Final Analysis of The Journal: A Social Media Audit
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Journal has an established online presence with a website and accounts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. However, audience engagement is low and social media is being underutilized. This report serves to (1) assess The Journal’s current online activity and identify strengths and weaknesses and (2) recommend strategies to increase audience engagement and online traffic.
The results of the following analysis show that The Journal creates quality content but does not post consistently on social media or encourage audience interaction.
As a result of this review and assessment, we make the following recommendations:
1. Create content that inspires audience response.
2. Implement strategies to increase consistency across platforms.
3. Ensure all platforms are user friendly.
INTRODUCTION
Founded in 1873, The Journal is a “student-run newspaper at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada” (About Us) that publishes a weekly print edition and regular online content. The Journal aims to reach current and prospective students, families, and Kingston residents. The Journal engages with its audience via a website and social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. This report analyzes The Journal’s internet and social media activity, discusses strengths and weaknesses, and makes recommendations for improvement.
BACKGROUND
According to Lyfe Marketing, “63% of consumers who search for businesses online are more likely to become consumers of brands with an established social media presence” (Why an Effective Social Media Marketing Strategy is Important). However, social media use does not guarantee improved sales or increased traffic. Attractive design, audience engagement, quality content, and consistent activity affect the impact social media will have. Ultimately, “when done effectively, social media marketing can lead to more customers, more traffic, and more engagement” (Why an Effective Social Media Marketing Strategy is Important).
METHODOLOGY
The following discussion will address: (1) design; (2) engagement; (3) content; and (4) consistency. The primary recommendation of this report refers to the implementation of strategies designed to provide quality content and increase traffic to The Journal’s website and Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram platforms. The website has been critiqued to determine social media accessibility, content quality, and design appeal.
Data regarding social media use has been collected by monitoring activity on three platforms to determine the number of posts generated by The Journal and how many reactions, shares, and comments each post inspired. This activity was monitored from Sunday, March 17, 2019 to Saturday, March 23, 2019.
The Imprint was also analyzed and results were compared with those of The Journal.
Recommendations for improvement will be based on the data presented in the results.
RESULTS
DESIGN
Website
The website offers written and visual content which is organized into subsections including Features, Editorials, and Opinions, and can be navigated using the search bar.
The logo is prominently displayed.
Facebook, Twitter & Instagram
The Journal’s logo is displayed on the homepage. Facebook and Twitter have an identical cover photo inviting users to follow them on their other social media platforms.
ENGAGEMENT
Website
Each article has share buttons for a list of platforms including Facebook and Twitter. There is no button that links to the Instagram account on the website or articles.
When users search “The Journal”, the website is in the top three results on the first page, strongly indicating effective search engine optimization (What is SEO and How Does it Work?). The Journal lacks backlinks from outside sources except Instagram.
Facebook, Twitter, & Instagram
The Journal has a strong base of social media followers (see Table 1) and typically responds to Facebook messages within a day. There is an email address and a link to the website on Facebook.
Several articles posted to the Facebook page draw comments and spark conversations, but The Journal has not contributed to the conversation following the initial post. Posts on all three social media platforms are primarily informative and support the articles posted on the website. They are formal, discouraging audience engagement. Between March 17 and 23, The Journal posted to social media 67 times, garnering 439 reactions, 61 shares, and 31 comments (see table 2).
The Journal does not ask questions or invite feedback on any of its platforms, despite email links and a suggestion button. Posts left by followers receive no response.
CONTENT
Website
Website content is current, varied (see Table 3), and relevant to the target audience. Material is well written and edited, and accompanied by quality photography.
Facebook, Twitter, & Instagram
Facebook and Twitter are updated irregularly with content identical to that which is found on the website. Clicking on the social media posts opens the articles on the website, thus increasing traffic. The social media posts are informational, lack personality, and do not encourage interaction. The Journal does not publish interactive posts like contests, giveaways, and polls.
CONSISTENCY
Website
The website content is updated regularly; most articles are published each Friday of the month, and additional articles are published throughout the week.
Facebook, Twitter & Instagram
Branding – the logo, cover photo, and description – is consistent across all platforms. Activity and frequency vary, and the Instagram account has been inactive since October 26, 2018. Table 4 shows the frequency of activity on The Journal’s Twitter and Facebook pages during the week of March 17-23.
DISCUSSION
Strengths
The Journal has created a website that is regularly updated and ranks high in terms of SEO. The content is informative, well written, and relevant. Every article provides buttons to share to various platforms and the website is easy to navigate.
The Journal’s social media accounts have thousands of followers, increasing the potential for traffic back to the website. Each platform encourages followers to follow the other accounts and to visit the website.
Branding is consistent across the website, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Weaknesses
Audience engagement is low across social media. The Journal has a total of 11 843 followers on Facebook and Twitter and between March 17 and March 23, there were 69 posts and 531 engagements (see Table 2). Therefore, each post received 7.7 interactions (reactions, shares, and comments). Given the number of followers on these platforms, only .07 percent engage with each post.
Social media activity differs on all of The Journal’s pages. There has been no activity on Instagram since October, and as Table 4 outlines, there were no posts made on Facebook and Twitter between March 19 and March 21. However, on March 22, The Journal posted to Facebook 16 times and tweeted 28 times.
The content produced by The Journal lacks personality and is not engaging its audience. Posts inform but do not inspire interaction. The Journal does not respond to comments.
RECOMMENDATIONS
According to Forbes, consistency is key when posting social media content and it is important to determine your goals (Patel). While posting more frequently may decrease post engagement, it may increase website traffic. The CoSchedule blog recommends posting to Facebook once daily, Twitter fifteen times daily, and Instagram one to two times daily (Ellering).
The University of Waterloo Imprint has increased its engagement by posting contests, student content, and polls. As Table 5 shows, such content accounted for 81% of The Imprint’s engagement on Facebook between March 17 and March 23.
The following recommendations are being made:
1. Determine the purpose of social media posts and schedule their frequency accordingly.
2. Create content that encourages interaction such as polls and contests.
3. Monitor activity from followers and respond to comments promptly.
4. Link the website to the Instagram account, update the content regularly, or delete the account.
5. Facebook generates more response from followers. Focus on building that platform.
6. Add a vision statement to the website’s About Us page (Charlton).