New year, new you? 2017 is here and while you’re working to maintain your personal resolutions of drinking more water and eating less sugar, why not apply some of those goals to your company’s social media? If you’re looking to ring in 2017 by revamping your channels and amping up your online presence, there’s no better time than now to get going. Where do you start? You just need to be SMART!
Specific
When creating your social media goals, it’s important to know what you’re trying to achieve before you get started. What bad habits do you want to ditch from 2016? Define what you are going to work on and what your desired outcome is.
Measurable
By creating a measurable goal, you know what you need to reach when 2018 strikes. A measurable goal answers the question “how will I know my goal has been accomplished.” Make sure your goals for social media are ones that can be tracked and monitored until you achieve them. By checking your analytics and tracking your social media progress, you will be able to ensure you stay on track each month.
Agreed Upon
Your social media goal should be in line with your brand voice and your company’s core values. Discuss your goals for social media with your entire team, especially those who will be posting for you online. Your goal will be more attainable if everyone understands what they are working towards and agrees that this is a goal the entire team can work towards together.
Realistic
Sure, we’d all like to have 95 million Instagram followers like Taylor Swift, but is this a realistic goal for your business? Set goals that are reasonable and that you can reach, but will still leave you willing to work hard and strive to exceed them. If your social media goals are unreasonable, you will be less willing to put the time and energy in to try and meet them.
Time-Based
Are you looking to achieve a certain amount of followers or average a certain amount of likes per post? Whatever your desired metrics are, make sure there is enough time to meet these goals. Sure, New Year’s resolutions are great to make, but a year is too long and can affect the performance of your goal. Set reasonable times for your goals to be achieved, and check in once a month on your progress.
Each one of the goals you set for yourself and your company should fit into these five categories.
Social media goals that are set with these thoughts in mind will have the potential to improve your channels greatly – if you stick with them. Don’t worry; if you get off track, you don’t have to wait until 2018 to try again. Constantly set goals for your company and work to improve those social media channels each day. Ready to learn more? Sign up for our February social media bootcamp and fall in love with social media.