Goal Setting In A Social Environment
Social media marketing is the use of social media platforms and websites to promote a product or service. Although the terms e-marketing and digital marketing are still dominant in academia, social media marketing is becoming more popular for both practitioners and researchers. Most social media platforms have built-in data analytics tools, which enable companies to track the progress, success, and engagement of ad campaigns. Companies address a range of stakeholders through social media marketing, including current and potential customers, current and potential employees, journalists, bloggers, and the general public. On a strategic level, social media marketing includes the management of a marketing campaign, governance, setting the scope (e.g. more active or passive use) and the establishment of a firm’s desired social media “culture” and “tone.”
When using social media marketing, firms can allow customers and Internet users to post user-generated content (e.g., online comments, product reviews, etc.), also known as “earned media,” rather than use marketer-prepared advertising copy.
Social networking websites allow individuals, businesses and other organizations to interact with one another and build relationships and communities online. When companies join these social channels, consumers can interact with them directly. That interaction can be more personal to users than traditional methods of outbound marketing and advertising. Social networking sites act as word of mouth or more precisely, e-word of mouth. The Internet’s ability to reach billions across the globe has given online word of mouth a powerful voice and far reach. The ability to rapidly change buying patterns and product or service acquisition and activity to a growing number of consumers is defined as an influence network. Social networking sites and blogs allow followers to “retweet” or “repost” comments made by others about a product being promoted, which occurs quite frequently on some social media sites. By repeating the message, the user’s connections are able to see the message, therefore reaching more people. Because the information about the product is being put out there and is getting repeated, more traffic is brought to the product/company.
Only 9% of people who make New Year’s resolutions feel like they succeeded. The most common reason resolutions fail is because they’re too broad to feel attainable. Social media goals operate in the same way. Aim too high in too short a time frame and you’re setting yourself up for failure.
Social media marketing spending in the US is expected to more than double from $7.52 billion in 2014 to $17.34 billion in 2019. Spending without data to back you up will not work in the long term. A key to justifying your social media work is setting up measurable goals that can showcase improvements in your digital presence.
Here, we’ll outline why you need to set goals and how to go about setting them. We’ll follow that up with some of the most common social media goals.
Why You Need to Set Social Media Goals
Time is the most valuable resource you have as a worker. If you’re spending a lot of time on social media for your company, wouldn’t you want to make sure you’re receiving the best results possible?
As a social media consultant, you’ll need goals and analytics to show your client that your work is creating results that they want. If you’re a social media manager for a company, you’ll want to make sure the goals are aligned with the company’s vision.
Without goals and metrics, you won’t know if the new strategy you’re trying out is working or if Sunday at 2 pm really is the best time to post for you.
One common goal-setting technique is to be SMART. This can be an excellent guideline for creating goals that work for your company.
SMART is an acronym for:
Specific: Your goals should be clear, simple and defined.
Measurable: This is where analytics come in. You want a goal that has one or more metrics.
Achievable: Is it achievable or is it not possible within your resources?
Realistic: With your current resources of time and money, is it possible to achieve your goals?
Time sensitive: Every goal needs a time frame, whether it’s one year or several months.
