Social Media SWOT Analysis: Detailed Guide on How to Do It

A social media SWOT analysis is a planning method used to evaluate your social media presence. It identifies which areas of your strategy are effective and which ones need improvement.

If you aren’t satisfied with your current social media performance or simply want to boost your presence on social networking platforms, then you may need to run a SWOT analysis. Read on to learn how and when to conduct a social media SWOT analysis and what tools you can use to streamline this process.

What is a SWOT Analysis in Marketing?

A SWOT analysis in marketing determines the internal and external factors that affect a campaign’s performance and allows for better strategic planning. The origins of SWOT analysis stem from the SOFT approach, which was originally used by managerial staff to develop proposals and corporate strategies.

That said, this framework is ideal for social media as well. Since the social networking landscape constantly changes, running a social media SWOT analysis will allow brands and businesses to keep their strategies relevant and optimized for the best results.

SWOT stands for:

• Strengths—the parts of your strategy that deliver results and help you achieve your goals.
• Weaknesses—areas that you can improve or change completely. Along with strengths, weaknesses are internal factors that you can control.
• Opportunities—external factors, such as new social media platforms or untapped areas that can help you grow.
• Threats—external factors that can put you at a disadvantage.

4 Important Reasons to Do a Social Media SWOT Analysis

From better resource management to elevated social media marketing strategies, there are several reasons to conduct a social media SWOT analysis.

Let’s discuss each one:

Set SMART Goals

Conducting a social media SWOT analysis helps you identify the areas of your strategy that need the most work, making it crucial for setting SMART goals. When you specifically know what to improve, you can follow the SMART framework to define your goals and ensure that your social media strategy is developed for success.

SMART stands for the following goals:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Realistic
• Time-sensitive

For instance, if your analysis reveals that your weakness is inconsistent posting, your goal to address it could be to “post three times a week.” However, this only meets the SMT letters in the framework: specific being the action to post more often, and measurable and time-sensitive being posting three times a week.

Posting regularly can be difficult to maintain, especially when also running a business, so this goal isn’t really realistic or achievable. Instead of simply aiming to “post three times a week,” your SMART goal will be to “schedule social media posts three times a week.”

By leveraging a tool to handle your posting schedule, the goal becomes more attainable and can effectively address your weakness.

Improve Resource Allocation

A social media SWOT analysis can help improve resource allocation by identifying the areas of your strategy that perform the best. Then, you can allocate more time and budget to these areas to boost your return on investment (ROI). Alternatively, you can reallocate resources to underperforming areas to improve their results.

Make Data-Driven Decisions

A social media SWOT analysis reveals potential opportunities and threats, allowing you to make more data-driven decisions in real time. For instance, if you notice a threat in the form of a new competitor, you can readjust your strategy and ensure that you have a competitive advantage.

Elevate Current Social Media Strategy

If your current strategy isn’t delivering the desired results, you can run a social media SWOT analysis to elevate it. Knowing your strengths allows you to amplify your efforts in these areas while addressing your weaknesses can improve your performance over time.

When conducting a social media SWOT analysis, it’s important to use the latest data available, as outdated information can result in ineffective strategies.

To help you gather data, you can use social media scheduling tools like Publer. Our app allows you to manage all your social media accounts on one platform, providing you with a comprehensive overview of all your metrics across sites. These are updated in real time, giving you easy access to up-to-date data about your current performance.

Publer also has a competitor analysis tool, which you can use to identify your competitors’ strengths, compare strategies, and identify potential opportunities.

How to Conduct a Social Media SWOT Analysis in 4 Simple Steps

To conduct a social media SWOT analysis, you can simply follow the same order as the letters in the acronym, which means starting with strengths, then weaknesses, opportunities, and, finally, threats.

Here is a simple, step-by-step guide you can use:

#1. Identify Strengths

The first step in your social media SWOT analysis should be identifying your strengths or what you’re doing right. These can be anything from consistently high engagement rates to an increase in follower count.

Now, to determine exactly what caused these results, you can ask yourself the following questions:

• Which posts performed the best?
• What social media platform is your community most active on?
• Do you have a strong online presence?
• Is your brand easily recognizable?

Fortunately, you’ll easily find the answers to these questions by monitoring your social media KPIs. You can also use competitor analysis to identify your advantage over the competition and devise ways to maintain this edge.

#2. Find Out Weaknesses

Once you know what you’re good at, the next step in your social media SWOT analysis is to find out what your weaknesses are. This is crucial for improving your current social media strategy and achieving better results.

Similar to the previous step, we start with some questions, such as:

• Which social media platforms have the lowest engagement rates?
• Are there any neglected social media platforms?
• Did you receive any negative feedback from your followers?
• Are you posting frequently enough?

Again, you can refer to platform analytics to answer these questions, but to boost your efforts, we recommend utilizing social listening tools. This can reveal how your target audience feels about your brand in comparison to your competitors and help you discover what you can do better.

In addition to these, you should also include digital media in your SWOT analysis to determine what type of content your audience prefers. While short-form video content, like Instagram Reels, performs better on average, it may not be the best format for reaching your audience. So, if you focus on this content type alone, it can turn into a weakness.

#3. Look for Opportunities

After fully optimizing your current strategy, you can start looking for new opportunities that can accelerate your growth on social media. These can be anything from new social networking platforms to influencer marketing.

If it’s your first time collaborating with an influencer, consider working with smaller accounts first until you see if the approach is effective for your brand. Besides, according to research by Beichert et al. (2023) in the Journal of Marketing, micro-influencers greatly outperform macroinfluencers when it comes to targeted content.

You can also leverage tools like Publer’s Explore tab to stay updated on all the latest trends and changes in your niche and ensure that your content stays relevant. Besides, monitoring and capitalizing on the latest social media trends will help you reach a broader audience and drive growth.

#4. Determine Threats

Finally, the last step in your social media SWOT analysis is to determine the potential threats that could negatively affect your performance. Unfortunately, threats can be much harder to pinpoint than the other factors in this framework, as they can constantly evolve.

One example of a social media threat is changes to the algorithm that happen without warning and can drastically affect your visibility on social media platforms. Alternatively, your competitors can launch a successful social media campaign that effectively resonates with your target audience, diverting attention from your brand.

4 Key Situations Where You Should Do a Social Media SWOT Analysis

Conducting a social media SWOT analysis can help supercharge your efforts on social networking sites, and it can be a crucial tool for success in the following situations:

#1. New Campaign Launch

When launching a new campaign, consider running a social media SWOT analysis to ensure that all parts of your campaign are properly optimized and prepared for potential challenges you may encounter.

Here’s an example of a SWOT analysis of Apple’s successful #ShotOniPhone campaign:

• Strengths. Apple is an already established brand with a strong reputation and loyal user base, so the campaign is sure to attract attention.
• Weaknesses. The campaign is limited to Instagram and Twitter/X only, which reduces the number of users that can participate.
• Opportunities. The campaign will encourage their customers to share user-generated content on social media, which can highlight the product’s qualities and help the brand reach new audiences.
• Threats. None, as rival brand Samsung does not have a similar campaign, it can significantly boost impact.

#2. Rebranding

Rebranding is not easy; the wrong tone of the initial message can immediately alienate audiences, which is why a social media SWOT analysis is crucial. By conducting an analysis before launching your strategy, you can ensure the rebrand’s success and avoid negative feedback.

Let’s take a look at a potential SWOT analysis for X’s (formerly Twitter) rebrand:

• Strengths. X has a large user base, and since the basic functionality of the app won’t change, they can expect to retain this audience.
• Weaknesses. Completely changing the name, logo, and color scheme of the app can instantly make X lose brand recognition online. Moreover, future changes in the interface and features of the platform can cause user confusion and lead to them deleting the app.
• Opportunities. Rebranding allows X to market to a different demographic.
• Threats. There may be backlash from customers who are already accustomed to the old social media platform.

#3. Crisis Management

During a crisis, nothing is more important than immediate action; letting the problem stagnate will only worsen the issue and the impact on your brand. By conducting a social media SWOT analysis, you can quickly determine your weaknesses and threats and make plans to address them, then leverage your strengths to overcome the issue.

To give you a better idea of how this works, let’s perform a social media SWOT analysis for Nike’s “Shoegate” incident.

• Strengths. Nike is a well-known brand used by athletes from different sports, which can be a testament to the quality of their products.
• Weaknesses. Strong criticism from the public, and after the incident, other individuals came forward with their own negative experiences with the brand.
• Opportunities. Nike can immediately issue a statement, taking responsibility for all affected customers, and use the incident to further innovate and improve their products.
• Threats. Competitors like Adidas can capitalize on the incident to promote their products and position themselves as a more reliable brand.

#4. New Social Media Platform Integration

When venturing onto a new social networking site, it’s vital to conduct a social media SWOT analysis to maximize your impact. Plus, it can help you decide whether you actually need to integrate a new platform into your strategy or not.

Let’s take a look at an example of a social media SWOT analysis for TikTok:

• Strengths. Reels are your top-performing content on Instagram. This means your audience is interested in short-form content, which is the main format on TikTok, so the venture has a high chance of success.
• Weaknesses. You don’t post video content as often since it can take much more time and resources to create.
• Opportunities. TikTok is one of the top social media sites among the younger demographic and can help market your brand to this audience.
• Threats. TikTok is highly competitive, and several of your competitors have already built a significant following on the platform.

Key Takeaways

• A social media SWOT analysis is a method used to evaluate your current strategy’s performance on social networking platforms.
• Running a social media SWOT analysis can help you set SMART goals, improve resource allocation, make data-driven decisions, and elevate your social media strategy.
• To conduct a social media SWOT analysis, you should first identify your strengths and then find out your weaknesses. Afterward, you can look for opportunities to grow and determine potential threats.
• We recommend performing a social media SWOT analysis when launching a new campaign or rebranding. It can also be useful during crisis management or when trying a new social media platform.