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Guest post by: Donna Gunter Become an Author

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Social media has been all the rage this year, so it's probably time for you to do a social media audit. This audit will help you determine if you're using the correct social media platforms to reach out to the right people in the right way.

Here's my 7-step method for doing a year-end social media audit:

1. Plan/Strategy: What do you hope to gain by using social media? More clients? More sales? More JV/affiliate partners? Having clear goals in mind helps you better plan your social media marketing strategy for the upcoming year. What techniques worked? What failed miserably? What would you change for the future? Which social media site worked best for you? How did your social media presence grow? Which site sent you the most traffic? How about sales? Which site gave you the most engagement?

2. Connections/Followers: Are you attracting your target market as followers on all of your social media avenues? Are you following the right people and liking the right pages and belonging to the right groups? Do you have an easy way to keep up with the right group of connections for your business?

3. Marketing Connections: Do you have your ezine publication, your blog, your YouTube channel,your Slideshare account, and other social media outlets connected to your primary social networking accounts? Can you share what's happening on one social media site on another? Do you have an easy way for your blog readers, ezine subscribers, or web site visitors to follow you on various social media platforms? Do you regularly add any videos or slideshows you have created to your social media profiles?

4. Profiles/Profile Landing Pages: Are you profiles up-to-date and complete? Do they currently reflect what you do and with whom you work, using your latest USP (Unique Selling Proposition) or tag line? Are you sending visitors to your primary web site, or do you have a profile landing page specifically designed for those visitors? For example, if you're a consultant who specializes in working with both accountants and financial planners, you should have a profile page for both target markets, including two different business pages on Facebook.

Are all of your profile images updated? Do you routinely add new images of yourself as you work with clients, attending live events, go to networking functions? Do you have custom YouTube and Twitter backgrounds that reflect your brand?

5. Engagement and Interaction: How often do you send out status updates? Are they automated or live? Is there a good mix of valuable content to promotions? Are you posting at times when your followers are most likely to read your updates? How often do you actually converse with others? How about reposting useful posts? Do you regularly wish your followers Happy Birthday or Anniversary, and give them recognition for their accomplishments? Do you provide easy ways for followers to repost and share your content? How frequently are your followers reposting and sharing your content?

6. Online Reputation Management: Do you have in place a system or tool that helps you monitor what others are saying about you, your company, and your brand in social media? Staying on top of all mentions of your company in the social media sphere will help you head off negative issues before they arise.

7. Time Management: How much time are you spending on social media each week? Do you need to increase or decrease that amount? Are there portions of your strategy that you can outsource? If so, how is that working out?

Start your social media audit today so that you have better ROI from your social media efforts in the new year!

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