THE 4 SOCIAL MEDIA GOALS YOU NEED TO KNOW

What is your goal?

The year is 2016. Glad to see you here by the way.

Back on to the New Year: management or our clients expect us to hit the ground running. Despite the holiday hangover, hitting the ground running we will.

In that quiet corner, staring into your laptop are you thinking what I am thinking. It is time to have your social media strategy ready, just in case management comes asking for it (and they will). If you are new to this, read along. If not, I will not mind your thoughts.

Formulating a social media strategy feels good at the end. But, when you are tucked away in a quiet corner thinking long and hard about where to start: here is a clue, start here. For any social media strategy to work: you need goals.

Before diving in to the demanding task of formulating your strategy: first, establish the clear goals you want this strategy to accomplish. Perhaps you can confer with management. (At least they will see you are onto something-good right.)

So, what about goals? Identify the business objectives and craft specific goals to help meet those objectives. Always remember to make your goals specific. In case management comes to evaluate progress (and they will), it will not only be easier for you to develop metrics that match but you will show what they are paying you to do.

Often, you will find many businesses stating ‘Selling more stuff’ as their goal. Moreover, as Peter Friedman, Chairman, and CEO of Live World, says most of their clients would like to sell more stuff. He further advises that this goal can be achieved: although one needs to narrow it down to the stuff that needs selling and to whom. Once you get this right, then you are on your way to selling more stuff!

Back to setting goals: understanding the types of goals we have, will make it easier for you to specifically craft them.

They fall into the following categories:

• Sales goals
• Relationship goals
• Customer Service and Support goals
• Learning goals

A little more on each:

Sales Goals. What do you want to sell? Quantity? These refers to short-term revenues or long-term revenue you intend to bring in with the aide of your social campaigns and activity. Example: The first quarter, we need to sell six properties.

Relationship goals: As far as relationships go, establishing meaningful relationship with your audience goes a long way in achieving business goals. Marketing for improved positioning, awareness and education, customer acquisition, or long-term sales generation should not miss among your goals.

Customer service and support goals: Social media is one great avenue where a company can offer instant customer service and support. By responding to queries, complaints in a timely and satisfactory manner may help the company build trust and confidence with its audience. It is important that you make is a goal to use social media to improve customer satisfaction. Happy customer, profitable business.

Learning goals: Today, data is what clay is to bricks. Businesses need data in order to make sound decisions with the goal of giving their customers the best services and or products. Social media can be a great avenue for which to gather data and translate it into insights that can guide business decision making. This can come in handy when the company wants to improve its products and so on.

As you continue to hammer that strategy, I hope this finds you in good time and saves you the agony of not knowing where to begin. If you feel something is missing; comment and I will include it in the next post. Until then, happy strategy formulation. Most importantly, may you have a prosperous year!