These measurable social media goals aren’t just “get more followers”
Many businesses want to gain more followers on Facebook or Twitter. When you dig a little deeper, you might find this goal isn’t as straightforward as it seems. To see return on social media efforts, it is more important to have the right followers than it is to have a ton who don’t fit your business goals.
One of the main reasons businesses focus on follower numbers is that the metric is quantifiable, unlike so many other social media measures. For example, it can be difficult to define and track “increase brand awareness” in a monthly report.
One of the main reasons businesses focus on follower numbers is that the metric is quantifiable, unlike so many other social media measures. For example, it can be difficult to define and track “increase brand awareness” in a monthly report.
Fortunately, there are a lot of success measures that you can track if you know where to look and how to set them up. We put together a list of 5 measurable social media goals that you can use to see your ROI on all the Liking and Tweeting you do each week.
1. Increase referral traffic to a specific page on your website
When you are promoting a sale or email newsletter sign up, the return on those efforts comes in the form of dollars and cents. Use social media to direct more traffic to key pages on your website. To measure success, analyze the website analytics to see if the social media promotions are driving more traffic to your site or webpage.
2. Target a specific audience and increase the number of followers who match that criteria
For example, a local coffee shop is likely to see a bigger return from social media followers who are located nearby than those who are farther away. In Facebook page insights, drill down into the People section to see the data about where your followers are located. If your company is targeting a specific region, set goals to increase page followers in those particular areas. With Facebook ads, you can set target audiences based on your own parameters.
3. Increase post engagement averages
What’s the point of having followers if they never interact with your content? Use analytics and insights to see which posts have had the most engagement on each platform and then use elements of those posts in future planning. By increasing engagement, you will have more comments, shares, and likes on your posts.
Not sure where to find analytics?
Not sure where to find analytics?
- Twitter – Log in to your profile and choose “Analytics” from the menu
- Facebook – Learn how to find and understand Insights
- LinkedIn – Access LinkedIn company page data
4. Establish presence and post regularly / strategically
While many measures of success are related to reactions from followers, it is important to note that there are goals you can set internally to be successful. It is difficult to gain followers or drive traffic to your website if you aren’t actually posting on social media. Set realistic goals for frequency, content selection, and monitoring social channels and then stick to them. By setting this goal, you’re making it possible to reach those external goals, like gaining followers and increasing engagement.5. Request customer reviews
Good reviews can be very influential in your customers’ minds, and you can set goals to collect them strategically. Use your website analytics and general industry knowledge to set targets on specific platforms, such as Yelp! or Google+. Review your client list and ask for reviews on these specific platforms to build up positive referrals for your business. Good reviews establish credibility with your potential customers since “88 percent of consumers trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation” (Forbes).Speaking of requesting customer reviews…
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This post was written December 15, 2016.
About the author TBH Creative
TBH Creative is an award-winning marketing company specializing in web design/development, digital strategy, inbound marketing, and reporting. Since 2004, we’ve built multi-dimensional digital marketing campaigns and complex, enterprise-level websites for clients in a wide range of industries.
We believe in communicating clearly, delivering excellence, and beating deadlines. But beyond those ideals, what really drives the heart of our business is your business—helping our clients achieve more with comprehensive digital marketing and web design.
Our Indianapolis web design company is WBE-certified in the state of Indiana and the city of Indianapolis, and we’re also a Hubspot-certified inbound marketing agency.
