, update, or delete
Minutes 10-20: Profile Check
Profile photo current and on-brand
Bio clear and specific
Website link working
Contact details accurate
Minutes 20-40: Content Performance
Pull 90 days of data on each active platform
Identify top 5 and bottom 5 posts
Note what the winners have in common
Note what the losers have in common
Minutes 40-50: Audience Review
Check demographic data
Check active times
Identify any audience mismatch
Minutes 50-60: Competitor Check and Priorities
Review 2–3 competitors quickly
Note gaps and opportunities
Write your three priorities for the next 90 days
One hour. A clear picture of what's working, what isn't, and where to focus next. That's the audit. Simple, structured, and genuinely useful, which is more than most brands manage to do at all.
Want someone to run this audit for you and turn the findings into a strategy that actually moves the needle? Book a FREE consultation with us and let’s find together what is working and what’s not.
