Conducting a Social Media Audit of Your Self-Storage Business: Why and How

As of 2022, more than half of the world's total population regularly logs onto one social media platform or another, according to Statista, which provides marketing and consumer data. Recent statistics from marketing firm GWI reveal that roughly the same amount use social platforms to research the products they purchase.

With so much at stake, you can bet companies that use social media successfully aren't just winging it. Reaching your self-storage customer base requires a plan, and you need to keep tabs on how well it works by performing regular audits to your business’ social media accounts.

What Is a Social Media Audit?

Going through an audit may not sound like your idea of a good time, but the benefits are well worth it. Throughout the process, you'll need to examine your presence across all social media platforms your self-storage business and brand uses. Post by post, you'll determine whether the content is meeting your marketing goals. You’ll also dig into key performance indicators to find out what’s working, what isn’t and what can be improved.

As you examine the full landscape of your social media use, you'll home in on inconsistencies that have crept in over time. Updating your profiles with a unified presence will help give your brand further credibility and authority. And when you complete your audit, you'll have the metrics necessary to expand your reach and inspire increased engagement from your followers and potential customers. If those benefits sound worthwhile, it’s time to look at your social strategy and discover ways to make it better.

Performing the Audit

Before digging into your data, start by optimizing your social media presence across all platforms. Take time to review each channel, feed and website with a fine-tooth comb. Is your branding consistent across every platform and individual piece of content posted or shared online? Is your messaging and company information up-to-date and accurate?

Inconsistency weakens your brand authority. A profile with inaccurate or missing information is traditionally perceived as unprofessional. Even worse, a sloppy social media presence makes your company appear disillusioned, or disengaged from its target market. If you don't give the impression you want to interact with existing or potential customers, it's unlikely they’ll want to spend their time engaging with you. 

Next, define your goals for each platform. They may be different for LinkedIn vs. Instagram, for example. Are you engaging with the platform to grow your audience, acquire new leads, funnel people toward your website or build my brand authority? Once you set measurable objectives, consider the data you’ll need to properly measure success. Open a spreadsheet and list your goals along the top, then add columns for the metrics you’ll use to evaluate progress.

After this, it’ll be time to go to each social media platform and dig into the nitty-gritty. For example, if your objective is to gain a larger audience, jot down your total number of followers and note how many you’ve added and lost since your last audit. Don't forget to analyze demographics to discover the type of people you attract.

If you're bringing in a target audience who likes to read your posts but has no desire to do business with your facility, you need to adjust your marketing strategy. On the other hand, if you want to boost engagement on a platform, look at each post you made and take notes on the shares, likes, saves and comments it garnered. Analyze the demographics of the people interacting with these posts to determine whether you're interacting with the audience you intended to reach.

To boost your engagement on a specific platform, pick your top-performing posts and determine why each attracted attention. If your target followers prefer video, give them more clips. If they comment on your thought-provoking blog posts, write and share more of those. Find what resonates with your audience and do more of it, bearing in mind that what works well on one platform isn’t guaranteed to be successful on another.

Once you've evaluated your marketing efforts on each social platform, you'll be able to see where to focus and how to improve results. If you have one that isn't performing well for your self-storage business, you have two choices: You can cut your losses, disengage with that profile and focus your efforts where they'll be more successful; or you can study a competitor who’s getting more favorable results and find out what's working. It’s possible that simply changing up your content or tone will attract and engage more followers.

Updating Your Social Strategy

After you've conducted your audit, reap the benefits by updating your social media strategy. You should have come away with clear, measurable actions that’ll bring you closer to your goals. Depending on what you’ve discovered, some improvements include:

The data you’ve mined will give you clear direction for your self-storage marketing plan. If you’re able to analyze your social media platforms on a routine schedule, you’ll keep your online presence consistent and your goals on track.

Alaina Chiappone is a publicist at Otter PR in St. Petersburg, Florida. She earned a bachelor’s degree in public relations from the University of Florida. Previously, she worked in corporate communications, public affairs, social media and digital marketing. Her clients have included the fashion, wellness, music, hospitality, fintech and healthcare industries.