If you are using a social media marketing strategy for your business, then it is crucial to set social media goals so that you know where you are coming from and what you want to reach.
Devoid of proper set goals, it’s hard to gauge how your strategy is performing and where to fine-tune to move forward.
For example, digital marketing companies like the Prable believe that strategy without goals is equivalent to putting the cart before the horse. It is why it is so important to know the basic steps of social media before moving forward. Without well-laid-out goals, you can’t recognize exactly how well your social media goals are performing.
Clear cut social media goals will not only boost your marketing strategy but also serve as defined metrics to measure your progress. The initial step in measuring social media ROI is coming up with goals for all your social media efforts. But how do you set social media goals?
How many individuals set their new year’s resolution only to discover that they have not even started to effect any changes six months down the line?
This is also true for social marketing media strategies. To bring some value and benefits to your business, you have to set a few goals that you work hard to achieve.
When you set these goals, please do not leave it there. Frequently follow up and report on their progress. Checking on them time and again highly boost the likelihood of achieving whatever you are set to do. But how do you do it? Read on and learn how to set social media marketing goals.
How do You Set Achievable Social Media Goals?
Leverage social media in your business growth strategy with only one objective—to create a community.
As long as it aligns well with your current growth strategies, social media strategy works. That is why to institute successful social media marketing. Here are the steps to follow.
Conduct a Social Media Audit
You need to know where you stand currently before you even think of where you want to go. That is why it is imperative to conduct a social media audit.
The audit is an excellent point for reflection and growth as well as setting future social media goals. Through the examination, you will discover where the gaps are and the opportunities you are lacking. For those who struggle with such audits, can search online for resources to learn about social media audit or opt for best digital marketing course available to sharpen their skills.
Figure out What is Important
After carrying out the audit, scrutinize the gathered information. Evaluate the social channels that are superbly functioning and the ones that call for a different approach.
Next, figure out what is required to meet your goals. Vanity metrics are indeed cool to track. But can these simple measures be directly tied to business goals?
Will an increase in likes and comments create more business value? Well, in some cases, it might.
Once again, look at your business strategy as well as your social marketing idea and try to find some ways of integrating and aligning the two.
Now it’s the ripe time to craft your precise social media goals.
Choose a Goal-Setting Framework
We all know it is easy for anyone to come up with lofty goals. But are these goals achievable? Can they improve your business? Or can they measure your progress?
Beneficial goals need to be traceable and realistic. More importantly, these goals need to reflect clear objectives that will help to initiate and propagate growth.
So how do you set these goals? There are some established goal-setting frameworks to help you come up with meaningful social media goals that will see your business through in the long run. One of the famous and long-lasting structures is SMART.
How Do You Get SMART?
To set smart goals that will guarantee the growth of your business, institute the below explained SMART acronym.
- Specific: Your goals should be simple, clear, and to the point.
- Measurable: Ensure that the goals you set have some metrics that can measure them.
- Achievable: Are you in a position to achieve the goal within your available resources?
- Relevance: A relevant business goal is the one that strictly aligns with your business objectives. Does the goal back up your business’s vision, objectives, and values? Can your present time and money resources allow you to achieve the goal?
- Time Specific: Do you want everyone to be accountable? If yes, set the deadline for your goals.
How do you Measure Social Media Engagement?
What are the contents, products, and services that get your customers talking? What topics should you feature on your social media channels, and which ones to avoid? You will definitely get the answer to all these by measuring community engagement.
As there are many different types of engagements across platforms, here are the most common social media platforms and the metrics to look at.
- Facebook: Look at the Likes, Shares, Comments, and Direct Messages.
- Twitter: It would be best to look at Mentions, Quote Tweets, Retweets, and Direct Messages.
- Instagram: Likes, Replying to Stories with a chat, Comments, Direct Messages.
- LinkedIn: Observe the level of Likes, Views, Comments, and Shares.
- Pinterest: Here look at Impressions, Clicks, Saves, and Pins.
- Snapchat: With Snapchat, observe Screenshots, Direct Messages, and Replying to Stories on the chat.
Wrapping Up
If you set feasible and SMART goals, you are guaranteed of success in social media marketing.
Start by clearly defining where you ultimately want to be? And why it matters to be there?
Then, check for the skills and tasks that need to be done to meet the goals along with their priorities. Eventually, create a clear roadmap of reaching your set goals.
