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Generative AI is everywhere now. You see it in content, campaigns, customer experiences, and even internal workflows. It promises speed, scale, and efficiency, but there’s a harder question sitting underneath all that progress; Do your audiences actually trust it?

Trust in the Age of AI: What Consumers Really Think About AI Generated Content

Today, PR teams aren’t just tracking media coverage and share of voice. They’re also measuring how their brand shows up in AI-generated answers, search summaries, and large language models (LLMs). This new LLM visibility layer is quickly becoming a critical part of PR performance.

15 Must-Have PR KPIs and How to Track Them

See how one platform can power every decision across PR, communications, and marketing.

The Meltwater Blog

Blog Topics: Generative Engine Optimization, Media Intelligence, Media Relations, Social Listening, Consumer Intelligence, Influencer Marketing

Find out how you can leverage Facebook to boost your brand's online presence and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

Facebook Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage Instagram to boost your brand's visual appeal and gain a competitive edge. Explore our category page today!

Instagram Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage LinkedIN to grow your professional network and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

LinkedIn Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage TikTok to elevate your brand with creative content and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

TikTok Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage X / Twitter to engage your audience effectively and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

X / Twitter Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage YouTube to create engaging video content and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

YouTube Blog | Meltwater

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is transforming how brands show up in AI-powered search. Explore insights, strategies, and best practices to help your content rank and resonate across conversational engines like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot.

Explore insights and strategies for Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) to help your brand stay visible and discoverable in AI-powered search.

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) Blog Collection | Meltwater

Every day billions of conversations take place on social media: tweets, posts, comments, blogs, reviews, podcasts, and much more.
Learn how to use social listening to make sense of all of that data.

On our social listening category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around social listening and social media monitoring. Read more.

Social Listening Blogs | Category

Business Reputation Management: What does it take to add reputation management to your marketing strategy? More importantly, how do you keep your reputation sparkly and shiny? Here’s your all-access guide to online reputation management for the long term.

On our reputation management category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around business reputation management. Read more.

Reputation Management Blogs | Category

From your brand's logo to your website, your social media presence to your customer support—these elements combined are what constitutes a brand in the minds of customers. But, there are thousands of other businesses that have a logo, website, social media presence, and website. So, how can you position your business on the market and make it stand out from the competition?
The key to success is branding & brand management!

On our brand management category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around brand management. Build your strategy and reach your goals!

Brand Management Blogs | Category

Competitive intelligence and the act of collecting competitive data can be seen as growth drivers for a company. Our guide will help you understand the concept of competitive intelligence (CI) by answering questions such as: What is the definition of competitive intelligence? How is competitive intelligence useful to organizations? What is the goal of competitive intelligence? And more.

On our competitive intelligence category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around competitive intelligence. Learn how to stay ahead.

Competitive Intelligence Blogs | Category

Let’s dive into the customer journey framework and how to optimize the process by creating a customer journey map and using metrics that matter when analyzing the customer journey.

On our customer journey category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around mapping and understanding the customer journey.

Customer Journey Blogs | Category

What Is Data Analytics? [Beginner’s Guide 2023]
How can I grow my business? 
How do customers interact with my newly launched product?
How do I increase the productivity of my employees?
How do I know if my marketing efforts are working?
We have just two words for you...Data analytics!

On our data analytics category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around AI and data analytics. Technical and still easy to understand.

AI & Data Analytics Blogs | Category

Public relations and media relations can add impact to any marketing strategy. It’s an opportunity for brands to grow their reach beyond traditional sales messages. PR helps to shape the image you want people to have of your brand.
So, what is PR and how do you use it? This guide shows you everything you need to know to build a strong public relations foundation.

On our public relations (PR) category page, you find all our blogs covering public relations and communications topics. Step up your PR game.

Public Relations (PR) Blogs | Category

We all know exactly what the roles of sales or accounting are in a company, right? We might even have a slight idea of what the IT guys are doing.
But there is another business discipline, that plays a crucial role in organizations, even more so during the pandemic – internal communications!
But what exactly do we mean by that, what purpose does it serve and what steps can you take to ensure you and your employees will communicate effectively?

On our internal communications category page, you find all our blogs about internal comms topics. Learn about the intranet, internal newsletters, and more.

Internal Communications Blogs | Category

As the internet has taken root in more areas of our lives — everything from entertainment to shopping to paying bills and more — traditional marketing is becoming less impactful. As any marketer knows, you need to focus on where your audience is if you want to reach them. Since the average person spends about seven hours a day online, it’s no surprise that content has maintained its hold on marketers.

Here's a closer look at what content marketing is and why it matters more than ever in our digital-first economy.

On our content marketing category page, you find blogs about content marketing topics. Learn about strategies, KPIs, tips, and more. Make your content king!

Content Marketing Blogs | Category

The rise of the influencer marketing space – today a $10 billion industry, growing 50% per year – is one of the clearest examples of how social media is transforming traditional marketing. These days having a business website, presence on social, PR coverage, and your own content isn’t enough to compete.
We'll dive into the intricacies of influencer marketing to help ensure that you're equipped with the insights needed to be successful in this space.

On our influencer marketing category page, you find blogs about influencer marketing topics. Build your strategy, find influencers, and measure results.

Influencer Marketing Blogs | Category

Have you just launched a new product or service that you want to get the word out about? Maybe you want to share with consumers why it is awesome and how it is so much better than the one your competitors offer.

Well, then, there is one thing you can't do without...Marketing!

On our marketing category page, you find blogs about marketing topics. Learn about all the different angles and types of marketing and improve your results.

Marketing Blogs | Category

In this guide, we want to give you a peek into the definition of social media management, the daily schedule of a social media manager, social media platforms to promote your business, and the do’s & don’ts of social media management.
Are you ready to begin the journey of becoming a social media superstar?

On our social media management category page, you find blogs about social media management topics. Build and manage your online community.

Social Media Management Blogs | Category

Building a following and using social media platforms to reach a wider audience requires a well-planned social media marketing strategy. In this guide, we’ll be looking at why social media marketing is so essential and how you can make it work for your business.

On our social media marketing category page, you find blogs about social media marketing topics. Learn how to get the highest paid social ROI!

Social Media Marketing Blogs | Category

In the fast-evolving realm of digital marketing and public relations, utilizing the right tools is crucial for success. Our interdisciplinary category showcases all the pertinent tools for digital marketing & PR. These tools help in enhancing your online presence and effectively reaching target groups, whether through reputation management, influencer marketing, or social media management.

On our digital marketing and PR tools category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around mapping and understanding the customer journey.

Digital Marketing & PR Tools Blogs | Category

Pride month is right around the corner. Every year, the month of June is a time for the LGBTQ+ community to both celebrate and raise awareness around important issues. June was chosen as Pride Month to commemorate the Stonewall Riots of June 28, 1969, which was seen as one of the most significant turning points in the Gay Liberation Movement.

Over 50 years later, it is still an important social issue with more brands and public figures getting involved.

How To Collaborate With LGBTQ+ Influencers

More brands use social, and especially influencers, to promote their stance on important social issues in order to elicit meaningful interactions with existing and current consumers. Now, more than ever, many consumers are driven by brand values and corporate culture when making purchases. Influencer collaborations are an authentic way to show your brand values, as it aligns your brand with someone who is viewed as a thought leader in their category.

Running a Pride campaign explicitly asserts your brand’s ethics, and inserts you in an extremely relevant conversation. Previously, pride campaigns were more visual, with companies incorporating the pride flag into a logo or a social media post. Now, pride campaigns have evolved to cross-channel campaigns, often involving influencers to drive the most authentic impact.

The first step of running any campaign, be it Pride or any other initiative, is determining the desired outcome of the campaign. 

To show support as an ally of the LGBTQ+ community

Highlight corporate culture of LGBTQ+ inclusivity

Support an LGBTQ+ organization or initiative

Determining the goal of your campaign will help you understand which influencers you should collaborate with. For example, if your objective is to promote a corporate culture of inclusivity, your influencers might actually be your employees.

Example: #ExtraShotOfPride with Starbucks

Starbucks’s 2019 pride campaign, #extrashotofpride, celebrated the diversity of the Starbucks community. The company created Pride-themed beverages for the month and asked employees to share what it meant to be a member of the LGBTQ+ community and a Starbucks employee.

There are no shortages of coffee houses around the world, but the #extrashotofpride campaign lets customers know that not only does Starbucks serve good coffee they offer an incomparable corporate culture.

An influencer is a user who is able to drive meaningful impact with their audience, and an LGBTQ influencer is just the same. They are seen as “thought leaders” of their space, and their audience connects with their ideology and content. If your brand is looking to promote brand acceptance and inclusivity, these influencers are the perfect bridge for connecting with users who care most about these social issues.

Who are some of the biggest names in the LGBTQ+ space? These influencers mesh their celebrity personas with their affiliation to the LGBTQ+ community.

Lavern Cox is a trans activist and actress, famously known for starring in the Netflix series Orange Is the New Black. She has over 4M followers on Instagram, alone, and has collaborated with brands including; Smirnoff, Ivy Park, Verizon, Olay, and more.

Megah Rapineo is an American soccer player and official team member of the US National Women’s Soccer team.  She is openly gay, and with 2.3M Instagram followers, has used her public persona as a platform for LGBTQ+ activism. Past collaborations have included; Smirnoff, Casper, Vitamin Water, Charmin, and more.

Billy Porter is an out actor, singer, director, and writer. He is a cast member of Pose and a main fixture on Broadway. With 1.5M Instagram followers, Billy’s had some major collaborations including; Kettle One, Tiffany & Co, Saks, and more.

Are you looking for more influencers? Take a look at these top LGBTQ+ influencers.

34% of LGBTQ+ influencers are micro-influencers

The majority of LGBTQ+ influencers are micro-influencers, and this is really no surprise. micro-influencers are a unique type of influencer. Though they do not have a high follower-count, they have an extremely focused and niche audience. Often driving higher engagement and the most impactful interactions.

Collaborating with an influencer is really about interacting with their audience. Working with an influencer in a niche field offers the ability to engage with a loyal following. LGBTQ+ influencers’ audience tends to subscribe to their values, which offers a great opportunity to introduce your brand values.

So, what demographics are typically found in an LGBTQ+ influencer’s network?

👩61% of users who follow LGBTQ+ influencers are Female

🍰The average age of a follower is 28-years

✈ The top interest shared between LGBTQ+ influencers and their audience is Travel

Tip: Learn how to make sure influencers align with your brand values.

Once you’ve identified the objective of your campaign and selected the influencers you would like to collaborate with, you must next figure out how to insert your brand into a relevant conversation with the influencer’s audience. Remember, Pride is a sensitive topic, and people are wary of brands using Pride to promote an agenda rather than showing real solidarity.

Collaborations should seem authentic. Discover how your brand fits into your influencer’s life or how your brand can show support.

@smirnoffus sent personalized vodka bottles to LGBTQ+ influencers for Pride month. The bottles fit seamlessly into the occasions of the influencer’s life. Influencer @kiyomivalentine is seen holding her personalized bottle with her wife at their wedding.

The true value of an influencer campaign is found in the audience of the influencer. LGBTQ+ influencers have an extremely focused, and loyal audience. If an influencer promotes your brand to their dedicated followers, they are giving you an automatic stamp of approval. Though Pride Month is in June, some brands have begun running their Pride campaigns in May, perhaps hinting at a new trend.

Pride Campaign Example: #ProudInMyCalvins

Calvin Klein’s 2020 Pride campaign, #proudinmycalvins, is a collaboration with a diverse spectrum of LGBTQ+ influencers to discuss what it means to be proud and live authentically.

Influencer: @iamjarijones, 25.7k followers

Jari Jones is a Trans model, actress, and activist. Her followers are 67% female, 51% between 25-34, and 56% are based in New York.

Reece is a London-based model. 57% of his audience is female, and though he is based in the UK, 43% of his audience is actually from the US.

Your next collaboration is right around the corner! It’s time to start planning for your Pride campaign. Schedule a time to speak with one of our influencer marketing experts and we’d be happy to guide you in the right direction!

How to Plan Your Pride Influencer Campaign

X, formerly known as Twitter, can be overwhelming at times. Each time you log in, you’re confronted with an endless stream of tweets that make their way to the top of your timeline faster than you can read them. As a PR pro, you know you should be using X, formerly known as Twitter, to engage with fellow tweeps – but the prospect of finding a relevant profile or conversation among all the noise can be daunting. So, today, I’m going to share how you can use Twitter lists to organize your incoming tweets and engage with the profiles who can directly impact your PR program.

A Few Ideas for Twitter Lists to Get you Started

Now That You Have Twitter Lists, What Do You Do With Them?

Twitter lists are curated groups of Twitter profiles that you can create to group similar users together. Twitter lists allow you to see tweets from only that group of people.

For example, I created a Twitter list of where I’ve grouped all my favorite writers and the publications they write for together. Now I can easily access these people’s tweets and profiles when I’m looking for great content to share on my own X / Twitter account.

You can choose to make your Twitter lists either public or private, depending upon whether you want anyone else to see your list. Public Twitter lists are great if you want to recognize the individual profiles on your list for being superstars – they can see that you’ve added them to the list, and others can subscribe to the list to receive content from those you’ve included. Private Twitter lists are better if you don't want your competitors to have access to the information; for example, if it contained customers or media friendlies.

Media Friendlies: Go back to your recent press mentions and follow. Add each journalist’s Twitter profile to a “media friendlies” list so you can maintain your existing relationships with those that have covered your business. Assuming that their normal beat is related to the article they wrote about you, they should have plenty of mutual ground that you can chat about, as well as interesting content you can share with your followers. Maintaining your relationship with media friendlies in this way can keep you top of mind when they need a subject matter expert to weigh in on an article they’re writing, or when you have a story you’d like to share with them.


Industry Journalists: Also do a search on your competitors’ recent press mentions and recent industry news articles and follow/ add those journalists to a separate list. Again, these journalists should have plenty of relevant content that you can engage with which can help you build a relationship with a journalist you haven’t met. You may also want to break this group down into several lists, perhaps by geography, beat, or past interaction (ie media friendlies). Some PR pros prefer to create a list for a specific story they'd like to pitch in the future – say an IPO – thus they target journalists that have covered related IPOs in their industry. By creating a relationship with them on X, formerly known as Twitter, your pitch may be more well-received – just make sure that you’ve used Twitter to add value for that journalist and that you start building these relationships well ahead of time.


Industry Bloggers: These days, anyone can be a publisher and you can benefit from treating bloggers like journalists to get targeted coverage for your stories. As with industry journalists, you may want to break this group of Twitter profiles down into more specific lists – such as the specific topic they write about, bloggers that speak at events, where they’re located geographically, etc. This will help you keep your content stream very focused, which will make it easier for you to interact with your listed tweeps.

The name of the game is engagement. View your X / Twitter lists on a regular basis and respond to tweets shared by those on your list. It's also wise to retweet their content so your followers can see too. Stay on the lookout for journalists and bloggers asking for subject matter expertise within their network – this will help you position yourself as the go-to person when that writer needs more information for a story. A simple way you can do this is by looking out for hashtags such as #mediarequest and #prrequest. Above all else, make sure you’re creating value for the journalist or blogger with the tweets and content you share. Moreover, by extending the reach of their content, or providing sources for their articles, you're better placed to build and maintain a meaningful online relationship that can be mutually beneficial for years to come.

If you're tired of seeing a string of irrelevant tweets, Twitter lists tidy up your feed so you can cut through the noise and read the tweets that will bring you the most value. Hopefully by now you have a better understanding of the importance of Twitter lists and how you can create them to nurture relevant profiles and build relationships on social media. 

Using Twitter Lists for Better PR

Over the past twelve months, the world’s digital behaviours have shown some of the most profound changes we’ve seen in years, even compared with “the pandemic years”.

The latest research reveals that these behaviours are evolving in a number of unexpected ways, too.

Fortunately however, our huge new Digital 2023 Global Overview Report – produced in partnership with Meltwater and We Are Social – has all the data and insights you need to make sense of the latest trends.

Tip: Take a look at the full Global Digital Report 2023, The Global State of Digital in April 2023, The Global State of Digital in July 2023, and the Digital 2023 October Global Statshot Report.

Top stories in our flagship Digital 2023 report include:

A big change in global internet user numbers

An intriguing decline in various aspects of online activity

Rich insights into evolving social media platform preferences

Changes in the devices that people use to access digital content and services

Some unexpected changes in the world’s online search behaviours

The startling growth of digital advertising

That’s barely a fraction of what you’ll find in the full report though, which is packed with 400+ charts exploring what people are really doing on the internet, social media, mobile devices, and online shopping platforms.

And in addition to the 10,000 words of rich context and insight that you’ll find in this article, we’ve also produced a selection of deep-dive articles to take you even further into this year’s data, so look out for links to those “bonus” resources throughout this analysis.

This year’s report is by far the biggest collection of data and trends that we’ve ever published, and that increased breadth and depth is all thanks to the support of our amazing partners.

First up, I’d like to say a very big thank you to Meltwater, who’ve joined us as a headline Global Digital Reports partner this year. Meltwater is a global leader in social and media intelligence dedicated to helping businesses monitor, understand, and influence the world around them.

I’d also like to thank We Are Social for continuing their support of the Global Digital Reports series into an impressive twelfth year. We Are Social is a socially led creative agency that puts social thinking at the centre of marketing.

These two partners make the Global Digital Reports series possible, so please let them know on social media if you find these reports valuable:

I’d also like to offer my heartfelt thanks our wonderful data partners, without whom the Global Digital Reports series would be a lot less informative:

Just before we start exploring the numbers, I’d encourage you to review our detailed notes on data to understand how changes in sources and methodologies have impacted this year’s numbers. 

In particular, please note the following:

Internet users: the complexities of researching and reporting internet adoption around the world mean that there is invariably a delay in publishing the most recent data. As a result, figures for internet use after 2021 likely under-represent reality, and actual user numbers and growth figures may be meaningfully higher than the figures shown in this year’s reports.

Social media users: significant revisions to the figures published by various platforms mean that the social media user numbers included in this year’s reports are not directly comparable with figures published in our previous reports. We use data published in the advertising resources of a number of the world’s top social media platforms to inform our figures for overall social media use, and any changes in that source data can impact our overall figures too. As a result, please note that – in many cases – the figures we’ve included for social media users in this year’s reports will appear lower than the figures we included in previous reports. However, these revisions do not imply an actual change in overall use, and our analysis has not detected any discernible decline in overall social media adoption.

These aren’t the only changes impacting this year’s numbers though, so do check out the complete list of updates in our more detailed notes on data.

But with that, let’s get into the findings.

I’d recommend starting with this video, which will help you understand all of this year’s top headlines and trends in just 10 minutes.

Once you’ve finished watching that, read on below for the full report.

You’ll find the complete report in the embed below (click here if that’s not working for you), but continue reading past that to find our comprehensive analysis of what all these numbers mean for you and your work.

Let’s start with a look at the latest headlines for the global “state of digital”:

The world’s population passed 8 billion on 15 November 2022, and has reached 8.01 billion at the start of 2023. Just over 57 percent of the world’s population now lives in urban areas.

A total of 5.44 billion people use mobile phones in early 2023, equating to 68 percent of the total global population. Unique mobile users have increased by just over 3 percent during the past year, with 168 million new users over the past 12 months.

There are 5.16 billion internet users in the world today, meaning that 64.4 percent of the world’s total population is now online. Data show that the global internet user total increased by 1.9 percent over the past 12 months, but delays in data reporting mean that actual growth will likely be higher than this figure suggests.

There are now 4.76 billion social media users around the world, equating to just under 60 percent of the total global population. Social media user growth has slowed over recent months though, with this year’s net addition of 137 million new users equating to annual growth of just 3 percent.

These headlines offer an excellent snapshot of digital use around the world, but we need to dig deeper into the data to understand how people’s behaviours are actually evolving.

And the good news is that we’ve got loads of great data to explore…

Over the past few weeks, two of the world’s top authorities on the state of global connectivity – the ITU and GSMA Intelligence – have revised their figures for internet use around the world.

These revisions have enabled us to make significant updates to our internet user figures too, and our latest global total now sits at 5.16 billion.

That’s quite a bit higher than the 5.07 billion figure that we reported just in October 2022, but it’s important to stress that internet users haven’t actually increased by 90 million in just the past three months.

Indeed, our analysis of the most recent data indicates that internet users have actually only grown by 98 million over the past twelve months.

That translates to year-on-year growth of just under 2 percent, which is markedly slower than the growth rates that we saw during the 2010s.

As I explained in the “important notes on data” section above though, figures for the most recent year or two invariably under-represent actual growth in internet users, because of how long it takes to conduct, process, and report internet user research.

However – even if we allow for these reporting delays – Kepios analysis of the latest data still indicates that user growth has indeed slowed over recent months.

It’s worth stressing that this deceleration is to be expected though, especially now that more than 6 in 10 people on Earth already use the internet.

And despite the recent slowdown, current trends suggest that close to two-thirds of the world’s population should be online by the end of 2023.

Tip: Download the full Global Digital Report 2023 here.

But digital use still varies meaningfully around the world.

At the top end of the rankings, internet adoption rates now either equal or exceed 99 percent in a total of 8 countries, while a total of 55 countries now enjoy internet adoption rates in excess of 90 percent [note that we cap internet adoption rates at 99 percent].

But in what might come as a surprise to some readers, internet adoption across Northern America actually falls below internet adoption across the European Union and the UK.

Analysis by the ITU indicates that 91.8 percent of the population of the United States is online today, which ranks the country just 45th at a global level [note that the chart below only shows data for a selection of larger economies].

Furthermore, Northern America only accounts for 6.7 percent of the world’s total internet population.

So, while American digital trends invariably have an impact on the rest of the world, it’s important to stress that digital habits in the United States are rarely representative of those that we see in other countries.

As a result, it’s critical to dig into the local country data to understand what’s really happening amongst the specific audiences that you’re hoping to reach and engage.

At the other end of the connectivity spectrum, North Korea continues to languish in last place in the global rankings, with the internet still blocked for everyday citizens in the reclusive North Asian state.

Meanwhile, data indicate that less than 10 percent of the populations of South Sudan and Somalia use the internet today, placing these nations just above North Korea at the bottom of the global rankings.

Overall, a total of nine countries have internet adoption rates below 20 percent, while less than half of the population uses the internet in a total of 61 countries around the world.

Read more: You’ll find the latest headlines for digital adoption by country in our Digital 2023 Local Country Headlines report, and we’ll also be publishing a complete collection of in-depth country reports starting in mid-February 2023.

In absolute terms, India is home to the world’s largest “unconnected” population, and data indicates that 730 million people across the country are still not using the internet at the start of 2023.

Meanwhile, despite showing an internet adoption rate of more than 70 percent, China is home to the world’s second-largest “unconnected” population, with almost 375 million people across the country not yet online.

Encouragingly, the data revisions that I outlined above mean that this year’s overall figures for unconnected populations are quite a lot lower than they were this time last year.

The Changing World of Digital in 2023

Whether you’re blowing the dust off your X/Twitter account or your Tweet game has been going strong for years, it’s a good idea to do a Twitter audit to put you on the right track. An audit can tell you how your X/Twitter account is performing (or how it performed in the past if you’ve pushed the pause button), how many followers you have, and other helpful details to support your social media management strategy.

As time passes, your X/Twitter profile may change. Content becomes stale. Even your branding may have slightly changed. Plus, an audit provides a great opportunity to do a fake follower check and get rid of spammy comments and followers that might erode your brand image.

Here’s how you can do a Twitter audit to keep your brand credibility intact and what to do if you discover fake followers on your account.

A Twitter audit evaluates the activity and data related to your X/Twitter account, such as follower count, new followers, unfollows, mentions, engagement, and more.

It can help you to answer critical questions about your X/Twitter presence and Twitter strategy, such as:

How many of my Twitter followers are real?

How does my Twitter account perform in comparison to my competitors?

How does my Twitter presence compare to my Instagram or TikTok?

Using Twitter audit data, you can identify areas for improvement, increase engagement, improve the content you post, and grow your audience. You can also glean insights about your most engaged followers so you can create more targeted content and campaigns in the future.

Tip: Learn how to do a generic social media audit in 10 steps and download our ultimate guide to a social media audit.

Conducting a Twitter audit can be a reliable, straightforward way to gauge your X/Twitter performance. However, its reliability depends on how you go about it.

There are some social media metrics and KPIs you can track manually, such as follower count and engagement. But a thorough audit looks beyond surface-level data to see whether your followers and engagement are real or the product of social media bots and fake accounts.

Social listening tools like Meltwater's social listening suite can provide more reliable audit results. AI-powered tools and technologies go beyond the surface to learn more about the context behind follower counts and engagement rates. It can detect sudden spikes in audience growth that might indicate fake followers on X, formerly known as Twitter, for example. It also looks for patterns in the data to uncover fake followers better than the human eye can.

What’s more, you can apply this same auditing strategy to the Twitter influencers you partner with. Learn whether your influencers are as influential as they claim — or if they just look good on paper.

Auditing your X/Twitter account and strategy gives you a better understanding of your status. Know where you currently stand and compare it with where you want to be. From there, you can prioritize the right actions that will help you reach your goals.

As with other social media platforms, X, formerly known as Twitter, has become a place where fake followers abound. Some brands may find that many of their new followers are actually bots in disguise, ready to troll users with spam, hate speech, and false information. And in some cases, people purchase fake followers to appear more influential than they really are. One way to find out who’s the real deal is to do a Twitter follower audit.

Knowing whether your followers are legit is essential to your brand image. If your loyal fans see that you have fake followers on X/Twitter, it could irreversibly damage your brand. Your followers might not trust the content you post. You might also slip lower in organic rankings if you have too many fake followers.

The only way to find out all of the above is to audit your social media account. Conducting frequent audits can help you spot issues early and take decisive action. 

The good news: Conducting a Twitter audit doesn’t have to be complicated or time-consuming. Here’s how you can do a complete Twitter audit with confidence:

Step 2: Audit your followers to spot fake accounts

Step 4: Include your own engagement metrics in your Twitter audit

First impressions are everything. When Twitter users visit your profile, think about the impression your brand delivers. Will they know who you are and what you do? Will they understand your brand voice? Have you given them a reason to follow you?

Some areas you’ll want to examine during your Twitter audit include:

Changing any of the above, even if they already meet your brand requirements, is a great way to show your followers that you’re active. Tie each of these elements back to your brand goals to ensure you’re delivering the right first impression.

Fake “friends” might help you win a popularity contest, but those followers aren’t going to affect your business goals. They won’t convert into paying customers. And if bots do comment on your content, their engagement could turn off potential customers, putting your goals even further out of reach.

X/Twitter Blog

How to Plan Your Pride Influencer Campaign

Using Twitter Lists for Better PR

The Changing World of Digital in 2023

How To Do a Twitter Audit Incl. Fake Follower Check

Twitter Marketing Guide: Creating a Twitter Marketing Strategy

Modern Customer Service on Twitter Is Also PR

List of the Most Trending Hashtags in Australia

How to Use Twitter Analytics: Hashtags, Followers, Demographics

34 Twitter Stats Marketers Need To Know

Fake Instagram & Twitter: What You Need to Know About Fake Followers

Audience Report: Who's Driving the Chatter Online Around NFTs?

Pro Marketing: 7 Tips for Managing a Corporate Twitter Account

X/Twitter Blog

How to Plan Your Pride Influencer Campaign

Using Twitter Lists for Better PR

The Changing World of Digital in 2023

How To Do a Twitter Audit Incl. Fake Follower Check

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