Setting Goals with Your Social Media Marketing

If one of your marketing goals this year is to make a bigger impact on social media for your business, then you are going to need to identify the social media marketing goals that will encourage you to stretch out of your comfort zone while interacting with more people, building your online community and presence. Here are some options to take into consideration when outlining social media goals for your business.

Followers

While this is increasingly becoming a vanity metric, this is still an effective goal if your audience base is small and you are struggling to build community or get engagement on your posts. What can you do this year to encourage people to follow you on your social media platforms? Remember, whether they choose to follow you is largely based on what they feel like they are getting out of the arrangement.

Engagement

Engagement is one of the most valuable metrics when it comes to social media marketing. If your audience is not engaging with your content, they are less likely to see any of it in their feed. It’s the basic mechanics of how algorithms work. If one of your goals is to increase engagement on your social media channels this year, we back you 100%!

Hashtags

If you plan to be on Twitter or Instagram, hashtags are a must! However, they can be beneficial on any of the social media platforms, if used the right way. If you don’t understand the value of hashtags or how to make them work for your social media platforms, make it a goal this year to find out more about hashtags and create a strategy to expand your reach using them.

Quality Content

Hands down, the most important goal you can set for yourself when it comes to social media marketing is creating consistent, quality content that your audience actually wants. Achieving this will make all the other goals slide into place. This is a challenge for most business owners because it can be tough to get into the shoes of your audience and create content they actually want. But, it’s certainly not impossible, and is always going to make a larger impact than just posting to maintain your online presence. Make it a goal this year to talk to your target market and find out what content they want to see, track what content they engage in most, and create a content marketing strategy that will truly boost your social media marketing efforts.

These are just some of the goals you can work on this year. Regardless of what you choose, the Social Media Advisor team is here to support you and help you reach those goals.

Be sure to Follow us and Let’s Engage!

Hollie Clere of The Social Media Advisor is a “#BeAwesome” Developer, Social Media, Brand Builder, Content Manager, Trainer and Author in LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Google+, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram, and the tools to manage them.

Click here for Social Media Training, Speaking and Strategy Consultations.

Setting Goals with Your Marketing

It’s a new year and that means you have a brand new chance to make an impact with your small business! You’ve gone through another year of trial and error with an even better idea of what does, and doesn’t work, when it comes to marketing your business. Now it’s time to take that information and create a plan for going even bigger this year!

First, let’s start with identifying your marketing goals.

Types of Marketing Goals

What sort of goals should you be aiming for with your marketing this year? The truth is always that this will vary based on loads of factors including type of business, industry, location, audience, and more. However, there are some tried and true recommendations for marketing goals that you can start with.

  • Online vs Offline – What percentage of the time will you dedicate to marketing yourself online? What percentage of time will you market yourself offline, such as events, networking, trade shows, speaking, and business functions?
  • Target Audience – Do you know your target audience and ideal client? If not, it’s time to figure that out. If you do, will that stay the same this year? What goals can you set to connect more with your audience?
  • SEO – What goals can you jot down that will help you be FOUND online?
  • Conversion – If you are at all interested in growing your business online, what conversion tools and goals will you set this year? (This could include websites, landing pages, social ads, or online courses.)
  • Authority – What goals will you set to increase your credibility and authority this year? Will you collect more online reviews and testimonials? Will you create original content? Will you pitch to be a guest on other blogs, podcasts, or videos?
  • Social Media Marketing – Last, but never least, what’s your goals for building your social media presence and audience?

Setting Your Goals with S.M.A.R.T. Way

Too often do I see small business owners setting goals based on what they wished would happen with no thought or data to back up whether or not their goals are even plausible. The S.M.A.R.T goals method ensures that you are selecting goals that are well thought out and built for you to be successful.

Specific – Your goals are not dreams. They need to be specific so you know what you are aiming for and can create a step-by-step for achieving it.

Measurable – If you can’t quantify the goal, how will you know whether or not you achieved it. A goal should be measurable. Once achieved, you should be able to prove that you’ve completed it so you can move on to something bigger and better.

Achievable – Goal setting only works if you are actually able to achieve the goals you have set for yourself. Becoming a million-dollar business is an admirable goal but if you don’t even have clients yet, aiming for something lower that you can build on is a better plan.

Relevant – Does your goal relate to what you are trying to build this year? Can you tie the goal into a specific result you are targeting by year-end. Why is this goal relevant to where your business is at and going this year?

This should give you plenty to think about so that you can create a marketing strategy for 2020 that works for your business.

Be sure to Follow us and Let’s Engage!

Hollie Clere of The Social Media Advisor is a “#BeAwesome” Developer, Social Media, Brand Builder, Content Manager, Trainer and Author in LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Google+, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram, and the tools to manage them.

Click here for Social Media Training, Speaking and Strategy Consultations.

#BePrepared – How to Create Content in Social Media that Your Audience Loves!

You know what they say: Content is king.

But that’s really only applicable if you’re writing content that your audience loves. Otherwise, your content is relegated to the sidelines. It’s more court jester than king.

Churning out content just for the sake of churning out content will get your business nowhere. If you’re not producing quality material, it’s a waste of time for both you and your audience.

If you want to get noticed in this great big online world, your content has to be quality. It has to answer your audience’s questions, solve their problems, or at least be entertaining. It has to make people take notice.

Are your social media posts hitting the mark? If not, keep reading for a few simple ways to up your online game and write content your audience will love:

  1. Know your customers

We’ve talked before about your ideal customer, or “avatar.” By now, you should know them inside and out:

  • Who are they?
  • What do they do for work?
  • Where do they live?
  • Do they have kids?
  • What are their hobbies?
  • What challenges do they need help with?

Keep that person in mind every single time you write a piece of content – even if it’s just a simple Facebook post – and your chances of success will multiply a hundredfold.

  1. Check out the competition

All of the big-name brands monitor the competition to see what they’re up to. There’s no shame in that game!

If you see another brand in your niche that’s killing it on social media, try to figure out what’s working for them.

Maybe they’re sharing more video than you, or they post a lot of quizzes and polls to encourage interaction. Whatever it is, don’t be afraid to take their tactics and work them into your own strategy!

  1. Be responsive

When a member of the public makes a mention of your brand online, whether the comment is good or bad, respond.

Many business owners make the mistake of ignoring online interactions. They assume that if a comment is good, no further action is necessary, because that person is already a fan. If the comment is bad, they may not want to further aggravate the situation by engaging with the detractor.

But a quick response, either way, shows your audience that you care about customer service and value your clients.

  1. Optimize your posts

Last but not least: Do a little keyword research. Yes, keywords matter – even in social media.

Keywords reveal what people are talking about and what they’re likely to be searching for. Use those words in your posts, your social media ads, or your hashtags to ensure you get in front of the largest audience possible.

Writing great content can take time and effort, but if it gets more eyes on your page, it’s totally worth it.

Still feel lost? Check out our Social Power Program, designed to give business owners all the knowledge they need to succeed online – starting NOW.

Be sure to Follow us and Let’s Engage!

Hollie Clere of The Social Media Advisor is a “#BeAwesome” Developer, Social Media, Brand Builder, Content Manager, Trainer and Author in LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Google+, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram, and the tools to manage them.

Click here for Social Media Training, Speaking and Strategy Consultations.

#BePrepared – How to Establish a Social Media Ad Budget

Is it possible to achieve social media success without advertising? Sure.

Is it easy? No way.

In today’s world, gaining an organic audience on social media is nearly impossible.

Unfortunately, however, many small business owners live under the assumption that social media advertising costs way too much money or that it’s too difficult to pull off.

We’re here to tell you that’s not true. You don’t need a ton of training to pull off a successful Facebook ad – and you certainly don’t need a giant budget.

Here’s how to make it work:

Setting a social media budget

The first thing to do when determining a social advertising budget is to figure out how much you want to spend on your social media strategy overall – that includes everything from scheduling tools (like Hootsuite) to hiring outside contractors.

From there, you can determine what portion of that budget you want to spend on social media ads.

For most small business owners, a marketing budget amounts to 5% to 15% of annual revenue – so if you’re making $50,000 a year, you might spend between $2,500 and $7,500 on advertising. Out of that budget, you’ll likely want to spend about 15% on social media advertising.

The bigger picture

When planning your budget, don’t forget that the actual cost of the ad is only part of the total expense. Even if you’re handling the work entirely by yourself, there is still time spent – and when it comes to business, time equals money.

So, what exactly goes into creating a social media ad campaign?

  • Research
  • Copy Writing
  • Design
  • Strategy
  • Analytics
  • More

Those items need to be worked into your social media advertising budget. If you hire someone for graphic design, that cost should be lumped into your ad budget. If you’re doing the design yourself, account for that as well – for example, if it takes you one hour to design an ad, and you charge $75/hour, deduct that amount from your budget.

It’s important to not let those peripheral activities go unaccounted for. If you don’t keep track of your real ad spend, you’ll have no idea what your actual ROI is.

Bottom line? For just a nominal amount each month, you can expand your reach and attract new customers. Totally worth all that time it takes to sit down and create a budget!

Contact us if you have questions about setting a social media marketing budget. Our Social Power Program can teach you how to use ads – and much more – to grow your business on social media.

Be sure to Follow us and Let’s Engage!

Hollie Clere of The Social Media Advisor is a “#BeAwesome” Developer, Social Media, Brand Builder, Content Manager, Trainer and Author in LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Google+, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram, and the tools to manage them.

Click here for Social Media Training, Speaking and Strategy Consultations.

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