Content Audits: What is it?

You’ve been struggling. You thought that the start of 2021 meant that you would feel more inspired and motivated to create content for your business and social media to get more leads.

You’ve sat in front of your keyboard for what felt like hours pushing your brain to conveyer belt out some kind of idea that will finally get the ball rolling. You know what you want: engagement, leads, and eventually some paying customers (returning customers are best).

Content fatigue is a thing (trust me, I know) but it’s definitely not forever. You have already made the first major step; knowing what you want. So, are you ready to start bringing that wish to life? If you’re reading this and you’re not connecting AT ALL, that’s fine too.

I am going to reveal the first steps to getting you back on track to posting content at a rate that may surprise you ESPECIALLY if you’ve got the dreaded content fatigue with a good old-fashioned content audit.

A content audit means you go through all ideas, posted content, content on standby, even content you have rejected what whatever reason on all platforms (website, blog, social media, emails, streaming platforms, etc) and organizing them all into a massive archive (folders for DAYS). You’ll then go through the analytics you have on previously posted content to determine how well certain content groups performed and what flopped. This will help you begin making your content strategy (I’ll save that giant of a topic for another time).

Seems easy enough, right? Unfortunately, depending on how long you’ve been posting content (or when your last audit was) it can be a tedious task but definitely worth it. Let me explain why.

Audits help determine what content types perform better

What topics, styles, and content types are getting the engagement? What fits the algorithm of social media platforms? The best way to figure this all out is to go through the analytics from all your used platforms and website/blog. Are you creating enough channels for people to reach your content?

The reason why you may not be getting the engagement and reach you want could be for any number of reasons. Maybe you hopped onto a trend too late, you don’t post consistently enough, or your content wasn’t what your audience was looking for (or taking value from).

It’s important to keep all these in mind when getting to your content strategy. But from here you can also build on what content DID get the engagement you wanted (or the highest engagement).

Is your content aligning with your business values and message?

This is a biggie. When you started your business, you had a message which then developed into values. When creating content, consistency is key. Don’t risk confusing your audiences with what you’re all about. Stick to your values and message. If you’re a freelance jewelry designer, you’re not going to be sharing cooking videos (as a basic example).

Any content you publish should be in line with your message. This way the people who followed you for that reason will stick around.

Doing an audit can help establish whether or not your content has swayed from your original message and business values. That way when you go back to your strategy, you’ll know exactly what NOT to do.

Does your content provide any benefit to your audience/potential customers? What is the purpose of your content?

This is a toughie. WE may think that our content provides value and benefits for our audience but the analytics may tell you a different story. On your website analytics, you can see how long someone spent on each page and if that’s a page that is for resources, a blog, or even a media page, you may be able to discern whether or not your content is providing any value.

When conducting your audit, you can start to see what may be seen as useful or valuable to your audience’s time. This could also be determined based on the way people engage with your content such as leaving comments, saving it, sharing, etc.

Once you have completed a successful audit, you should have a fairly good understanding of where you stand in regards to the content for your business. You should have a better idea of what your audience wants, and what content they take value from. It may even result in you knowing where you can recycle content and update where things are outdated.

This is a great step to designing a comprehensive content strategy for your business that can be recycled and adjusted where needed. So, what are you waiting for?

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