Social Media Audit: Understanding and Implementation
One of the biggest challenges I see for nonprofits as they engage in social media activities is what seems to be a loss of common sense when it comes to process and systems behind the efforts. Imagine if one of your program staff said
Everyone would think they were mad and it would never happen. Yet this is the norm for many organizations right now. Simply Scary."I want to start a new program even though our budget is shrinking. I have no real goals for it and have no way of telling you what the benefit to us might be. Oh and one last thing, I don't think we need to allocate any of our time, staff or budget to support it."
Accessing the Processes and Systems
Every day I work to help organizations begin to better understand that big or small, the way to achieving real success in social media is about being strategic. So knowing how the new feature in Facebook works is not as important as know why you would need it and how you could use it first. So I began to develop a tool that would help organizations access and evaluating their current level of activity as it relates to a number of best practices in regards to social media.
In essence I worked from the foundation of a general communications audit tool and modified it so that it would work for use with social media. At it most basic level the Social Media Audit looks at two elements for assessment purposes. The level of maturity for the the organization's practices and a range of best practice areas related to social media.
Process Maturity Scale
Below is a breakdown of the maturity scale and a brief description of each step in the scale. The idea is to show an increase thoughtfulness, integration and overall adoption of the practice within the organization.
The Matrix
The matrix is a way of listing out all of the best practice areas in a way that allows you to then score each according to the process maturity scale.
Completed Matrix
Aside from the data, there are a number of valuable insights you can gain from the completed matrix.
- You get a nice visual of your overall score
- Trends are able to be identified within specific focus areas
- Opportunities (not failures) are easily identified to help adjust to realistic expectations
- Relationship between focus areas should become more evident making it easier to prioritize recommendations in the report
Moving Ahead
Once the matrix has been completed the next step is to generate a report that is an explanation and reasoning for the current situation and make recommendations for moving ahead. It is important to remember that this is not about getting a passing or failing grade. An audit is not about evaluating things as good or bad, but rather clarifying the current reality.
My hope is that organizations find value in this tool as a way to build strong foundations in systems and process to support strategic efforts. It should also provide a valuable way to manage appropriate expectations around the adage of "You get out what you put in". If your organization is putting an "Ad Hoc" effort into your social media efforts you should not be surprised to find you are getting "Ad Hoc" results.
I would greatly appreciate any feedback in the comments if people think this tool may be useful, what other audit type tools you use or general reactions.
This article is meant to be a general preview of this new assessment tool I have been working on. If you would like to get a full copy of the Social Media Audit Brief and Working docs you can download the files below or by visiting the NPower NW website
Article republished on the NPower NW Blog
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