Setting social Media Goals
2023 is almost over–the holiday season is upon us and ‘tis the season for reflecting and planning for the new year! For entrepreneurs and small businesses one of the most important things to think about for the new year is setting social media goals. Whether you are an established business re-evaluating your current goals, or a brand new business ready to launch, reviewing your social media goals is critical to your success!
Why is Goal setting for social media important?
Setting social media goals for your business (or even your personal account) gives you focus, and allows you to create a strategy which is measurable and attainable. Without a goal, it’s almost impossible to define a strategy let alone apply one. What’s more, setting social media goals helps you to understand the steps necessary to achieve them and the support you will need to do so. For example, goals will help guide your content, pick the right tools to optimize your content for your target audience, and to select appropriate engagement strategies.
More practically, setting social media goals will help you to manage and assign your budget to areas of need, streamline your workflow, and keep you on track with your businesses’ wider objectives. According to HootSuite, social media goals are important components of a larger business strategy and invaluable to your business’ marketing success!
5 kinds of social media goals
There are a number of social media goals that deserve attention, and we would love to chat about all of them, but these five should get your started (and if you want more, no problem, just get in touch and we will happily help!). They are:
Goals for Raising Brand Awareness
Goals for Managing Brand Reputation
Goals for Raising Engagement
Goals for Raising Conversions and Sales
Goals for Generating Leads
Goals for Raising Brand Awareness
You have a brand and you want people to know all about it, especially after all you worked so hard to make it happen! Setting a social media goal to increase your brand awareness means increasing the number of people who are familiar with your brand. This goal is usually one of the first ones set when launching a new business or when your established brand is introducing a new product/service.
There are several ways to measure brand awareness and they all involve tracking your reach and impressions. Keep in mind that the “Rule of Seven” dictates that it takes (on average) seven interactions with a brand before a purchase is made. Brand awareness can be measured using metrics such as: reach (how many people seen your post); audience growth (the rate at which you grow your followers); shares (how many times your brand is shared by others); and potential reach (the number of people who engage with your brand but don’t yet follow).
Goals for Managing Brand Reputation
There are so many benefits to investing in your social media marketing, but one of the most important is that it helps to build trust in your brand. According to Hoot Suite, “These days, trust drives growth and this social media objective measures public attitudes about your brand”. Setting a goal to manage your brand reputation helps to drive traffic to your brand and it also ensures that others will also invest in your product or service.
Goals for Raising Engagement
Increasing engagement is an important goal for any social media user! This is because your engagement speaks to the algorithm and determines whether or not your audience finds your content valuable. Engagement is defined as any kind of visible interaction with your brand/ business on social media. Examples of engagement include: likes, comments, video & story views, saves, taps & clicks, and shares on your posts.
Setting your engagement goals will help increase your visibility because algorithm metrics reward accounts that have high engagement rates. So set those engagement goals high and let the world know about your wonderful brand!
Goals for Raising Conversions and Sales
Did you know that raising your engagement can also help raise your conversions and sales? A conversion is when an audience member takes action on your post, reel or story. Some common conversions include newsletter sign-up, freebie download, and (the ultimate goal) a sale!
Conversions can be measured in different ways, including: the number of visitors who take action on your posts; the rate at which audiences click on the call-to-action link; the amount of clicks you get to your website from a social media link; and, of course, the number of sales that are generated from your social media accounts. When setting your conversion and sales goals, consider your ultimate objective and focus on the social media path that will lead you to that target.
Goals for generating leads
“Leads” is a term we hear a lot, especially in the social media sphere. According to HubSpot, a lead is defined as “as information someone shares that enables you to identify and follow up with them”. There are several factors that help increase leads in social media (and two of these are included in your goal setting–woot woot!). These include: brand awareness, engagement, and website traffic. In order to increase your leads, your social media platforms have to be optimized. That means your contact information has to be clearly displayed and you should be using clearly articulated call-to-action prompts.
Another factor that can help with potential leads is creating engaging and compelling content. In Instagram, for example, reels are favoured by the algorithm, so if you are setting a leads goal, a good starting point would be to create some engaging and interesting reels for your audience!
Keep in mind that every social media platform has its own “language” and your goals should be specific to that platform. And hey, if you need help, we are here–just give us a shout! Until then, happy goal planning!
