By Jessi Russell
Let’s dust off your profiles, assess your goals, and refresh your content strategy. Yep. Even your social media accounts need a dose of spring cleaning.
So, what the heck is spring cleaning for social media (and why should you care)?
Like with your personal life, spring cleaning on social media is about taking time to reevaluate, reorganize, and renew.
It’s easy to get bogged down with the day-to-day tasks of a social media manager. We know how it goes: you create content, post, report, repeat. But, it’s important to analyze whether your efforts are actually paying off annually and to identify areas of improvement.
Here’s how to “spring clean” your social media accounts to deliver a fresh look for your followers and attract new friends, too.
Start with the Basics
Having consistent and current branding across your accounts could be the difference between a potential customer hitting follow/like and leaving your account for good. (Sounds dramatic, but it’s true.) Use this checklist to ensure your accounts represent your brand as it stands today.

• Profile photo: Is an updated photo or current logo in place across your social media channels?
• Cover photo: Again, is your photo fresh and new? Maybe it’s even time to try out a cover video on Facebook.
• About section/bio: Get new followers by updating your profile to express what’s in it for them. Make sure to clearly define what your business does and why your ideal customers should hit the follow button.
• Links: Check that all links are working and there is a clear call to action customers should take once they land on your site.
• Contact information: Confirm all applicable contact fields contain accurate information. This is a biggie since you need an easy way for customers to connect to your team with questions or concerns.
• Pinned Content: If it’s been awhile since you’ve changed your pinned post on Facebook or Twitter (or if you don’t have pinned posts), consider what post best represents the type of content your fans can expect to find on your channels today.
• Bonus points:
  • If you haven’t tried new updates on the platforms, like Instagram story highlights, test whether they make sense for your brand and implement the ones that do.
  • Make sure your bios work with the available updates, too. For example, on Instagram, it’s now possible to link other accounts or hashtags in your bio. But if you haven’t updated your accounts recently, handles and hashtags in your bio may not be clickable.

Reevaluate Your Goals
As your business grows and changes, your business goals are likely to change, too. If they have, you need to adjust your goals for your social media accounts. You want the purpose of your social media efforts to align with your business goals so you can set benchmarks to support them. So, think about what you’re hoping to gain from posting. Is it deeper engagement? New leads? Increased sales? Take thoughtful time to decide, because the goals you choose will affect your content strategy.
Refresh Your Strategy and Social Care Plan
When was the last time you assessed the effectiveness of your social media strategy? Or do you even have a set strategy? Like mentioned above, use your social media goals as your guide. Once benchmarks have been set, create a tangible plan for hitting your goals.
It’s important to determine things like which platforms make the most sense for your business and which types of content will drive the best results. You can take a look at your top three competitors for a competitive analysis, but we also encourage you to consider our top-five tips for social care, which will keep your social media plan on track to reaching your ideal customers.