As another chaotic year draws to a close, it’s tempting to put your foot on the gas to get to your fresh start more quickly, leaving all the baggage in the rearview mirror.

But while it’s good to keep your eyes on the road ahead, it’s sometimes easier to figure out where you’re going only when you get clear on where you’ve been.

Reflecting on the past 12 months can help you prepare a robust strategy for the year ahead.

And this is especially important for your social media.

Spending time on a social media review is a great way to wrap up the year. If you’d like to know how to conduct your own, this blog is for you. Let’s hit the road!

WHY YOU NEED AN END OF YEAR SOCIAL MEDIA REVIEW

What is a Social Media Review, and Why Should You Do One?

Let’s face it; marketing can sometimes feel like a bit of a guessing game. But the more we understand our analytics and use the data to tweak our strategy, the more purposeful and effective it becomes.

A social media review is an opportunity to look over all your metrics and identify what went well and what didn’t.

Ideally, you already track and analyse your social data throughout the year, but even so, a year-end social media review is an excellent idea. It gives you a broader overview of where your time and energy was well spent, what your most successful campaigns were, and how your engagement fluctuated month by month.

Then you can take all that precious data you’ve mined during your review and build it into your strategy for next year.

How To Conduct Your End Of Year Social Review

It can be helpful to use a template to record your social media review data, but that’s entirely up to you.

Bear in mind that this info can be used for years to come to compare the growth of your business and the success of your marketing strategy, so the easier it is to understand and access, the more valuable it will be.

1. Review Your Objectives

Did you start last year off with some clear objectives for your social strategy? If so, now is an excellent time to dust them off. Your social media review can show you growth and engagement over the year, but it can only really tell you if you’ve been successful if you have specific targets to measure against.

Were you trying to increase brand awareness, generate more leads and sales, or grow your audience? Perhaps you had different objectives for different platforms.

Make sure to record these objectives at the beginning of your social media review, so you don’t forget about them.

2. Ask the Right Questions

Social analytics contain a ton of data. This can be confusing if you’re not sure what you’re looking for, so start your social media review by noting down the questions that are most relevant for your business, such as:

●        How many brand mentions have you had – and on what channels?

●        Which channels had the most engagement this year?

●        What content type has the most engagement? (videos, faqs, photos etc.)

●        What subjects created the most engagement?

●        Did any of your partners or collaborators share your content?

●        If you ran competitions or promos, did they result in increased followers, referrals or sales?

●        Which social channels drove more traffic to your website?

●        Which social platforms resulted in more sales?

3. Create Your Analytic Reports

When doing your end of year social media review, it’s a good idea to simplify things by looking at the data channel by channel instead of mixing them all together.

However, for this stage of the process, you can jump online and generate your analytic reports all at once. That way, you’re batching your tasks and can settle down to review the data.

Tools such as Hootsuite or Sprout Social make this part easier by gathering all your data in one spot, but if not, you can still access the info by heading to the analytics tools for each social platform.

If you’re used to looking at your metrics, you should know your way around – if not, this is the perfect time to figure it out so you can start getting into good habits for next year!

4. Dig Into Your Demographics

It’s vital to know who you’re reaching on each platform so you can prioritise the channels where your target audience spends time.

Record things like age, gender, and location for each, and see if you need to make adjustments in the coming year to help you reach your ideal customers.

5. Identify Your Top Performing Posts

While the overarching data behind demographics is valuable, take time to drill down into individual posts, too.

Look at impressions (or views), engagements, and reach. Note down what kind of posts received the best response. Was it informational or educational based? Was it a popular meme or a BHS video? Maybe it was a question-based post or a collab post.

6. Compare Your Website Data

Many business owners use their social platforms to drive people to their website, so it’s a great idea to compare your site analytics to the data from your social channels.

Do the months of highest engagement on your socials coincide with increased website traffic? Are there any unexpected fluctuations or mismatches between the two? This data can help you determine if your socials are doing what you want them to do effectively.

7. Plan for Next Year

A social media review may feel like a bit of a drag when you’re trying to wind down for the year. But the information you pluck from it can be an absolute goldmine.

Look closely, and you’ll be able to identify which platforms gave you the best return on investment, what days of the week (and times of day) gave you the best engagement, and which content resonated with your audience.

This info is your secret weapon to nail your social marketing in the year ahead. And if you need help putting a strategy in place to maximise the return from your social channels, book a time to chat with me now.