A guide to social media goal writing

Is social media working for you?

That’s a tough question, especially if you aren’t really sure what you expect from social media in the first place.

Some of the reasons businesses start a social media campaign include:

Because the competition had a Facebook Fanpage (or Twitter presence)
An employee/ customer / or friend said they should
Because it is a ‘free’ way to do marketing

More often that not, companies are committed to being on social media, but they can’t really give a good reason ‘why’ they want to be there.

Despite the strong desire to jump in and get active on social media, time spent focusing on strategy and goals proves time and time again to be very valuable.

After all, if you don’t know where your headed how will you know when you’ve arrived?

Setting effective social media goals is actually fairly straightforward. After all, a social media goal needs to align with and support your over arching business goals. Increasing your numbers of Facebook LIKES or Twitter Followers aren’t strategic social media goals. Unless you can really prove that more likes and followers directly affect your bottom line.

A more appropriate social media goal may be… to further the organization’s position as a thought leader in the sector. Using social media to further an organizations position and engage a target group with current research and trend information is measurable on Facebook – watch and see how people comment on postings and how much they retweet or repost your information. A few engaged Fans or followers that comment on your content are far more valuable that dozens of followers who add to the count, but find your posts irrelevant.

Before you tweet again, or post a poll on Facebook, spend a little time focusing on your social media goals. How will you know if your time spent on Facebook has been fruitful? Do you evaluate your presence to see which types of posts engage your audience? Do you watch your website analytics to see if your social media activity translates to web traffic, or to sales leads?

Social Media goals need to align with general business goals and also should be SMART goals (Specific, Measureable, Attainable, Relevant and Timely). Ready to set some goals? Downlaod the attached Social Media Goal Setting Thought Starter. This guide will provide you with a step by step overview on how to write effective social media goals.

Once you’ve written social media goals you’ll be able to evaluate your efforts—knowing if your time in social media is worth your while and which tools are more effective than others.