After a long cold spell, spring has finally arrived which means it’s time for a long-awaited spring clean.

All those warm winter clothes have to be put away, which means tidying up your storage spaces and cupboards. Inevitably you will stumble across long lost clothes that used to fit, or were fashionable … once! It’s rather satisfying to make way for the new and clear out the rubbish from time to time and the same can be said for your social media accounts.

It’s the perfect time to find out what doesn’t fit and what really isn’t in fashion anymore. This thought works nicely when you apply the same attitude to the social media accounts that you may have been running for a few years, but there are a few things that need to be considered before you start your social spring cleaning.

spring clean social media

Evaluate Your Business Goals

Even before you start to think about your social media channels, look at what you are hoping to achieve with your current business plan. Your goals and aspirations may have changed since you first started using social media so sit down and take a good look at your business. For instance: Has your business grown? Are there more competitors now? Have you changed your original products? Where can you make improvements?

Of course, we are all different, but only you know the goals that are applicable to your business. However, it’s quite easy to find out which of your social media channels which have been driving traffic, discussion and sales. This should you give you a good idea of where to begin when spring cleaning your social media accounts.

  • About You – This is one area that many businesses forget about. Your company description may have been written years ago on your social media profiles, but it has been updated on all your websites, printed materials and promotional items. Ask yourself when was the last time you updated this? Take a look at ALL your online presence and update your current mission statement and brand identity so it’s consistent across all your channels.
  • Find those unused accounts - Did you once use Xanga? Did you fancy the idea of using Tumblr every day? Perhaps you were really excited when Pinterest came along and haven’t used it since last summer? Having accounts that are not used can look as if you don’t care and nothing looks worse than orphaned social media accounts. Remember they still show up in Google, so either delete these accounts or see if they are worth using again properly.
  • Review your design – Are your profile images, backgrounds, avatars & cover photos up-to-date? Make sure your images are optimised to each individual platform and your branding is consistent on all your accounts. Also, make sure you are aware of new layouts that may be available. Google+ for instance allows you to have a larger header image than before, so make use of these changes. Ask your design department to bring your logos and branding up-to-date so that your logos look fresh and work on whichever platform you are using.
  • Discover new social channels – Just because you’ve had platforms that didn’t work for you in the past there are many more to choose from that may suit your business perfectly. Your social media strategy isn’t just about Facebook or Twitter these days! You could try Google+ communities, which are growing in popularity for sharing knowledge around specific industries. You could explore new social video tools such as Vine, or make use of the popular image sharing platforms Pinterest & Instagram which have worked really well for retail brands.
  • Involve everyone – Almost everyone has some kind of social media presence these days, be it a LinkedIn profile or a Twitter account. If you are the social media or marketing department, take a look to see how many other employees are active on social media and encourage them to help out. It’s often easy to pick your marketing department to write most editorial pieces, but maybe you have other employees that might come up with some innovative and interesting personal ideas for your blog. Take the time to check that everyone in your business has the correct branded email signatures with your social media follow/like buttons. The same can be said for promoting your social channels on new business cards.

Find the space for something fresh

It shouldn’t take long to review your objectives to help put the stepping stones in place to aim towards success, so take the time to find out what works, but more importantly, what doesn’t. Your social media spring clean is just the same as tidying up your cupboards at home. If it isn’t fashionable, doesn’t fit anymore or you’re never going to use it again then remove the junk and find the space for something fresh and new.

Article courtesy of Social Media Today