Social Media 101: Setting Goals

Before you start tweeting, sharing, commenting, and posting, it is important to have a solid social media strategy in place. Whether you’re a start-up, a non-profit, or a household name, a solid strategy will focus your campaign and help you to achieve your communications goals. We’ve developed a simple four-step process for our clients:

1. Set goals for your social media campaign.
2. Assess your current situation and research the platforms you want to use to achieve your goals.
3. Strategize on the creative ways your going to make a splash with your campaign.
4. Manage your social media efforts, and keep track of your progress.

Today, I’ll focus on the first step. Start by making a list of long-term goals and a list of short-term goals that you want to achieve via social media marketing. These will be your road map as you go forward.

Long-term goals are the framework where marketing campaigns begin. Visualize where you want to be in a year, two years, five years from the day you start up your social media marketing. Your answers to the following questions will provide you with a solid list of long-term goals.

• Why are you investing in social media?
• What do you want your social media presence to do for your brand?
• What three words do you want to define your social media voice?
  Passionate/Knowledgeable/Inquisitive…
  Quirky/Engaging/Funny…
  Informative/Promotional/Generous…
• How do you envision social media growing your business?

Some examples of long term goals:

• Speaking opportunities for your CEO
• Entering contests and competitions
• Networking with other businesses
• Connecting with people who have similar passions/interests
• Increasing the visibility of your brand or business

Your short-term goals must be customized based upon which site you will be using. Short-term goals are things that you can control in the near future. Try setting weekly goals for yourself. It will give you something to aim for. These goals are related to your social media metrics and what you are trying to measure as a successful social media campaign.

Your short-term goals are contingent upon your long-term goals. Let’s say your long term goal is to bring more traffic onto your website. Then your short-term goals may be focused on always including a link to your website with all your posts. Or, if your long-term goal is to engage with a new online network, your short-term goals may be to respond to every @ mention on Twitter in the hopes of sparking meaningful conversations.

Some examples of (weekly) short-term goals:

• Entice 5 to 10 new followers on Twitter.
• Every post on the Facebook page will have at least one “Like” and one comment.
• Post all new blog posts onto the walls of relevant groups in LinkedIn.
• Receive 3 @mentions on Twitter.
• Post 5 new pictures onto the company Flickr stream.

Some examples of (daily) short-term goals:

• Send out 3 original tweets per day.
• “Like” 3 relevant posts, pictures, or comments on Facebook.
• Add 1 new person to your network via LinkedIn.

The more focused and targeted your social media is, the easier it is to control and track your success. Your short-term goals will help guide you into keeping healthy social media habits until they become second nature.

 Step 2: A Situational Analysis
Step 3: Develop a Creative Strategy