Why Your Business Needs a Content Audit

Do you know the last time that your business conducted a content audit? The vast majority of organizations have very few content audits in their lifetime, with many never engaging in the process at all.

So what are the benefits of conducting a content audit?

Content audits are an effective tool in assessing and improving the inner workings of a business’ content. Being a proactive technique means that the method does not gather the amount of attention and significance that it should arguably receive, though it is a highly effective method when used correctly.

So what will I gain from a content audit, I hear you asking; well let’s start with the content audit process itself.

Choosing the area and variables

When devising a content audit, it is very beneficial to focus on a particular area, or set of variables that you wish to audit and study, as otherwise the data received may not be in-depth enough for you to draw solid conclusions.

An example of choosing an area could be conducting an audit on all current policy documents to ensure that they are relevant and up-to-date. Alternatively, your organization may find it more valuable to perform a content audit based on social media articles posted, compiling each subject with the number of comments, views and other parameters that mark its effectiveness.

Both types of content audits are extremely useful for different reasons. Auditing your internal documents is integral for solid governance and reliability within the organization, whereas knowing which of your outward marketing is most successful is also essential for the business.

Without conducting a content audit you will have no clear way of knowing the procedures and processes that you may doing wrong. It also helps to shed light on how to improve your content creation process.

Assess your current content status

Whether you are analyzing internal content, such as policies and procedures, or outward content such as online marketing, knowing your current status is crucial.

A content audit, when successfully conducted by a professional and experienced company, will allow you to gain a vast amount of information which you can then analyze, draw conclusions from and use to improve your future content.

Analyze the data for improvements

Once you have the content audit information, the next stage is to analyze the data in order to draw conclusions from the audit.

If there is an area of the business where policy documents are continually erroneous, or out-of-date, for example, then you can pinpoint the area for improvement. Likewise, if you are posting blogs on a certain subject which is receiving a great deal of attention, then this may be a topic to continue writing about in future content.

Final word

Whether you are looking to conduct a thorough content audit on a vast number of parameters, or if you are hoping to focus on one particular area for improvement, they are an incredibly helpful tool that can be utilized to add focus to your content strategy and increase its effectiveness.