1. Set the audit question and evidence window
“Improve social media” is too broad to audit. Choose the decision first. An agent may need to repair account access, make professional identity consistent, clean up stale listing posts, understand which video formats earn useful actions, or simplify an unsustainable publishing system.
Audit owner: [agent / team member / brokerage / approved partner]
Decision: [specific question this audit must answer]
Accounts in scope: [official handles / profile URLs / platform]
Period: [start / end / time zone]
Content sample: [all posts or documented selection method]
Listing scope: [active / coming soon / pending / closed / expired / withdrawn as applicable]
Evidence: [native exports / public pages / CRM / property pages / response log]
Rules to confirm: [law / brokerage / MLS / platform / client permissions]
Reviewers: [identity / advertising / fair housing / privacy / accessibility as needed]
Output: [scorecard / urgent fixes / 30-day plan / next review date]
Preserve the audit date. A profile, metric definition, platform feature, property status, or public destination may change after review. The record should show what was observed, not imply that the snapshot remains current forever.
2. Inventory accounts, owners, access, and recovery
Start with control. A polished profile cannot be maintained if the team does not know who owns it, which email receives security notices, who may publish, or how access is removed when a role changes. Record the access design without putting passwords or recovery codes in the audit sheet.
| Field | What to verify |
|---|---|
| Public identity | Platform, exact handle, profile URL, display name, agent, team, or brokerage represented |
| Business owner | Person or entity accountable for the account and its records |
| Administrative access | Current authorized roles, least access needed, last review date |
| Recovery | Controlled email and phone, multi-factor method, backup owner, documented recovery route |
| Connected systems | Scheduler, design tool, CRM, ad account, analytics, link service, integrations |
| Exit control | How a departing employee, contractor, vendor, or team member loses access |
| Archive | Where exports, approvals, source media, and change history are preserved |
- Flag accounts that rely on one person's personal recovery channel with no authorized backup.
- Remove access only through the current platform and brokerage process after authority is confirmed.
- Review connected tools that can still publish, read messages, or collect lead data.
- Separate content approval from account administration when the team structure requires it.
- Record inactive, duplicate, impersonating, or abandoned profiles for a separate resolution path.
3. Review public identity and conversion paths
Open every profile while signed out and on a phone-sized screen. A visitor should be able to identify the real-estate professional or team, understand the actual service context, recognize any required brokerage relationship, and reach a current destination without decoding a stack of vague links.
Name and role: [accurate professional identity / team or brokerage context]
Photo and brand: [current / recognizable / permitted / consistent enough]
Bio: [verified service / geography / audience / no unsupported credentials or results]
Contact: [working phone / email / message route / response owner]
Primary link: [current destination / mobile test / tracking / privacy review]
Required identity: [license, brokerage, advertising, or local requirements confirmed]
Pinned or featured content: [current / useful / not stale or contradictory]
Location and service area: [accurate / no misleading reach or local expertise claim]
Profile action: [keep / correct / consolidate / escalate / retire]
Google's current Business Profile representation guidelines, for example, require a business to represent itself consistently and accurately and describe eligibility and service-area rules. Audit each destination under its own current policy rather than copying one profile setup everywhere.
For REALTORS®, Article 12 of the 2026 NAR Code of Ethics addresses truthful real-estate communications and readily apparent professional status. Apply the current requirements that govern the person, brokerage, jurisdiction, platform, and communication; this checklist is not legal advice.
4. Audit active and past listing content
Property posts change risk when the listing changes. Build the review from a current listing record, not from memory. Sample the profile's visible grid, pinned items, playlists, Highlights, channel home, link page, and any paid or scheduled content the team can inspect.
| Check | Evidence and decision |
|---|---|
| Authority | Who authorized marketing, whose listing it is, and whether that authority still applies |
| Status and dates | Current status, price, event timing, access, availability, and observation time |
| Property facts | Approved source for visible, spoken, captioned, and linked claims |
| Media rights | Source, license, people, music, edits, destinations, duration, and post-listing use |
| Identity and attribution | Agent role, brokerage, listing source, collaborators, and other required notices |
| Destination | Working page, current information, accessible handoff, response owner, and redirect behavior |
| Lifecycle action | Leave, correct, update, archive, remove, redirect, or escalate under current rules |
Do not assume every sold or expired post must disappear, or that every old post can remain unchanged. A closed campaign may still be an accurate record or approved portfolio example; it may also contain a dead link, stale availability claim, restricted media, private detail, or unclear representation. Record the reason for the chosen action.
The listing social media plan maps prelaunch, launch, property proof, event, update, and closeout posts to one maintained source record. Use it when the audit reveals that each post is being treated as an isolated asset.
5. Review video, copy, rights, and accessibility
Review the rendered post, not just the source file. Captions can be cut off, a property feature can be obscured by interface controls, a thumbnail can promise something the video does not show, and a link can fail even when the draft looked correct.
- The opening frame and caption identify the actual subject and do not imply an unsupported result.
- Property facts match the approved source in speech, on-screen text, description, thumbnail, and destination.
- Video framing protects important rooms, features, faces, text, and disclosures on a real device.
- Captions are accurate, synchronized, readable, and reviewed for names, addresses, numbers, and real-estate terms.
- Images have useful alternative text where the platform and context support it; decorative repetition is not over-described.
- Music, photography, footage, logos, testimonials, and templates have the required rights for the actual account and use.
- The post offers a clear next step that still works without sound and does not depend only on “link in bio” when the link has changed.
- Comments, direct messages, form submissions, and accessibility requests reach a named person through a tested route.
Use the video accessibility checklist for a complete review of captions, visual description, transcripts, text, controls, pages, and links. Accessibility is a workflow across the asset and its destination, not a box checked by auto-captions alone.
6. Build the compliance and risk queue
The audit should identify issues for the responsible reviewer, not issue legal conclusions. Mark the governing source, the observed evidence, the potential impact, the interim action, and who must decide. Urgent access, privacy, factual, status, or advertising issues should not wait for the full strategy presentation.
| Area | Audit questions |
|---|---|
| Fair housing | Do words, visuals, targeting, exclusions, audience settings, or neighborhood framing require review? |
| Advertising identity | Are professional status, brokerage relationship, role, and required disclosures clear in context? |
| Property authority | Is there current permission to market the listing and use every source asset? |
| Endorsements | Are material relationships, incentives, affiliate ties, vendor collaborations, or selected testimonials disclosed correctly? |
| Privacy | Do posts, comments, forms, visitor records, DMs, screenshots, or response workflows expose personal or transaction information? |
| Claims | Can the team support market, neighborhood, service, performance, credential, and outcome statements? |
| Automation | Can scheduled or generated content publish after a status, fact, permission, or policy changes? |
HUD's digital-platform housing advertising guidance discusses Fair Housing Act risks in targeting and ad delivery. The FTC's Endorsement Guides Q&A explains that material connections may need clear disclosure and that responsibility does not disappear because a platform offers a disclosure tool. Review current primary sources with the appropriate brokerage or legal owner.
7. Compare performance without mixing definitions
Begin with the content's job, then choose the evidence. A market explainer, property tour, open-house reminder, and direct-response ad should not all be judged by the same number. Export or record native metrics with the platform, definition, period, content ID, and collection date attached.
| Layer | Possible evidence | Safe use |
|---|---|---|
| Delivery | Post live, version published, email or scheduler record, paid campaign approved | Confirm that planned work reached its named destination |
| Discovery | Reach, impressions, profile visits, non-follower exposure under the platform's definition | Compare visibility within the same source and stable definition |
| Content interest | Video starts, watch time, completion, saves, shares, carousel progress, comments | Identify creative questions for similar content, not business outcomes |
| Destination action | Profile action, tagged-link visit, detail-page view, registration, reply, direct message | Inspect whether the post moved a person toward the intended next step |
| Qualified response | Relevant inquiry, showing request, agent question, seller conversation, event attendance | Reconcile platform activity with the first-party response record |
| Outcome | Appointment, signed client, offer, seller decision, transaction | Report the outcome while preserving attribution limits across the path |
- Do not add reach, views, or engagement totals from platforms with different definitions.
- Do not compare a paid audience with an organic audience without labeling the difference.
- Use rates only when the numerator, denominator, period, and exclusions are documented.
- Separate internal review, duplicate activity, bots, or obvious spam when the source permits it.
- Compare content with similar jobs, formats, lifecycle moments, and distribution conditions.
- Record zero honestly; missing data, no activity, and a true zero are different states.
Realtor.com's social metrics guide for agents also recommends bringing metrics into one view and measuring against the agent's own goals. Keep its example metric names tied to the platform's current definitions when applying them.
8. Copy the social media audit scorecard
Use pass, fix, unknown, or not applicable. A numeric grade can hide a serious problem inside a strong average, so keep severity and stop conditions visible beside the status.
Item: [account / profile field / post / video / link / workflow / metric]
Audit test: [specific condition checked]
Status: [pass / fix / unknown / not applicable]
Evidence: [public URL / screenshot reference / export / approval / source record]
Observed: [fact only / date and time]
Impact: [access / accuracy / privacy / compliance / accessibility / conversion / measurement]
Severity: [urgent / high / normal / monitor, under team policy]
Interim action: [pause / correct / preserve / escalate / none]
Owner: [authorized person or team]
Due condition: [date / before next post / before campaign continues]
Resolution evidence: [what will prove the issue is closed]
Retest: [reviewer / date / result]
Prioritize the queue in this order
- Compromised access, exposed personal data, active impersonation, or another immediate security issue.
- Current property status, factual, authority, fair-housing, advertising, or permission concern.
- Broken response route, dead property link, inaccessible critical information, or unstaffed inquiry channel.
- Inconsistent professional identity, weak profile clarity, or avoidable account duplication.
- Content, format, production, measurement, and publishing-process improvements.
9. Create a 30-day action plan and cadence
Limit the first plan to work the team can finish and verify. An audit is not complete when the report is presented; it is complete when urgent issues are contained, selected fixes have owners, and the resolved state has been tested publicly.
Now: [contain urgent access, privacy, factual, status, authority, or advertising issue]
Week 1: [repair ownership, recovery, identity, contact routes, and active listing posts]
Week 2: [fix highest-value destinations, video presentation, captions, links, and response handoffs]
Week 3: [retire or update stale assets / document rights / simplify connected tools]
Week 4: [publish one revised workflow / collect defined evidence / retest public experience]
Stop doing: [unsupported, duplicated, unowned, or unmeasurable activity]
Continue: [work supported by accurate delivery and useful response evidence]
Test: [one controlled content, destination, or response-path question]
Owners: [one accountable person per action]
Completion evidence: [live check / access review / export / source record / response test]
Next audit: [date or trigger / lighter recurring check / full review]
When the audit shows an unmanageable mix of one-off posts, move the selected work into a capacity-based video calendar. When it shows one good property asset copied everywhere without a plan, use the listing video repurposing workflow to build deliberate versions with their source, rights, destination, and status controls intact.
Frequently asked questions
How do I audit a real estate social media account?
Inventory every official account, confirm ownership and recovery, compare public identity and contact routes, review a defined sample of property and evergreen posts, inspect permissions and disclosures, record each platform's metrics with its own definitions, test the response path, and convert findings into a short action list with owners and dates.
Which social media metrics should a real estate agent track?
Choose metrics that match the job of the content. Discovery may use reach or profile visits; property interest may use meaningful video viewing or detail-page actions; response may use replies and inquiries; business outcomes belong in first-party records. Preserve the platform, definition, date range, content count, and known limitations instead of combining unlike totals.
How often should a real estate agent run a social media audit?
Set a cadence based on publishing volume, team size, account risk, listing changes, and campaign needs. Access, recovery, profile identity, broken links, active property status, and unresolved messages deserve more frequent checks than a full strategy review. Run an immediate review after an account, team, brokerage, or material listing change.
Should old listing posts be deleted?
Not automatically. First identify the current status, permission, privacy, accuracy, platform options, destination behavior, and future value of the post. Depending on the facts and rules, the right action may be to update, archive, remove, redirect, preserve with accurate context, or leave it unchanged. Record the decision and owner.