A monthly social media review you can do in 30 minutes

Key takeaways

A monthly social media review is a 30-minute check of what happened last month and what to change next month. Answer five questions, check five numbers against your 12-week average and make one change. Review is the part of consistency most businesses skip, and it is the part that stops consistency repeating mistakes.

• 30 minutes, once a month, same day each month.
• 5 questions, 5 numbers and 1 change.
• Compare with a 12-week average, not last month alone.
• Change one thing at a time so you know what worked.
• Write the change down and check it next month.

Why is a monthly review part of consistency?

Because consistency without review repeats whatever you are doing, good or bad. A short monthly review turns steady posting into steady improvement. In the GBL Consistency Scorecard, review is the dimension most businesses score lowest on, and the quickest to fix.

• Why consistency matters more than going viral on social media
• The social media consistency scorecard

What five questions should you answer?

• Did we post on plan every week? If not, why not?
• Which three posts did best on saves, shares or replies, and why?
• Which posts produced enquiries or messages?
• Were all comments and messages answered within one working day?
• What one thing will we change next month?

Which five numbers should you check?

• Enquiries or sales attributed to social media.
• Profile visits or link clicks from your target area.
• Saves plus shares.
• Branded searches from Google Search Console.
• Consistency Scorecard total.

• Vanity metrics on social media and what to track instead

How do you choose the one change?

Pick the change most likely to improve enquiries, based on what the review showed. If a series is outperforming, make more of it. If replies were slow, fix the reply routine. If posting slipped, lower the cadence or build the content bank. One change, written down, checked next month.

What should you avoid?

• Reviewing weekly and overreacting to normal variation.
• Changing several things at once.
• Comparing every month with a viral outlier.
• Reporting only reach and followers.
• Skipping the review in busy months, when it matters most.

• Build a social media reporting dashboard

What does this look like in practice?

A UK nursery group added a 30-minute review on the first Monday of each month. In the first review it noticed its Parent Question series drove most enquiries, so it doubled that series. In the second, it found messages were waiting over a weekend and set up a Saturday check. Enquiries rose steadily over the following quarter.

• See client work

What does a review template look like?

• Posted on plan: 11 of 12 scheduled posts. Missed one in week 3 (illness).
• Top posts by saves and shares: Price Explained, Job of the Week, Team Friday.
• Enquiries mentioning social media: 6 (average 4).
• Replies within one working day: 94%.
• Change for next month: add a second Price Explained post and a Saturday message check.

• The social media consistency scorecard

How should a quarterly review differ?

Every third month, extend the review to an hour and ask bigger questions: are we on the right channels, are the series still working, should the cadence change, and what does the enquiry trend look like over the quarter? Quarterly is the right rhythm for strategic changes; monthly is for small adjustments.

• Share of voice on social media for small businesses
• What is a good follower growth rate?

Next step

Put a recurring 30-minute review in your diary for the first working day of each month and run the first one this week.