When it comes to marketing, social media or otherwise, it’s good to have goals. Often when we speak with businesses, we’ll ask, “Well, what is your goal with this campaign?”
Sometimes the answer is silence, sometimes it’s “more sales”, and most times it’s “we haven’t really thought about it”.
If you can relate, know that you’re not alone. And that your first marketing goal should be to, well… make some goals. It gives you light at the end of the tunnel, something to work towards and something to use as the barometer of success.
With Social Media Marketing goals, you have several options. You’ll want to really define what your goals are. Try to stay away from words like “more.” More of what? And how much more? And in what time frame? And for how much spend? And with what effort?
Here are 3 sample goal ideas to kick start your goal planning that you can use to measure your social media campaign success:
- Grow your audience by double in the next 3 months.
Of course, you may want to adjust the numbers for your particular situation, but you get the gist. Just fill in the blanks for yourself. How much do you want to grow your audience and in how much time… then use that as the starting point. Define which platforms you will use and how much of a budget you can put towards it. This can include digital ads, business cards at your checkout with a link, email campaigns reminding your customers where they can go to follow you, direct mail with QR codes, billboards, joining networking groups, etc.
- Increase your sales that originate from Instagram by $300 per month in the next 6 months.
Again, fill in your own numbers and timeframe that make sense for your business. With a goal like this you have your platform defined, you’ll just need to iron out the details. This could include creating daily content in different ways for Reels, Stories and your Grid, going in-depth on product usage, reviews, answering FAQs, etc. This will take a very focused approach and exceptional sales tracking. Be sure you’re using UTM codes from any links that are in your bio or ads, as well as landing pages that are specifically designed for this campaign only. If you offer in store sales, train your associates to ask what brought them into the store. The better your tracking skills, the better you can plan for future campaigns, while you measure the success of this one.
- Increase awareness of a service to a reach of 500 more connections per month.
Now a marketing goal like this is admittedly a little less tangible than the others. A goal like this would be helpful for non-profits or a business that wants to service its current customers in a more robust way. It is not sales oriented directly or audience growth specific. If you want to get the word out about community services or make your current clients more loyal to you, this is the goal for you. You can define a goal like this using comments and shares on your social platforms or by tracking emails that are opened and clicked on to read blogs with helpful tips as your measure of success. The goal could also include attending events, handing out brochures or hosting open houses. Although they are not completely social media oriented, you can use social media to spread the word through events on Facebook and invitation videos on Instagram or LinkedIn.
As you create campaigns this year, try to concentrate on a true goal. Work on defining specifics and focus on tracking. Then, when you move on to your future campaigns, you’ll know what worked, what didn’t and in what areas you may want to set new goals.
At Green T Design, we help business of all sizes with campaign goals, tracking and strategy. Please reach out if you need support in this area!
