Do You Know Your Social Media Goals and What Success Looks Like?
If your organization has a presence on social media, do you know why? If you haven’t first set goals and then measured the results, you’re just wasting valuable resources.
Social media can be a powerful arrow in your marketing quiver. Whether you do your own social media marketing or hire someone to do it for you, it’s a business expense in either time or money. Make the most of that investment by planning goals and assessing whether you’ve met them.
Common Social Media Goals:
This is the most common social media goal. Studies show that it takes a decent number of positive interactions before a prospective customer is ready to make that “buy” decision. Social media can be a great way to rack up those interactions and move people along the buying path.
You’ve no doubt heard the concept that people buy from those they know, like, and trust. Repeated social media interactions help people know your business better, get to like what you offer, and trust that you will supply them with the product or service they need.
To increase your brand’s visibility and reach, it’s important to be active on the same social platforms as your prospective customers and speak to them in a style that matches their interests. You don’t have to be an expert on every platform, just the ones where your customers spend time.
For awareness goals, you’ll want to measure the number of impressions of your social media posts, as well as your reach, and the growth of your audience.
Community members talk amongst themselves and help each other out. You can easily see how important it would be to have a community of your own customers! Users of your service or product already know the answers to new users’ questions and can make recommendations for further purchases. Community also reinforces brand loyalty, building long-term relationships for repeat business, the easiest sales to make.
Measure the success of community-building goals by the number of likes and shares, and pay special attention to comments. Stay alert to what people are saying about your brand so you can respond appropriately and even make changes to how you do business.
Marketing and sales are really two different aspects of your business, and social media is more about marketing. But it’s making the sale, of course, that puts money in your pocket, so conversion can be one of the goals your social media strategy.
Remember, however, that conversion doesn’t have to mean making a purchase. A conversion could also be making an appointment, filling in an interest form, or signing up for a free report or newsletter. All of these guide prospective customers down that buyer’s journey towards the final sale.
Conversion goals are probably the easiest to measure. You can count how many people signed up or completed a purchase. Just keep in mind that while it’s useful to make that Call To Action on occasion, asking too often will turn them away. Don’t fall into the spam category by being too pushy.
Every organization should experiment with social media to see how important it can be to their marketing mix, but too many people are just winging it. Without a plan and a way to measure, you and your team can’t be sure if your social media is working. Set up your goals and study your analytics so you will know which efforts are worth the investment.
The Sprocket team has years of experience in handling social media for our clients. Whether you’re looking for a little assistance or to hand off the whole project, we can help. Contact us today to discuss your specific needs.
Photo by Thomas Serer
This article is an update to“Do You Know Your Social Media Goal and ROI?” dated 6/20/2016.
Kate Gingold
I have been writing a blog with web marketing tips and techniques every other week since 2003. In addition to blogging and client content writing, I write books and a blog on local history.
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I have been writing a blog with web marketing tips and techniques every other week since 2003. In addition to blogging and client content writing, I write books and a blog on local history.
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