This is a copy of the social media audit assignment I have my students complete. The class is a university level strategic social media class. The students use Meltwater and other software to conduct the assignment. You can read more about this assignment on my blog, MattKushin.com. Search: "Using Meltwater for a Social Media Audit Assignment in Social Media Class."

1. Com
322:
Social
Media
Matthew
J.
Kushin,
PhD
|
Shepherd
University
Group
ProjectGroup
Project:
:
Social
Media
AuditSocial
Media
Audit
ReportReport
Overview
Due:
See
Syllabus
%
of
Total
Grade:
See
Syllabus
Turning
In:
1
person
in
team
uploads
1
copy
to
Assignments
on
Sakai
in
MS
Word
Compatible
format
Overview
You
will
conduct
a
social
media
audit
of
Shepherd
University’s
Comm
Department
AND
a
similar
department
to
Shepherd
University’s
Comm
Dept.
Try
to
analyze
all
of
their
existing
social
media
–
but
if
they
have
a
ton
of
channels,
just
pick
3.
E.g.,
Twitter,
Facebook,
YouTube.
Useful
Materials:
§ To
complete
this
assignment,
you
should
have
completed
the
Meltwater
training
videos
available
in
the
help
section
of
your
Meltwater
account
(image
of
where
these
are
at
bottom
of
this
assignment).
o Access
your
team’s
Meltwater
account:
http://Meltwater.com/login.
§ Social
Media
Audit
Guide
Questions
(at
bottom
of
this
assignment).
§ Recommended
social
media
audit
student
example
on
Sakai
(which
you
should
read
in
full!).
§ Additional
audit
examples:
National
Farm
to
School
Network
|
Hult
Center
for
the
Performing
Arts
|
Asbury
Design
Consultancy
Organization
of
Paper
1. Organization
Overview
–
1-­‐2
paragraphs
so
we
know
who
you’re
writing
about.
2. Methods
section
–
1-­‐2
paragraphs
telling
us
what
tools
you
used
to
do
your
analysis
(e.g.,
socialmention,
Klout)
3. Social
Media
Audit
–
Use
the
questions
from
Part
1
of
the
“Guide
Questions”
at
bottom
of
this
document.
a. Compare
ShepComm
and
another
Department.
4. Communication
Audit
-­‐
Use
questions
from
Part
2
of
the
“Guide
Questions”
at
the
bottom
of
this
document.
a. Compare
ShepComm
and
another
Department.
5. Recommendations
&
Discussion
§ In
consideration
of
what
you
found,
what
conclusions
can
you
draw
about
how
SU
Comm
Dept’s
could
use
social
media
for
the
social
media
platform
you
chose?
What
recommendations
do
you
have?
How
can
they
improve?
§ Back
up
your
claims
by
citing
all
references
in
text
(such
as
to
recommendations.
Ex:
If
you
recommend
they
post
3
times
per
hour
on
Twitter,
why?
What
is
your
source
for
this
recommendation?
–
maybe
it
is
discussed
in
Likeable
Social
Media
or
the
other
class
text.
Maybe
it
is
based
on
things
other
universities
are
doing
well.
Maybe
you
need
to
do
some
web
searching
–
there
is
a
lot
online
on
this
sort
of
thing!)
Additional
Requirements
1) Cover
Page
–
Cover
page
with
title
of
report
and
team
member
names.
2) Length
–
Body
should
be
about
3-­‐4
pages
of
text
double-­‐spaced
(NOT
including
images,
graphs,
etc).
3) Visuals
–
use
screen
grabs
of
their
social
media,
create
graphs
or
charts
to
communicate
complex
information,
such
as
numbers,
or
comparisons.
4) Formatting
–
Use
headers
to
organize
your
paper
into
sections.
5) Citations
–
All
references
to
external
material
must
be
linked
to
(using
embedded
URLs).
6) Reference
list
-­‐
A
list
at
the
end
of
the
document
of
any
additional
readings
or
sources,
including
the
URLs
to
their
social
media
sites.
7) Write
paper
as
an
essay
–
You
can
use
bullet
points
for
any
lists.
Grading
Criteria
§ A
Professional
quality
of
writing
§ Organization,
Structure
&
flow
of
paper
§ Thoroughness
of
Review
&
addressing
of
questions
§ Recommendations
based
on
sound
reasoning
&
evidence
relying
on
credible
external
sources
(e.g.,
sources)
§ Links
to
sources.
Reference
list.

2. Com
322:
Social
Media
Matthew
J.
Kushin,
PhD
|
Shepherd
University
Social
media
Audit
Guide
Questions
PART
I.
Organization’s
Social
Media
Overview
1. Voice
&
Style
It
is
important
to
note
the
style
or
tone
(for
example,
are
they
playful,
serious,
positive,
funny,
relaxed,
etc.)
the
organization
uses
on
their
social
media.
This
is
conveyed
through
text
in
the
posts,
profile
description,
and
other
social
content.
It
is
also
conveyed
visually
through
color
schemes,
profile
photos
&
graphics,
images
shared,
etc.
• Is
the
organization
consistent
with
how
it
portrays
itself
visually
and
textually
across
social
platforms?
o Best
way
to
do:
Go
to
their
social
media
account
or
blog
and
check
it
out.
o Look
at
the
last
dozen
or
two
dozen
posts.
2. Social
Media
Publicity
• Look
over
their
website/blog.
Do
they
mention
their
social
media
presence?
If
so,
how?
Is
a
link
present?
• Are
they
driving
traffic
between
their
website
and
social
media
sites?
(e.g.,
do
they
link
to
their
FB
page
on
their
website?
Look
over
their
twitter
posts
–
are
they
mentioning
their
Facebook?
).
In
what
ways?
3. Stats
/
Measurement
• Unfortunately
we
don’t
have
access
to
their
traffic
stats.
Most
of
this
info
you
can
get
by
looking
at
their
page
(how
many
likes
for
their
Facebook
page,
followers
on
Instagram,
Twitter,
Pinterest,
etc,
and
other
similar
stats
can
you
find?)
These
may
add
some
extra
insight:
o Instagram:
iconosquare.com
(click
Statistics)
|
http://simplymeasured.com/free-­‐social-­‐media-­‐tools
o Twitter:
Followerwonk.com
(create
free
account
w/
your
Twitter.
click
analyze
followers)
|
http://www.tweetstats.com/
|
http://tweetchup.com/
|http://simplymeasured.com/free-­‐social-­‐media-­‐tools
o Facebook
–
if
competitors
have
a
FB
Page:
http://simplymeasured.com/free-­‐social-­‐media-­‐tools
or
http://www.fanpagekarma.com/
§ Note:
ShepComm’s
Facebook
page
group
stats
may
not
be
available
to
you
because
you’re
not
an
administrator.
Dr.
K
can
pull
them
up
for
you.
Just
ask
him.
o LinkedIn
&
others|
http://simplymeasured.com/free-­‐social-­‐media-­‐tools
o Blogs
–
difficult
because
don’t
have
access
to
their
Google
Analytics.
Unless
they
post
their
followers,
focus
on:
#
of
posts
in
a
given
time
period
(week
/
month),
#
of
comments
posts
are
getting,
and
any
other
stats
that
jump
out
at
you.
PART
2.
Conversation
Analysis
This
is
a
key
component
of
your
social
media
audit.
It
is
a
look
at
the
conversation
going
on
around
the
brand.
1. What
are
they
talking
about?
• Look
through
some
of
their
social
media
posts.
What
are
the
sorts
of
things
this
client
seems
to
post
about?
2. Who
are
they
talking
to?
• http://Followerwonk.com
should
offer
a
look
at
who
they
interact
with
on
Twitter
3. Who
talks
about
them?
• If
you
don’t
already
have
one,
create
a
“monitor”
dashboard
in
Meltwater
for
a
search
for
their
account
username
(ex:
“@shepcomm”)
and
then
create
a
widget
for
“top
posters.”
4.
What
is
being
said
about
them?
• Use
the
“monitor”
dashboard
you
created
in
#3
that
is
a
search
of
their
social
accounts
(ex:
“@shepcomm’”)
and
their
brand
(ex:
“Shepherd
University”)
to
look
at
mentions
of
brand
&
social
accounts
on
your
team’s
Meltwater
account.
Identify
examples
that
exemplify
the
conversation
about
them.
5. How
often
are
they
getting
mentions
in
the
past
several
months?
• Create
a
widget
in
your
“monitor”
dashboard
that
shows
social
media
mentions
across
time
to
identify
peaks.
Can
you
find
a
reason
for
this?
6. Are
the
mentions
positive
/
negative
/
neutral?
• Look
at
the
sentiment
dashboard
in
Meltwater
for
the
search
you
set
up
for
them
(ex:
“Shepherd
University”
“@ShepherdU”
etc.)
• #Hashtags
–
Search
twitter.com/search
to
determine
any
Hashtags
associated
with
brand?
Create
a
new
meltwater
search
for
those
hashtags.
Appendix:
Finding
the
Meltwater
Training
Videos