How To Create A Social Media Marketing Strategy Part 1: Setting Goals

Concrete and Measurable Goals Yield Concrete and Measurable Results.

With all the information out there about social media, you can certainly find an answer to any social media-related question—if you know the question to ask and what to look for.

The pressure to not miss the social media boat, has prompted many organizations and start-ups to jump in head first—doing first, thinking later. It seems a no-brainer to start with a Facebook page or a Twitter account and start posting. And, there is some value in simply getting started. But, sooner or later every organization confronts the question: now what? By then, there is usually a mess or two to clean up.

So, I urge you to think strategically about your social media presence and develop a Social Media Strategy and Plan. To start with, I invite you to think about why you are (or going to be) in the social media space. What are you looking to accomplish?

Now, this is where we usually “lose” the clients who are not used to thinking strategically. Most think that a general answer like “grow my business” is enough—it isn’t. To get results out of social media you have to be crystal clear about your goals—because concrete and measurable goals lead to concrete and measurable results. Plainly—the tools and tactics you’ll need to choose will be dependent on your goals. So, your homework for this is to come up with up to 3 concrete and measurable goals and your best guess in how you can measure them. Here are some examples:

Goals	Possible Metrics
Generate customer leads	Number of SM-generated inquiries
Measure or improve customer satisfaction	Number of positive customer posts
Connect with customers	Audience engagement
Encourage word-of-mouth referrals	Mentions
Generate sales	SM lead conversion rate
Conduct marketing research/assess customer sentiment	Poll engagement-response
Promote new product or service	New product mentions by others

Now, some of these may not seem quantifiable at first glance. For example, how do you measure customer satisfaction? While you may not be able to have an absolute unit of measurement at the start, you should be able to track patterns and trends and quantify changes such as expressions of positive sentiment or feedback/rating.

If you share your goals with us on our Facebook page—we can suggest appropriate ways to quantify/measure your progress. Also, feel free to ask questions—we love to share.