How Real Estate Agents Can Conduct a Social Media Audit

By now, most agents have a social media presence. However, these days, it’s not enough to simply have social media accounts. You need to have accounts that work for you. As for how to find out how well your accounts are working, it’s probably time to perform a social media audit.

If you’ve been thinking about doing an audit — or even if you’ve never heard of one before — you’re in the right place. We’ll explain what a social media audit is, how the process works, and why you should do one on your profiles. Read on below to learn how taking a few simple steps could help you grow your business.

What is a real estate agent social media audit?

A social media audit is a process of collecting and analyzing data from your social media accounts. Put simply, it’s taking an in-depth look at your accounts and your posting strategy to find out what works for your business. However, it’s also important to look at what doesn’t isn’t working so you can determine the best new direction to take.

Performing a social media audit is a lot like creating a budget for the first time. First, you’re required to take a realistic look at where your time and money is being spent. Then, you have to research which areas might be better served by that investment. In either case, you need to be honest with yourself about the good and bad portions of the analysis.

Why you need to audit your profiles

These days, social media is everywhere and it’s only getting bigger. In fact, rather than being driven by traditional ads, a recent study by NewsCred found that 62% of millennials feel that online content is what’s driving their sense of brand loyalty.

With those figures in mind, if you want to stand out from the crowd, it’s absolutely crucial that you get your brand in order. Doing a social media audit is one way to hone in on your brand’s message and to make sure that you’re putting the right type of content out to your followers.

However, even if you’re not into “building a brand”, you still need to have a functional social media strategy for lead generation. The National Association of Realtors (NAR)’s 2019 Real Estate in the Digital Age report found that social media was the go-to source for lead generation among agents and that is unlikely to change anytime soon.

How to conduct a social media audit as a real estate agent

Now that you’ve covered what a social media audit is and why you need to do one, the next step is to get into how to conduct one of your own. Follow these steps to start auditing your accounts:

Make sure all your accounts are on-brand

Before you can get into the nitty-gritty of measuring analytics, take some time to make sure that all of your accounts are on-brand. Check to ensure that you’re using all of your current logos and profile pictures. Plus, you should also verify that all of the contact information listed on your accounts is correct and that your posts maintain the same voice and tone.

On the off-chance that you’re starting from scratch, don’t try to take over every social media platform at once. Doing so is just a recipe for disaster. Instead, choose one or two platforms that you want to master and do your best to keep up with them consistently.

Measure your current results

Next, it’s time to look at the analytics. Most social media platforms have a built-in analytics tool that consumers can use. However, even if technical tools scare you, you can still do this task. In that case, you’ll want to scroll through your profile and make note of the posts that have received the most engagement.

On the other side of the spectrum, you’ll also want to make note of what’s not working. Here, you’ll either want to look at your analytics tool or scroll through your profile to zero in on the types of posts that haven’t performed well.

Check out your competitors

Afterward, you’ll want to take some time to check out your competitors. While you obviously won’t have the chance to look at their analytics, you can still do some research. Start by following a few popular agents on your chosen platforms and pay close attention to the content that they post. Make note of anything that has a particularly high engagement rate.

Then, ask yourself if it’s possible for you to follow a similar strategy. While you’ll obviously want your content to look and feel unique to you, there’s no harm in taking inspiration as long as it isn’t a direct copy.

Test out different strategies

Finally, once you have a few ideas of different types of content to try out, test them on your own pages. Again, you’ll want to keep a close watch on which posts have the most success and which ones don’t go over as well. Over time, your goal should be to hone in on a posting strategy that consistently engages your audience.