Content Audit Template: Decide What to Keep, Fix, Repurpose or Retire

What is a social media content audit?

A content audit is a review of the posts you have already published, done to decide what to do with each one. The output is not a report. It is a short list of calendar changes: what to repeat, what to rewrite, what to reuse in another format, and what to stop making.

Run it on a fixed window, such as the last three months, so the sample stays small enough to finish in one sitting. Audit one platform at a time, because a post that works as a Reel may say nothing about the same idea as a text post.

Step 1: Build the inventory

List every post in the window with its URL, format, topic, and the audience question it answered. Copy the numbers each platform's own analytics shows for that post, and note the date you read them. If a platform does not show a metric, leave the cell empty. An empty cell is more honest than an estimate.

• One row per post, not per campaign.
• Record the intended outcome (saves, replies, clicks, sign-ups) before you look at results.
• Note the destination each post sent people to, if any.

Step 2: Label every post

Give each post exactly one label. Forcing a single choice is what makes the audit useful, because it stops you from keeping everything.

• Keep: it did its intended job and the topic is still current. Plan a similar post.
• Fix: the idea was right but the hook, format, or call to action was weak. Rewrite it and publish it again.
• Repurpose: the idea works but suits another format, such as a long post that should become a carousel or a short video.
• Retire: no clear audience question, outdated advice, or a format you no longer want to make. Stop producing it.

Step 3: Turn labels into calendar changes

Convert each label into a dated task. A keep becomes a follow-up post. A fix becomes a rewritten draft with an owner and a date. A repurpose becomes a new draft in the target format. A retire becomes a line in your do-not-make list, so you do not drift back to it.

Limit the first round to a handful of changes. If you schedule fifteen experiments you will not be able to tell which one moved anything.

A worked example (illustration only)

Imagine a creator who teaches watercolor and reviews twelve posts. A step-by-step tutorial is saved often, so it is a keep: plan a second tutorial on the same technique. A supplies list has a good idea but an unclear opening line, so it is a fix. A long caption explaining color mixing would read better as a carousel, so it is a repurpose. A weekly motivational quote has no tie to any audience question, so it is a retire.

This example is invented to show the process. It is not a customer result, and the labels you choose depend on your own data and goals.

Common mistakes

• Auditing without a goal, so every metric looks equally important.
• Comparing posts across platforms as if the numbers meant the same thing.
• Judging by one number. Read the metric against the outcome you wanted.
• Skipping the retire label, which leaves the calendar full of low-value work.

How often should you audit?

Quarterly works for most creators with a steady posting rhythm. If you post daily, a lighter monthly pass on the last four weeks is easier to keep up. Move the findings straight into your content calendar so the audit changes what you publish next.

Frequently asked questions