SMART Goals For Your Social Media

Earlier this week I posted a quick overview of SMART Goals on my Instagram. Here's a closer look at why SMART goals are important, and how to create them.

Here are some interesting and important statistics from a Harvard study on goal-setting to ponder over :

• 83% of people don't set out goals.

• 14% of people have goals but don't write them down.

• 3% of people have goals AND write them down and they are 30x more likely to be successful!! (*mind blown*)

Simply put, writing down your goals guarantees you a better chance of being successful! AND, it only takes a few minutes!

What are SMART Goals?

You know what's smart? That whoever 'invented' SMART goals made it an acronym! Smart Goals are:

Specific - The more specific your goal is, the easier it will be to achieve.

Measurable - Your goal needs to be able to be measured by at least one metric.

Attainable - Your goal needs to be realistic!

Relevant - Your goal should be aligned with your overall business objectives.

Time Specific - Your goal needs a deadline!

Let's delve a little deeper and use some examples to get a better understanding...

SMART Goal #1: Specific

It's imperative that your goal be specific, clear and concise.

For example, simply stating: "Increase brand awareness" is a good start, but there are many unanswered questions, the most important being How?

One way could be through social media, specifically through getting more followers... but your goal still needs to be more specific:

• How many followers?

• On what platform?

• When?

Instead, something like: "Gain 500 new Instagram followers in 30 days" is much more specific, and begins to lead the way for what needs to be done next.

SMART Goal #2: Measurable

In order to track your progress towards your SMART goal, it must be measurable.

This means that there has to be a concrete way that you can measure whether or not you are successful in achieving your goal.

If you have a goal that can't be measured then it's virtually useless because you'll be unable to see if the steps you are taking (such as social media posts, emails, landing pages, etc.) are working.

With the previous example, "Gain 500 new Instagram followers", we can simply look at our number of followers and watch them grow as we approach our SMART goal.

Other common metrics people use to measure their goals may be website clicks, open rates for emails, subscriptions, leads, conversions, and so on.

(We'll look at all kinds of different types of SMART goals and their metrics that small business owners can use later on in the blog!)

SMART Goal #3: Attainable

Your goals need to be realistic.

This is not to say that they shouldn't be challenging, or take some real hard work to achieve.

Let's look back at our example, "Gain 500 new Instagram followers in 30 days."

For someone who has tens of thousands of followers, this may not be that hard. Something like a giveaway could really increase their reach and get them new followers quite quickly.

But if you're just starting out, getting 500 new followers in 30 days may take some dedication, but it is doable.

However, trying to get, say, 5000 new followers within 30 days with a relatively new account might be overreaching. (Or maybe you're just that good! If so, kudos to you!)

The point is, try to make your goals achievable and attainable so that you can reach them and have something to be proud of. If you go above and beyond your SMART goal (yay!) then you know you can set your next goal even higher!

SMART Goal #4: Relevant

Your SMART goal should be relevant to the overall aims and objectives of your business.

You don't want to waste ANY time on a goal that doesn't really benefit your business as a whole.

Take the example of gaining more Instagram followers.

Gaining more followers increases brand awareness. The more people that are aware of the brand, and are exposed to well-crafted posts from the brand, the more likely they will be to purchase a product or service.

The relevance also comes into play with HOW you achieve your SMART goal as well.

It would definitely make the most sense to get Instagram followers by posting educational, entertaining, or inspirational content on... you guessed it - Instagram! Creating a print ad asking people to follow your social media would not be nearly as relevant and most likely not as successful.

SMART Goal #5: Time Specific

Finally, you want to set a deadline for your goal.

This gives you the determination to work towards your goal and gives your goal worth. It cuts out the procrastination and puts the pressure on! (Good pressure! Pressure to succeed and reach your goals!)

Gaining 500 Instagram followers within a year is not nearly as impressive or driven as gaining the same amount of followers in 30 days.

Quick Recap:

4 Social Media SMART Goals and Metrics Examples

You hear stats about how often you should post, or how many emails you should send to get people interested in your brand BUT you can't just do it blindly. (Well, you could, but you probably won't see AMAZING results, if any!)

There's nothing worse than staring at a blank screen and wondering what to do next with your business. What's worse yet is just whipping something together with no real thought of how it's going to help your business, just to get it done and hit post and hope to the skies that something comes out of it.

Here are 4 examples of social media SMART Goals and how to track them to get you rolling...

#1: Increase Brand Awareness

Brand awareness, quite simply put, is how many people are aware of your business and how lasting the impression of your brand is!

For any brand to succeed, people need to, first and foremost, know it exists, and like it!

Examples of SMART Goals for Increasing Brand Awareness:

• Gain 500 Instagram followers in 30 days

• Post at least 3 times a week on all social media platforms until Jan 1

• Increase Facebook post shares by 10% within 2 months

Measurable Metrics:

• Number of new/lost Followers

• How often you are posting

• How many likes, tags, comments, saves and shares your posts are getting

• Impressions and reach of your posts

#2: Generate Leads and Sales

This SMART Goal is relevant to every single business out there.

Whether or not you get the sale immediately, obtaining a lead such as having someone join your mailing list is of much value. If you continue to peak their interests, this lead can transform them over time from the awareness level to the conversion level!

Examples of SMART Goals for Generating Leads and Sales

• Increase email subscription list by 10% in 2 months

• Increase click-through rate from social media posts to website by 15% in 3 months

• Increase conversion rate from Facebook catalog by 20% in 4 months

Measurable Metrics:

• Number of new/lost email subscription sign-ups

• Click-through rates

• Conversion rates from social media ads or catalogues

• Sales revenue

#3: Improve Community Engagement

Providing engaging content and getting your audience to interact with you is very important in building relationships and making meaningful connections with your followers.

Asking questions, providing polls and surveys, doing giveaways, or even just creating educational, inspiring or entertaining content are some ways you can build your community's engagement.

Responding to reviews and even comments on your posts is another way to engage with your audience and make them feel valued.

Examples of SMART Goals for Improving Community Engagement

• Increase post shares by 40% by the end of the year

• Do at least one Instagram and Facebook live a week for 2 months

• Achieve 15+ comments on each post within 3 months

Measurable Metrics:

• Likes, mentions, comments, saves and shares of your posts

• Live viewers

• Web traffic from social media and click-through-rates

#4: Boost Website Traffic

With tools like Google Analytics, you can easily see how many people are visiting your website directly from your different social media platforms, as well as how long they spend on your site, and which pages within your website they frequent the most.

There are many ways to use your social media to guide people to your website, where they can make a purchase or learn more about your brand.

Whether it's through organic posts that offer extra information by visiting your website (like a blog, perhaps! *wink wink*), or paid ads with a call-to-action (CTA) that leads them directly there, social media can be a great tool to increase your website traffic.

Examples of SMART Goals for Boosting Website Traffic:

• Improve your organic Instagram ad click-through rates by 3% in 2 months

• Improve your Facebook paid ads click-through rates by 5% in 3 months

• Write weekly blogs and post a "new blog" post on Instagram and Facebook for 3 months.

Measurable Metrics:

• Check analytics for website traffic, especially from specific social media platforms

• Organic and paid ad click-through-rates

• Email Subscriptions

• Conversions

What Are Your SMART Goals?

As you can see, setting SMART goals takes out the guesswork and gives you a clear direction to move towards.

Once your goals are in place, you can post with confidence!

I'd love to hear some of your SMART goals. Please feel free to share them here!

Also, if you found this article to be informative, or if there's another topic you'd like me to cover, let me know!

And don't forget...! I offer FREE, casual, no-pressure social media and copywriting discovery calls. No job is too big or too small. You can email me at sema@semawrites.com to set up a time that's convenient for you.

Signing off,

Sema Good