What goals should you be setting for your social media?
11 October 2016We all know people who are high achievers and always seem to get what they want, and you can bet your bottom dollar they’ve got one thing in common – setting goals.
It doesn’t work in all cases, of course. I once had a very clear goal of dating Mel Gibson, and that never happened…
But it is true that if you’ve only a vague idea of where you want to go, you’ll never get there. Setting goals makes you more informed, more focused, and much more likely to succeed.
So whether you’re managing your own social media or hiring someone else to do it, goal-setting should be your first priority.
Here are a few handy tips:
Step One – Take stock
The first step is to assess where you are now:
What are you selling and how are you using social media?
How many followers do you have?
How many likes, shares, or retweets so you get?
Step Two – Set Your Goals
The next step is to set your goals. These need to be realistic (getting more Facebook likes than Beyoncé is probably a bit of a stretch!).
However, good social media marketing should:
Increase your connections – this is the big art of reaching a wider audience and stepping beyond your current customers and friends
Increase your engagement
Increase your enquiries/sales
Step Three – Use The Right Messages
You’ll only achieve your goals if you’re using the right messages.
If you’re selling chocolate cake, then things are going to be relatively straightforward – everyone likes cake, right? But if you’re selling athletes’ foot powder, you might need a bit more imagination.
Think of the things YOU engage with online. Social media content needs to be one of three things: INTERESTING, USEFUL or FUNNY. (There is a hidden fourth option: being deliberately controversial. This is a high risk strategy which you need to approach with kid gloves on, unless your name is Katie Price).
Look at similar companies and try to understand what engages your customers.
Engagement equals sales
Remember, there’s nothing wrong with blatant sales messages, but the way you communicate them can be the difference between people sharing your posts or ignoring them.
A varied approach works better than repetitive, carbon copy posts.
Think about using:
Images – to break up text, catch the attention, and make a page look more attractive
Links – to provide readers with useful information, and increase your page hits
Memes – these are images, text or videos, often humorous, which are copied and spread across the internet. They can get a message out fast and far!
Blogs – to share messages and information in a more useful, detailed, and personal manner, and to build up brand loyalty and awareness
If you change your social media marketing dramatically, you could expect a 30% increase in connections, engagements and enquiries. If all you’re doing is posting more of the same and not bringing in more followers or connections, then you might find yourself stuck in the same social media back alley.
Think you might benefit from a free social media session?
