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It is quite common for social media marketers to face challenges when trying to define social media goals. In fact, research shows that nearly half of marketers consider aligning their social media campaigns with company goals to be their biggest challenge.

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This doesn’t have to be the case. Although the goals you set for your social media strategy should be relevant to your business’ needs and structure, there are general guidelines that can apply to any social media business strategy.

Below are 5 steps to set goals that will yield results in your social media campaigns. 

Begin With A Big Picture Objective 

The goal-setting process should begin with the simple step of remembering why you are on social media in the first place. This big-picture objective would largely depend on the type of business you run – small business, startup, or enterprise company. For example, the broad objective for a startup may be to build awareness for a newly launched product and generate leads for it. Once you have established a broad objective, you can start setting smaller goals that will guide your social media strategy.

Know All There Is To Know About Your Audience 

It’s critical to understand who your target audience is and what they want to see on social media. As a result, you’ll be able to develop content that they’ll enjoy, engage with, and share. One great way to do this is to create buyer personas. Buyer personas comprise details about your target audience such as their age, location, average income, occupation, interests, etc.

Social media analytics is another effective tool to gather valuable information about your target audience. By leveraging analytics, you’ll be able to set informed goals instead of making baseless assumptions about your target audience. For example, instead of thinking Instagram is a better network for reaching the older generation, social media analytics would show you that Instagram’s largest age demographic is actually 18-29. 

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Set SMART Goals 

Having a broad objective and learning about your target audience is half the battle. The next step is to begin the actual goal-setting process. The acronym SMART, referring to a framework for setting effective goals, has been around for a long time. However, if you are not familiar with it, it stands for:

Specific – Have clear goals for what you want to achieve. When do you want to achieve them? Where? How? Under what conditions? 

Measurable – Analytics help you set goals that you can measure. Every goal you set should have one or more metrics.

Achievable – Can you achieve these goals with the resources you have? 

Relevant – Why do you want to achieve this goal? Is it in line with your platform? Will these goals you’re setting help you achieve the end goal?

Time Sensitive – As they say, time is money. This is even more obvious when it comes to social media campaigns that cost money, consume time, and require some energy. Ensure your social media goals can be achieved within a reasonable timeframe. 

Identify Goal Metrics

As earlier mentioned, every goal should have metrics tied to it. For example, a startup looking to increase brand awareness should take into account metrics like follower count, page and post impressions, reach, link clicks, and website analytics. Goals defined by metrics point you and your team in the right direction and equip you to achieve larger goals.

Track Your Goals 

Your capacity to track your data over time will determine whether or not you achieve your objectives. Are you seeing an increase in clicks and conversions? Is your audience expanding? Tracking your goals in this way will help you know the next steps to take irrespective of whether you achieve them or not. 

Featured image source: Small Business Trends
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This article was first published on 10th March 2022

samuelokoruwa

My name is Samuel Okoruwa. I am an ardent researcher, reading is life and writing is fun.

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