How to Set (and Achieve) Meaningful Social Media Goals

Social media marketing is a constantly evolving field that has given companies of all sizes a platform to reach new audiences and achieve their business goals. So, with things always changing, how can you tell if your paid and organic campaigns are doing well? That’s where social media measurement comes in. 

It’s important to set social media goals that really matter and to keep them in mind every step of the way. Whether you’re planning, executing, optimizing, or analyzing your campaign, your business’ goals should guide every decision you make. 

Align Your Social Media Goals with Your Overall Business Goals  

When done correctly, your social media campaign goals should align closely with your business goals. Whether your objective is to increase brand awareness among potential customers, drive web traffic, or generate sales, there are social media strategies and campaign objectives to support those goals.  

Using SMART Goals  

One of the simplest ways to keep your goals consistent, organized, and direct is to utilize SMART Goals. If you’re unfamiliar with this goal-setting format, SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. But how does this apply to social media marketing?  

Specific 

The goals of your organic or paid social media campaign should be clear, concise, and specific. Here’s an example: instead of just saying “I want more people to engage with my Instagram posts,” you could set a goal to “get 20% more likes and comments on my Instagram posts in the next 3 months.” 

Measurable 

Having measurable goals can help you track your progress and stay motivated. Social media channels make it easy, allowing you to track the number of followers, likes, comments, shares, or clicks your posts receive right within each platform. 

Achievable 

Your goals should be challenging but achievable. Set goals that push you and your team but are also realistic. For example, if you have 100 followers on Twitter, setting a goal of getting 1 million followers in a month is not generally achievable without a very large budget. 

Relevant 

Your goals should be relevant to your social media content strategy and business objectives. For example, if your business objective is to increase sales, your social media goals might focus on driving traffic to your website or promoting your products. 

Time-bound 

Finally, every goal needs a timeframe for completion to help you stay on track and ensure that you’re making progress. For example, you might set a goal to increase your Instagram followers by 500 in the next month, if that is achievable for your business. 

Ready to put it all together? Here are some examples of SMART goals for an organic and paid social campaign.  

Organic Social: Increase organic social engagement by 5% in three months.  

Specific 

We want to increase the number of users that like, comment, and share our organic social media content.  

Measurable 

Our goal is a 5% increase in organic social engagement.  

Attainable 

Our last campaign saw a measurable increase in post engagements.  

Relevant 

Increased engagement leads to better organic reach, resulting in stronger website traffic from social channels.  

Time-bound 

We measure our organic social media engagement on a quarterly basis. 

Paid Social: Increase e-commerce sales from paid social traffic by 10% in six months.  

Specific 

We want to increase our website sales by 10% among users visiting from paid social channels. 

Measurable 

Our goal is a 10% increase in sales among this segment of customers.  

Attainable 

Our last campaign saw a measurable increase in sales. 

Relevant 

Increased e-commerce sales support our goals of growing our business. 

Time-bound 

Social e-commerce performance will be measured across six months. 

By setting SMART goals for your social media marketing efforts, you’ll be able to focus your energy, measure your progress, and make data-driven decisions to improve your social media strategy. 

Measuring Success  

You’ve set your goals, and now it’s time to look at the data and track your progress. The first step is to choose the best measurement tool. While there are several different tools available ranging from free to premium pricing, it all comes down to the tool that will best help your business leverage social media efforts to reach its goals. 

Some tools cover social media content management, tracking brand mentions, and integrated analytics. Some tools are dedicated to analytics only, and there are even free tools native to each social media platform that help keep track of metrics.  

Once the data is collected, it’s time to analyze it to make informed decisions about future campaigns and adjust your goals based on performance. If a campaign performs better than expected, there may be an opportunity to continue the effort. If a campaign performs worse than expected, it’s an opportunity to adjust goals and expectations or try something new.  

Best Practices for Achieving Meaningful Social Media Goals 

Everyone wants to improve their brand’s performance on organic and paid social media. That’s why you’re setting goals, right? To set yourself up for success, here are a few best practices for achieving your shiny new social media goals:  

Consistency is key.  

In 2023, the social media algorithms by and large favor consistency in social media posts and engagements for brands. Brands that utilize a social media content calendar to engage with their followers regularly are setting themselves up for a better chance at success.  

Keep an eye on the trends.  

Social media trends and algorithms are constantly evolving. What’s popular one week could be considered defunct, cheesy, or overdone the next. Taking the time to really understand your target audience and subscribing to newsletters, blogs, and social pages that track the latest trends is a great way to ensure you’re staying ahead.  

Don’t forget about community management. 

Social media is a channel designed for two-way communication – even and especially for brands! Building relationships and engaging with followers is a great way to keep your brand top-of-mind and increase engagement rates. 

That’s it! Now that you know how to set and achieve meaningful social media goals for your business, you’re ready to track your progress, make data-driven decisions, and keep your business goals in mind every step of the way.