I know what you’re thinking – AUDITING?!
Right, but not a financial audit, a social media audit – it’s different! Social media audits examine network accounts of different company brands. And the reasoning behind them is to find opportunities to raise engagement, resulting in better sell-through with products or services.
Within the last week, I performed a social media audit for HomeGoods. Who doesn’t love HomeGoods – it’s always restocked with trendy, cost-effective home items that are hard to pass up. However, although they have such a great in-store experience, they aren’t quite as well driven on the digital side.
Here are the social media accounts HomeGoods takes advantage of:
They also have a LinkedIn page, but I didn’t include it here as it doesn’t pertain to product engagement (it also has the lowest follower count at 7,927 followers).
Most HomeGoods social media accounts don’t have a lot of traction – few posts, and low engagement. After reviewing the social media audit I made of these accounts, it’s prevalent that HomeGoods could expand their presence and engagement.
Deeper Dive into Three Social Media Accounts
While HomeGoods doesn’t have an excellent post-per-week schedule (with an average of half of a post per week) on their Facebook page, it does have many followers at 3.2mil. The average of those followers are also within a good age range to be the company’s ideal audience, as home buyers, renters, etc.
Because the posting is at a low rate, the interaction is also lacking. Each post averages at about 100 likes, and for 3.2 million followers with 12 posts in the last six months – that is not a lot.
It’s not very surprising to see that HomeGoods activity is larger on their Instagram than all other platforms. The follower count of Instagram is the highest of all others at 3.4mil, so it makes sense to have the most interaction there.
Using photo content is a great way for HomeGoods to show their customers what’s in store, and to use seasonal promos.
Youtube
Out of all of HomeGoods social media accounts, YouTube has the lowest number of subscribers. However, it’s definitely worth it for the company to continue expanding its content on the platform. Recently, they have had much activity with a series of commercial episodes, featuring Jillian Bell, called Home Sweet HomeGoods.
The video ad campaign is not only entertaining but engaging for audience members. The six episodes combined have an average of about 1 million views. Props to HomeGoods for thinking of this marketing masterpiece! To continue their growth on the platform by using video advertising series may not only help their engagement on YouTube but others as well.
HomeGoods Social Media Opportunities
Overall, HomeGoods social media is lacking in engagement. But with lack, comes opportunity. One of the great things about social media audits is that they provide the chance to see where there’s any downfall, to pick it up.
Some of the main areas of opportunity I see involve the three networks I dove into above, and according to my audit, these are the most essential platforms that HomeGoods could benefit from.
Here’s a list of opportunities for HomeGoods digital reach expansion:
- Begin to actively post on Facebook. There’s a solid audience.
- Continue actively posting on Instagram.
- Use more meaningful captions
- Utilize the #GoFinding hashtag more often
- Develop even more relevant hashtags
- Continue actively posting on YouTube.
- Develop more video ad campaigns as series
- There are a few how-to videos before Home Sweet HomeGoods premiered. This is also a great way to continue video posts when in-between the big projects.
- Advertise the big promotional campaigns like Home Sweet HomeGoods on other social media accounts with direct links. HomeGoods has done this a few times, but it isn’t consistent. This will help to not only have more posts on each account but to bring loyal members to different sites and have more engagement.
By utilizing these opportunities for digital growth, HomeGoods may in turn effectively drive more customers to their stores. Of the three platforms, Facebook is high up on the focus list as it has a high following. Though Instagram has the largest following and engagement, it may be a bigger priority than Facebook. Then YouTube has the most potential for growth if they continue doing what they’re doing with the video series and more.
Ultimately, HomeGoods social media has a ways to go. But like I said earlier, this is where social media auditing provides many opportunities!
Julie Anderson 