Spring cleaning probably brings to mind a mountain of laundry and visions of an organized junk drawer. But spring cleaning can apply to your social media accounts, as well! Your business is constantly changing, even in the most unnoticeable ways. But these small changes can leave a lot of outdated information on your social profiles.
It’s smart to schedule quarterly “maintenance” on your social media profiles so that information is never too out of date. Before you begin, you should make sure you know exactly where you’re looking. Make a list of all your social accounts, even ones you aren’t active on. Include email addresses and website URLs in this list. We’ll cover them, too. As a safety check, Google your business to see if there are any surprises, and if you see fake accounts, incorrect listings, or anything else, make a note.
When you’re ready to get started, get out a pen or highlighter and cross off these items as you go along:
Facebook:
- Is your profile photo an accurate depiction of your brand – typically a logo or photo of your storefront?
- Have you been swapping out your cover photo monthly? This should be a part of your usual social maintenance
- Do all your photos have captions, including your profile and cover photo?
- Are you posting AT LEAST several times per week? If not, try to schedule out some posts
- Do you have the blue call-to-action button enabled on your page and is the link correct?
- Are your hours correct?
- Is your address correct?
- Have you listed the parking options at your business?
- Have you provided customers with an email address?
- Is the map enabled on your page?
- Is your phone number correct?
- Do you list your website and is it linking over correctly?
- Do you have both the “More Info” and “Story” sections filled out, complete with keywords such as current brands you carry, types of products you carry and your location?
- Do you have the right template selected? Facebook now allows you to choose from regular, business, shopping, service, venue, politician and restaurant templates within settings
- On the “Video” tab, are you featuring your top or most recent video?
- If you are running any ongoing ads, are the graphics and text up to date?
- Do all the tabs on the left side of you page link correctly?
- If you have an email list, do you have a tab where people can sign up?
- Are you regularly responding to questions and comments? Don’t leave anything unanswered
- If you have a group for your page, is all the group information correct?
- Have you been approving people into your group?
Pinterest:
- Is your website listed in your bio?
- Is your location listed in your bio?
- Does your bio properly summarize your business?
- Does your profile photo match your Facebook profile photo, or is it a logo or storefront?
- Are you regularly following Pinterest users, including ones who follow you?
- Have you set your featured boards (You may choose up to 5)?
- If you’ve created cover images for your boards, are they all displayed?
- Are all your boards relevant to your business and are you regularly pinning to each of them?
- Are most of your pins sending people directly to your website, Facebook Page, blog, etc?
- Have you pinned any pins from vendor websites that send customers directly to them? Be sure to fix them to go to your website
- Are the images you are pinning branded to your company?
- Are the images you are pinning optimized in size (735 px wide x 1102 px tall)?
- Are you regularly responding to questions and comments? Don’t leave anything unanswered
Instagram:
- Do you have your account set up as a business (You’ll see a business type listed under your name)?
- Is your business type correct?
- Does your bio properly sum up your business?
- Do you have your website/blog/Facebook Page listed?
- Do you have your location listed?
- If there is room, do you have your phone number listed within your bio?
- Does your profile photo match your Facebook profile photo, or is it a logo or storefront?
- Are you updating several times per week to several times per day?
- Are you using hashtags in your photo and video descriptions?
- Do you have your call to action buttons enabled and are the links correct?
- Are you regularly following users?
- Are you regularly responding to questions and comments? Don’t leave anything unanswered
Twitter (*Note: Many retailers have told us that they are not seeing results from Twitter. If you’re not seeing results either, it might be time to focus more of your energy on other networks where more of your audience is.):
- Have you updated your header photo recently?
- Does your profile photo match your Facebook profile photo, or is it a logo or storefront?
- Is your website listed?
- Does your bio properly sum up your business?
- Are you regularly responding to questions and comments? Don’t leave anything unanswered
- Do your tweets include hashtags?
Multiple Location Accounts:
- Is the name of your business consistent across all accounts?
- Is the branding of your graphics consistent across all accounts?
- On Facebook, does your description include information about your other locations?
- Is the content on each page unique (It can be similar, but each page should have unique posts)?
Additional Considerations:
- Do you have the same username across all social platforms? This is great for brand recognition.
- Do you regularly cross-promote your social accounts – sending people to Instagram from Facebook and to Pinterest from Instagram?
- Do any print materials you have include the right links for your website and social accounts?
- Is your business information correct in online listings like Yelp and Yellow Pages? You may need to claim your business to fix the information.
BONUS: Website and Email:
- Does your website have a contact page or place to contact you?
- Do you have your address listed?
- Do you have your phone number listed?
- Do you have an email address listed (Even if you have a contact form, in case there is an error)?
- Are all your social accounts listed?
- Is your website copy accurate?
- Have you updated your photos recently?
- Is your branding consistent across all your platforms, from website to social?
- Do all the links on your website work?
- Do your email signature and your employees’ email signatures contain the correct address, phone number, hours, etc. for the store?
- Can you delete email addresses of past employees?
Congratulations! Your spring cleaning is done… at least on social media. Mark your calendar to check these items off again next quarter. Don’t wait until next spring!
We’re curious, how often do you currently do a full check of your social media? Tell us in the comments below!
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