Effective Strategies for Setting and Achieving Social Media Goals

The month of resolution-making (and breaking) may be over, but that doesn’t mean you can’t continue working on your business's personal goals. That's why this article is all about your social media goals. While it might seem scary, learning how to effectively use social media is one of the most important things for any modern business.

What do we mean by social media goals?

If it has to do with your business and social media, then it most likely falls into this category. Improving brand awareness, generating more leads, getting that engagement, and improving your brand's reputation are all goals you can work towards. This isn’t just about creating amazing content, in fact, even if you do you might not be seeing the success rain down into those other areas. This is about learning all the little tricks of algorithms, keywords, compelling videos or pictures, and how to communicate in the digital world to see big changes that will drive your business forward. 

Our tips for creating effective strategies

As always, we have done some of the hard work for you and compiled our top tips for your strategies so you can achieve all those social media goals. 

Get SMART with your goals

No, this doesn’t mean to think harder. SMART stands for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. A SMART goal would be to “Increase website link clicks by 10% in the next two months.” Filling all these categories gives you a good start toward goal creation.

Think of your current marketing objectives

Social media is fun, but for businesses, it is a powerful marketing tool. Knowing what your current marketing goals are gives you a clear layout of what your social media goals should be as well. There should be a “why” behind everything you post.

Know how to know if it’s working

Learn the key metrics associated with your goals for social media. Simply seeing more clicks on your site won’t tell you if those clicks are coming from social media, emails, or paid ads. Instead, familiarize yourself with the metric charts, graphs, and numbers provided to business accounts through social media, or consider a third-party tool that compiles it all in one place for you.

See where you’re at now

Performing a social media audit tells you exactly where you’re falling short. Take a look at what’s already successful within your company’s social media posts as well and analyze what makes it different from your other content. This information is crucial for developing those SMART goals.  

Monitor your goals consistently

Don’t just make a few changes and then walk away until next year. Goals are what you want to see at the end, and might involve changing tactics multiple times. Create multiple mini-targets on your way to the big one. See if you are hitting those (or at least getting close) to know if you are on track for that big finale. 

Reach and recall

This one applies specifically towards brand awareness goals. Reach involves getting your brand name in front of as many eyes as possible. Use influencer marketing, ads, and well-researched hashtags. To know if it’s working check your post reach, brand mentions, and follower count.

Talk to your audience

While this tip is for improving brand sentiment, it can help with multiple goals. Getting a social media monitoring tool to notify you (or your social media manager) every time your brand is mentioned is a great way to always respond quickly to your customers. Put even more emphasis on responding to any negative comments to mitigate damage and create a more loyal fan base if you can fix the problem quickly. 

Create great content

Ultimately, this is the best way to reach any social media goal you may have. Creating strong content that your viewers want to watch and then want to click through to your profile to see more is key. Keep up to date on trends, make references to what is going on in the world, and show behind-the-scenes fun that connects your customer base to your company's values. While there are plenty of tips and tricks for social media, content is still king. 

Remember, it’s never too late to set and achieve goals. You got this!