Social Media Strategy Audit
Many times we see that companies get involved in the world of social media without any real direction. A business owner feels good being able to say that their company has a presence on all social media platforms. The problem is if you do not have a strategy behind what you are doing; it can simply result in a lot of wasted time with no real gain in the business bottom line. We see companies every day that post in social media, but tend to feel that social media is not providing them with any results. It is not a weakness of social media as much as it is a weakness in the strategy behind the post.
Our advice, step back and either do your own social media audit or hire a consultant that can give you great data about your social media campaign. We would say leave it to the experts (shameless plug coming). Let a company like Selsi Enterprises dissect your current plan and give you some sound techniques to move forward with your efforts on social media.
A good social media strategy audit takes about 2 months to conduct. This audit typically compares what you are doing in the social media sphere to what your competitors are doing. This audit should also take a look at what you are doing versus where your customers are and what they may prefer in the way of social communication. Finally, you should end up with recommendations that can be measured over time.
Once small business owners conduct a social media audit, it is amazing how they see the results start to stack up versus the time before they had a specific strategy. What keeps most business owners from hiring a consultant to perform this audit is a concern surrounding the cost. A business owner should look at this as an investment in business growth. This is a short term expense that can lead to a long term gain. As I have polled consultants in 2012 on what they charge for their social media strategy audits, I have seen a range in terms of prices, services, and guarantees. For a quality audit, the price range is 5K to 8K. Typically a consultant will allow a business owner to break this expense up into multiple payments over the 2 month timeframe. It really depends on the consultant!
