Use SMART Goals to Guide Your Social Media Marketing in 2017

By Craig Spooner

Planning a social media marketing strategy is essential for any organization. One way to navigate the overwhelming job of tackling social media is to set SMART goals. Not sure of what SMART goals are? Here’s a breakdown of one of our favorite acronyms.

S is for Specific: Ensure each goal is well-defined, clear, and concise.

M is for Measurable: Data is king. Create a goal that you allows you to measure success or failure using marketing metrics.

A is for Attainable: Be realistic with your goals. Understand your resources, time, and availability.

R is for Relevant: Do you want to generate new customers, retain existing ones, or strengthen your brand? Be sure your goals are aligned with your overall marketing strategy.

T is for Timely: All goals must have deadlines. Give yourself enough time to achieve the goal.

Here are some examples of SMART goals for social media:

“My organization will generate one blog post a week for the entire Q2 in 2017.”

• Specific: Your organization will be increasing content marketing via a blog post.
• Measureable: Did you generate a post this week? Success!
• Attainable: One blog post per week is not an overwhelming workload.
• Relevant: Generating content should be important to your overall yearly goals.
• Timely: The blogging will take place once per week during Q2.

“My organization will gain 75 Twitter followers a month during the Q1 marketing campaign.”

• Specific: Your organization will be adding Twitter followers.
• Measureable: Seventy-five Twitter followers a month is a quantifiable goal.
• Attainable: Seventy-five Twitter followers seems attainable. You can always adjust the number based on the size and current Twitter reach of your organization.
• Relevant: Adding followers is important in measuring social media success.
• Timely: The goal is contained within the timeframe of Q1.

“My organization will create awareness of our product by placing 12 ads on Facebook in 2017.”

• Specific: Your organization will be increasing awareness via Facebook.
• Measureable: 12 ads = goal attained!
• Attainable: Placing 12 ads is not a huge financial or time burden.
• Relevant: Generating awareness is an important facet of social media.
• Timely: You will place one ad per month in 2017.

Social media constantly changes and can feel like busy work. The reality, however, is that many simple (and SMART) efforts in social media can add up to big things for your organization. Looking for more ways to get the most out of your Marketing Campaigns? Check out our recent post, 3 Tips for Maximizing Your Marketing ROI!

Thank you for sharing!