Setting up clear social media goals is the first step in a good social media marketing strategy and the only way you’ll actually ensure that your efforts are making a difference. First, you need to determine what your business needs are at a given moment and how social media will help meet these needs.
The objective here is to align your social media as one arm of a strong digital marketing campaign that propels your business forward. With strong goals in place you can then craft a strategy and go on to create content that supports those goals.
So, what are some common goals a small business might have?
Example Goals for Social Media Marketing
- Increase sales
- Drive website traffic
- Raise brand awareness
- Boost brand engagement
- Generate new leads
- Improve customer relations
- Build a community around your business
- Establish authority and industry expertise
- Shift brand sentiment
- Fill open jobs and hire for positions
You might be thinking, “How do I pick just one? I need all of these!”
That’s ok!
But, it will help to start with the one or two MOST important goals and work from there. If you’re just starting out, it’s likely that you might want to build a follower base from which to draw customers and hire for open positions. Once you’re further along and have met these goals, you can shift to goals that follow like driving website traffic and selling products!
How to Measure Your Goals
The only way to know if you’re succeeding in these goals is to measure the results.
This means you’ll want to pay attention to your analytics!
There are key metrics that you should hone in on to measure growth for a specific goal. Some of the most common include:
- Follower Count
- Reach (number of individuals who saw your content)
- Clicks (most often to your website – web traffic)
- Profile Visits
- Engagements (comments, likes, shares)
- Video Plays
- Sales (if directly selling on a platform like Meta)
You should be tracking and measuring your results each month as you plan your content. This not only helps you see what is working well and what isn’t for social media, but whether or not it is shifting the needle in your bottom line!
It’s a good idea to do a quarterly check-in to make sure your social strategy is still meeting your needs! Ask yourself, what is my biggest business challenge right now? How is social media supporting it? Don’t be afraid to take a look at the competition to see what they’re doing and how you’re stacking up!
Need some help when it comes to social media marketing, your goals, your content, or your analytics? We’re here to help! From social media management to consulting, we can help get your business on the right track when it comes to your digital marketing. Send us an email to hello@oliverandco.social and let’s get started!
Oliver and Co. Social 