How to Audit Your Own Social Media (Before You Build Your Content Strategy)

Your content stopped feeling like it’s working so you decided to start again. You created a shiny new strategy, played around in Canva for a day designing shiny new templates and made your way to Chat GPT to write you a shiny new bio.

But six weeks later, you found yourself back in the exact same place, wondering why you’re still not getting sales from all the shiny newness. It’s frustrating, disheartening, and an incredibly common cycle for business owners to go through.

Although it may feel like the strategy wasn’t good enough, or your images weren’t standing out enough, or your bio was a bit…boring...they were never truly the problem. And even though you didn’t give your strategy long enough to actually work, that wasn’t the biggest issue either.

The problem was your content strategy wasn’t built on a solid, optimised foundation.

Before you even think about “content strategy”, before you decide on a posting schedule or create a content calendar, you need to do two things: study the data you already have and optimise based on your goals.

That’s exactly what The Content MOT is for and in this blog post I’m going to take you through how to audit your social media yourself, so you can start seeing results from your content again.

As a Confident Content Strategist, this is one thing I urge you not to skip. I’m like my Grandad in that way, Christopher Robin (yes, the Robin who this company was named after).

He wasn’t a Content Strategist, in fact he had no idea how social media worked, but he liked to make sure my MOT was always up to date. He’d check the oil in my car, the tyre pressure, fill up the petrol for me and top up the screen wash whenever it ran out.

He knew that small things left unchecked have a habit of becoming bigger problems further down the line. So he never let me drive away without knowing everything was running as it should be.

And that's exactly what I want for your content. Not a shiny new strategy built on an unstable foundation that’ll inevitably let you down again. A solid, optimised foundation that’ll actively support your content in working for you to get you the brand awareness, community and sales your business deserves.

Why you need to audit your social media before you build your strategy

As someone who loves a fresh start (Spring’s my fave season) and gets embarrassingly excited about starting a new project, I understand how tempting it is to go straight into creating a new strategy. It’s even more tempting, when you feel like something isn’t working and you can just throw the whole thing away and forget it existed.

But starting again without fully understanding what was and wasn’t working, means you’ll likely make the same mistakes and face the same issues, just dressed up in a different way.

When I build bespoke content strategies for my clients, I use The Robin Method™, a five step framework I developed over nearly a decade of working with business owners across multiple industries. Review is the first step and Optimise comes second, both before I Build the content strategy.

This is because what you learn in your audit helps you create a stronger, more solid strategy that’ll have a higher chance of success. Nothing in the strategy is guesswork, everything is intentional.

What a social media audit actually covers

When carrying out your own social media audit, there are five areas to consider: your profile, content, engagement, analytics and sales. Within each of these areas, I’ve put together some questions to ask yourself:

Your Profile:

Does it immediately tell someone who you are, what you do and what’s on offer for them if they stick around?
If a stranger landed there for the first time, would they know within 5 seconds whether you’re the right person/company for them?
Is your name field easily searchable?
Is your bio specific, yet engaging enough to make people want to follow?
Are your highlights guiding someone on a journey?
Do you have pinned posts that tell people who you are, why they should trust you and what you sell?

Your Content:

Take a look at your last 12-16 posts and ask yourself is there a clear purpose to each post?
How many of those posts told people who you are (know), how many built connection with your audience (like) and how many positioned you as an authority (trust)?
How many were sales posts?
Can you notice any patterns or is everything random?

Recognising the balance will highlight any gaps in your content strategy.

Your Engagement: Not just the numbers, the quality.

Are the right people commenting?
Are you getting DMs from potential clients?
Are people engaging with your stories?
Is your content being saved, shared and reposted?

A post with three likes from your dream client is worth more than one with a hundred likes from people who'll never buy from you.

Your Analytics:

Which posts got the most reach and can you recognise why that was?
What posts gained you the most followers, and were they your target audience?
Is there a type of content that seems to perform better for you in terms of your content goals?
What posts lead to the most profile visits and website clicks?

Your analytics are a goldmine of data that can help you with your content strategy.

Your Sales:

Did you see an influx of enquiries, leads or sales after a particular post or story went out?
Has anyone mentioned a piece of content you shared when they enquired about your product or service?
Have any DM conversations converted into sales?
Has someone said "I've been following you for a while but now I’m ready to buy”?

If you can point to even one piece of content that directly or indirectly led to a sale, that tells you something important about what your content is actually doing.

And if you can’t, that’s good information to have too. Nothing is a failure when it comes to your content strategy, everything is data and information that can be used to improve things moving forward.

This is the audit you can do yourself because you have access to everything: the numbers, the data, the DMs, the conversations.

The Content MOT works slightly differently because it's a public facing audit. I run these through the same view your potential clients have when they land on your profile for the first time, which means it catches the things you've become too familiar with to notice, and reflects back exactly what a stranger sees before they decide whether to follow, enquire or scroll past.

The questions worth sitting with

Aside from this important data, there are some other questions you need to be honest with yourself about. This is important personal data because without knowing this information, you could end up building a content strategy that feels like a struggle to Implement and Nurture (the final two stages of The Robin Method™).

Ask yourself:

Does your profile feel like you? If you’re a brand, does your profile accurately reflect the vibe you want to be giving off?
Does the content you’ve been posting actually represent who you are, what you do and who you serve?
Are you excited, proud, enthusiastic about the content you’ve been sharing? Or have you been posting for the sake of posting?
When reading back through your content, does it feel intentional? Can you feel the energy you want to give off behind it?
If you removed your name and logo from your content, would it still be recognisably yours?
Imagine you’re your dream client landing on your profile: based on the content and the profile, would you know you’re in the right place? Would you feel compelled to hit follow? Are you excited to check out your offers? Would you buy from you?

These questions might feel harder to answer, but the more honest you are, the easier it’ll be to spot the gaps and to create a strategy that starts working for you.

12 Questions to help you audit your own content

I put together this short diagnostic tool to help you audit your own social media so you can create a confident content strategy from a solid foundation. Score each of these statements from 1-5, being completely honest with yourself. The more honest and accurate of a picture you can build, the more useful this audit will be to you.

1 = Not true at all, 5 = Totally true.

Section 1: Your Profile and Content Are you showing up with intention?

My profile clearly tells a stranger who I am, what I do and who I help within five seconds
My bio has a clear call to action that's connected to my current business goal
My last twelve posts include a mix of content that introduces me, builds connection and establishes trust
Someone landing on my profile for the first time would know instantly if they were in the right or wrong place

Your section scores: 16-20 solid, 9-15 needs attention, 4-8 this is your biggest gap

Section 2: Your Capacity and Consistency Is your strategy built around your real life?

I'm posting in a format I actually enjoy creating
My posting frequency is something I can sustain consistently without burning out
I can name the purpose of every post I've shared in the last month
I feel good about the content I'm sharing, not just what I’m creating, but that it's working for my business

Your section scores: 16-20 solid, 9-15 needs attention, 4-8 this is your biggest gap

Section 3: Your Connection to Sales and Goals Is your content actually doing a job for your business?

I'm talking about my offers regularly enough that my audience knows what I do and how to buy from me
My analytics show at least one post in the last month that resulted in an action that supports my goals (i.e. a website click, a DM, a follow, a profile visit)
I can attribute at least one sale or enquiry in the last 90 days to a specific piece of content
There is a clear path from "I found you" to "I want to work with you" on my profile (i.e. link in bio, pinned posts, a clear next step)

Your section scores: 16-20 solid, 9-15 needs attention, 4-8 this is your biggest gap

Score guide:

If you scored 48-60: Woohoo, your foundations are solid. You go Glen Coco! Now, look back at your individual scores and notice which questions scored lowest. Those are your subtle gaps and they're worth paying attention to even when everything else is working.

The most common gap at this level is the type of content you’re putting out. Your content strategy needs to be well balanced to ensure you’re attracting new people, building a connection with your current audience and nurturing followers who’ve already bought from you.

Your next steps: Pick the question you scored lowest on and make it your focus for the next 30 days. With solid foundations already, you want to be building on the success you’re already having. This one intentional shift will help you move forwards whilst continuing to focus on what’s already working.

If you’re pleased with your results but want the content strategy taken off your hands, a Robin Intensive could be the thing that takes you from good to exceptional.

If you scored 30-47: You're doing a lot right and the fact that some of your scores are high tells you this isn't a starting from scratch situation, it's a filling in the gaps situation. Go back through your scores and identify which of the three areas needs the most attention: your profile and content, your capacity and consistency, or your connection to sales and goals.

Your next steps: Pick the two or three lowest scoring questions and treat them as your priority for the next month. Trying to fix everything at once will not only be overwhelming but it won’t allow you to collect valuable data that you can use to tweak your strategy in future. Two intentional changes implemented consistently will always outperform ten changes implemented chaotically.

The Robin Intensive would give you the full picture, a clear plan and a 90-day strategy built around exactly what your specific gaps are.

If you scored 12-29: Firstly, well done for being honest enough with yourself to get here. A lot of business owners would have scored themselves higher to avoid facing the gaps, which may have protected their ego but won’t have benefitted their results. The fact that you can see the gaps clearly is actually the most important first step.

Your next steps: Before you build anything new, you need to know exactly what you're working with. Which questions scored lowest, which areas feel most overwhelming and what does the foundation actually look like right now? Don't try to fix everything at once and don't scrap everything either.

If you’d like some support, The Content MOT is ideal for where you are. Expert eyes on your public facing content means you can Optimise for your target audience, building a solid foundation to start from, before you focus your attention on your content strategy.

What to do with what you find

Now you’ve completed the audit, it’s time to take action. Based on your answers, write down a list of actions for yourself, grouping them into three categories: quick wins, 30 day goals and 90 day goals.

Quick wins like tweaking your bio can be done in an hour, whereas things like updating your pinned posts or optimising your highlights will take a few days/weeks. Overhauling your entire content strategy will naturally take longer, and that’s ok. You don’t need to change all the things in one go. In fact, it’s actually better to tweak things slowly so you can attribute your results to specific changes you made.

Trust me when I say I know how it feels to want to see results yesterday. I’m highly impatient and hate having to wait to see what works, but if you’re serious about a long term strategy and social media that makes you sales, it’s honestly worth the wait.

If one of your 30 or 90 day goals is getting clearer on what to actually post, this will help.

When to do it yourself versus when to get expert eyes

Learning how to audit your own social media is a valuable skill to have. It’s always worth knowing your own content before someone else looks at it, and developing a deep understanding of what you’re doing and why you’re doing it.

That being said, there are limits on how clearly you can see your own work. When you’re so deeply connected to something, it can be hard to look at things objectively, or spot patterns when you zoom out. Being familiar with something can blind you to things that a stranger will see immediately.

Have you ever proofread a post two, three, even four times, only to publish it on the grid and notice a letter missing or a word doubled up? It’s because you’re so close to it. The same thing can happen when you’re auditing your content or creating your content strategy.

That’s why I offer The Content MOT, a public-facing audit from someone with (nearly) a decade of experience optimising social media profiles for businesses. By auditing your social media profile through the lens of your dream client, I can instantly spot the gaps between where you are and where you want to be.

Gramps never let me drive away without knowing everything was ticking along as it should. And The Content MOT is how I can make sure your profile and content are working for you as the foundation of your content strategy.

Book your profile in for its Content MOT here

Questions answered in this blog post:

How do I audit my social media for my business?

Start with your profile and bio: does it immediately tell a stranger who you are and what you do? Then review your last 12-16 posts and ask what purpose each one served. Check your engagement quality, not just the numbers. Then look at your analytics to understand what's performing and why. And finally, can you attribute any recent sales to your social media channels? The goal isn't to judge what you find but to understand it clearly enough to build an honest picture of what you're working with before you build your content strategy.

How often should I audit my social media? Quarterly. This is often enough to catch things before they become bigger problems, not so often that you're constantly second-guessing yourself or tweaking the strategy before it’s had time to work. Auditing always comes before building a new strategy. In The Robin Method™, Review and Optimise always come before Build.

What should a social media audit include?

A thorough review of your profile, bio, link in bio, last 12-16 posts, engagement quality, analytics and whether you can attribute sales to your social media channel. Beyond the numbers, the most valuable part of an audit is asking whether your content is actually representing your business accurately, and whether a dream client landing on your page today would immediately know they're in the right place. The goal is to attract the right people and repel the wrong people.

What's the difference between a self-audit and a professional one?

A self-audit is a valuable starting point but has limits: you're too close to your own content to always see what a stranger sees. A professional audit (like The Content MOT) brings outside perspective, pattern recognition from working across multiple businesses and an honest assessment of what's working, that familiarity can make it hard to see yourself.