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These days there's no way of avoiding social media. It's everywhere. Setting goals in social media is a sure way of improving the overall impact of your marketing strategy. Having goals in place can also help increase overall motivation and more likely result in success.
One way of ensuring that social media marketing goals are met is to use SMART goals. This article will highlight six social media SMART goals examples to help you advance your online business or brand.
What Are SMART Goals?
Using SMART goals as part of your social media marketing strategy can significantly help improve your overall performance and outreach. But what exactly is a SMART goal? SMART is an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. It may help to write your goals down so that you can get an even more precise image of what you're looking to achieve.
Let's take a closer look at each of these aspects.
Specific
The main goal of specificity is answering “who, what, where, when, and how?” Who is your target audience when using social media? What are you trying to sell to them?
These are all questions that should be answered when implementing SMART goals for social media marketing. To get more specific with your goal planning, transform sentences like “I want to increase my followers” to something like “I will increase my number of monthly followers by 10%.”
Measurable
Measuring your goals is an essential component of tracking your progress. If you don't know how fast you're moving, you won't know when you'll arrive. For instance, how will you measure your skills when it comes to social media marketing? Will you keep track of monthly followers? Will you make sure to keep an eye on your site's traffic?
By keeping note of these things using a metric system, you'll be able to get a more comprehensive image of how far you've come and what works best for achieving the results you want.
Achievable
If your goal is to become a high-earning influencer in a month when you've only got 300 followers, then it may be time to be slightly more realistic. When setting goals, it's essential to look at your situation realistically to achieve the objectives within a given time frame.
Instead of setting unrealistic targets, consider where you want your online business to be in a year from now. Then break down this goal into smaller chunks, focusing on increasing monthly followers and sales instead.
Relevant
For a goal to be relevant, you need to highlight your primary purpose. When goals are made with relevance in mind, it ensures that you are planning your time accordingly. Each goal you set should align with the bigger picture. Knowing why you have placed a specific goal helps motivate you towards achieving it. The last thing you'd want to do is waste time on a goal that doesn't push you towards your ultimate aim.
Time-Bound
Every goal needs a timeframe to work effectively. By setting a deadline for specific goals, it helps you to take action and increase productivity. Perhaps, you want to grow your social media following by a certain amount by the end of the year. Tracking your progress and setting goals monthly or weekly can help motivate you. What's more, working towards a deadline usually helps you pace yourself accordingly and directs your focus to what needs to be done.
For more information, check out our “Ultimate Guide to SMART Goals.”
Why SMART Goals Are Important for Social Media Marketing
A common mistake small to medium-sized businesses make is failing to set social media marketing goals. Going about things blindly without any objective is guaranteed to influence the goal's achievability (or rather, lack of).
These days, with billions of people from all over the world taking to Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, it's essential to develop a clear strategy to get the most out of your social media marketing campaign.
Setting SMART goals can often help pave the road to success to fine-tune your skills. They allow you to focus on specific aspects of your plans to remain on the right track. Additionally, implementing SMART goals can break down larger objectives into smaller, clearer, and more concise steps.
6 SMART Goal Examples for Social Media Marketing
1. Increase Brand Awareness
“I will double the amount of content posted on my social media stories daily to engage with followers and increase my brand awareness. The goal is to have a weekly follower increase of at least 100 people. I will check my overall followers weekly to see if this method works.”
S: The goal answers the vital questions of who, what, where, and when. The person states how they plan to increase their followers and visibility on social media.
M: The aim is to increase their current following by a minimum of 100 people a week.
A: This is an achievable goal.
R: Setting a goal such as this one increases the person's visibility online and helps ultimately develop their social media marketing strategy.
T: The 100 followers a week goal is simple and sets a precise number to strive towards.
2. Monitor Competitors
“I will keep an eye on competitors by ensuring that I monitor their social media daily. In doing so, I will note down the strategies that may be used to attract followers and implement them in my social media marketing strategy. Finally, I will measure the results by tracking how many followers I gain using the techniques I noted. I aim to surpass my competitor's number of followers within 12 months.”
S: This statement outlines how assessing competitors' strategies can help improve their social media marketing techniques over time.
M: The goal is to increase the number of followers by measuring how many new followers are gained daily.
A: This goal is achievable and realistic if implemented correctly.
R: By keeping track of what competitors are up to, a goal like this becomes relevant as it helps the speaker better understand what to look out for when growing their own brand.
T: This goal is time-bound as the speaker aims to surpass their competitor's follower number within 12 months.
3. Advertise Brand Across Platforms
“I will advertise my brand across social media platforms to generate leads and increase sales. I will reach out to various existing brands via DM on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, asking them to promote my brand. The goal is to double my sales within six months.”
S: This SMART goal is specific. The person clearly outlines that they plan on increasing sales by contacting various existing brands across social media platforms.
M: The achievement of this aim will be measured by the number of sales achieved within a year of setting this goal.
A: This goal is achievable.
R: The purpose of this goal is to increase overall sales. The goal is relevant to those who wish to generate higher leads and sales in the long run.
T: The statement sets the goal's end within six months.
4. Engage with Followers
“Starting from January 2023, I will strive towards engaging with more people via my social media accounts. I will do this by doubling the number of mentions I post daily and checking in weekly to see how many followers I've gained. By the end of the year, I plan to triple the number of followers I have.”
S: This goal aims to engage more with people and increase follower numbers.
M: They will measure the outcome of the aim by keeping an eye on how many followers are gained weekly due to mentions.
A: This is an achievable and realistic goal.
R: This SMART goal is relevant as it engages more people via social media marketing.
T: This is an example of a long-term goal that will be started in the new year and aims to be complete by the time the year is up.
5. Double Audience Size
“By the end of the year, I plan to double my audience by partnering with at least one other business.”
S: The goal is specific. The key focus is to increase the audience.
M: This SMART goal is also measurable. This person aims to double their audience within a year.
A: This goal is achievable. Doubling the audience amount by partnering with a business is a realistic approach.
R: By partnering with another business, you are more likely to expand your reach.
T: The goal is time-bound as it must be completed by the end of the year.
6. Read Two Relevant Books
“I will read at least two books by the end of the year relevant to expanding my social media marketing skills. To expand upon my knowledge even further, I will take notes weekly and make sure to go over the previous week's notes as I do so.”
S: This SMART goal aims to expand upon knowledge to improve social media marketing skills.
M: The progress can be measured weekly, taking notes and going over what they have learned in the previous week.
A: This is a very realistic goal. Reading is something that one can do in their spare time. Taking one day of the week to take notes won't get in the way of other responsibilities you may have.
R: This goal is relevant as it expands your knowledge of social media marketing.
T: This SMART goal is time-bound as it aims to be complete by the end of the year.
Final Thoughts on SMART Goals for Social Media Marketing
Everyone uses social media these days. It's how we stay connected to friends, family, news sources, and even businesses and brands. It's no secret that increasing your online presence and digital marketing can significantly affect your business.
Social media marketing is all about engaging with your target audience, and getting into the habit of setting goals can make all the difference. Setting SMART goals to go hand-in-hand with your social media goals is a great way to ensure success online.
And if you want more SMART goal ideas and examples, be sure to check out these blog posts:
- 15 SMART Goals Examples That Fit Your Marketing Plan
- 15 SMART Goals Examples for Increasing Your Sales
- 13 SMART Goals Examples for Your Small Business Development
Finally, if you want to take your goal-setting efforts to the next level, check out this FREE printable worksheet and a step-by-step process that will help you set effective SMART goals.
