Identifying goals for your social media plan
I love it when experts like Chris Brogan says there’s no such thing as a ‘social media expert’ because I’ve always said there’s no such thing as a ‘marketing expert’ either. Or a “public relations expert” for that matter. You might be the most educated, the most experienced ‘expert’ but there’s no way to predict the exact combination of competitive, online, media, and economic environments facing a particular brand, company or author. So when you go about setting your goals, remember that you are probably the best ‘expert’ when it comes to your company and it’s virtually impossible to compare your own results to others…especially where social media is concerned. What other medium is changing as rapidly as this one?
When I help companies set goals for social media I try to get them to identify three different types of goals: 1) quantitative, 2) qualitative, and 3) a special set of goals that you might consider the equivalent of winning the social media lottery. Let’s start with quantitative goals, since those are sometimes the easiest. It would be great if you could comment with examples of some of your goals as well, just to give us an idea of what everyone is shooting for.
The more mature your social media campaign, the more exact you should be in identifying Quantitative goals. Along with adding followers or fans, and conversions to your website, think about the behavior of your website visitors. I started working on a campaign for an online community recently and part of our goal was to REDUCE visitors to the blog. Why? The visitors to the blog were growing, but they weren’t the customer demographic…and therefore weren’t resulting in conversions. The only way I knew I was getting rid of the chaff was if the numbers at first went down. So think through your numbers. If your social media campaign is new, be conservative and revisit those goals within three months, if not six weeks, to see if they were realistic. If you’re more advanced, stop being so thrilled with numbers going up, up, up….make sure that you’re measuring what they’re doing for you.
I always recommend familiarizing yourself with KD Paine’s blog and she’s got a book out as well that I highly recommend purchasing: Measuring Public Relationships: The Data-Driven Communicator’s Guide to Success
Qualitative goals are a bit more squishy, but that doesn’t make them any less important. Again, same holds true here…the more mature your campaign the more exacting you can be with your goals. If you’re new, don’t laugh at goals that include things like “maintaining suggested posting schedule” or “getting outside reviews of the blog on a regular basis.” Social media is simple to do, but it’s not easy to stay in the habit especially if your business is growing and more reactive demands are at hand. Many qualitative goals revolve around building brand awareness, reputation management and growing engagement, according to Eric Dudley in Marketer Insight. But in order to set great goals, you’ve got to be A LOT more specific. What kind of brand awareness? Do you want influencers like Brian Solis referring to your brand in their blog posts? If it’s engagement, what does that mean? Do most of your posts on Twitter contain information that engages followers? How do you really define those specific goals? One of my longstanding qualitative goals is to stay authentic. I know that when I start trying to be anything that I’m really not, I lose the interest of my audience. That’s something I’ve learned over time. Another goal? If I don’t have anything to say, I don’t post just to get something on the blog, or on Twitter. Again, nobody reads those.
Finally, the third set of goals are really what would happen in your wildest dreams, from engaging in this campaign. Would a big conference invite you to speak? Would your video go viral, with millions of views on YouTube? I think it’s really important to be realistic but I also think it’s important to visualize your best outcome from this. For me, it’s what keeps me going when I open TweetDeck for the day, or even when I’m writing this blog post for that matter.
Tags: Bonnie Harris, goals for your social media campaign, Public Relations, qualitative social media goals, quantitative social media goals, small business promotion, social media, social media for small business, social media plan
August 23rd, 2010 at 10:19 am
The first part of your post could actually be said about anything. Being an expert is very subjectional. As far as social media goals you are right on. The social media landscape is ever changing so to say your an expert could no way be true. The biggest marketing problem I find with most entrepreneurs is that they haven’t really defined what their true business is, it’s the”marketing business”. This is a great post.
August 23rd, 2010 at 10:26 am
Thanks John…we are all in the marketing business that comment is right on!
August 23rd, 2010 at 4:21 pm
Social media is a tough nut to crack unless you really have personality. Most products aren’t exactly “viral” material. This is definitely one of markets that I’d love to succeed in. It’s very difficult to measure success.
August 25th, 2010 at 2:47 am
i hv to say one thing,,,u hv to be extra personal for social media success!,,,as one of my client deals in used computers is giving to their customers.
August 25th, 2010 at 8:24 pm
Awesome post, Bonnie!! I find even when it comes to the goals of my clients with their blogs, it’s important to make it clear that while I may have experience, no one’s an expert. It’s another marketing avenue that’s ever-changing, and it’s all trial and error. If the end results they’re looking for are sales, the same methods using blogs and social media just don’t always get them there as it may with a competitor.
I think identifying the specific measureable goals they’re looking for is essential to measure the short-term outcome especially!!
September 6th, 2010 at 9:55 pm
People make millions from social media, but going viral seems so hard. Most people who are successful weren’t looking at it from a business perspective.
I liked the post Bonnie.
September 7th, 2010 at 7:49 am
I think a few people make millions from social media. The smart people integrate it into their marketing and PR campaigns in a way that makes the entire thing stronger.
September 14th, 2010 at 9:48 pm
I think a few people make millions from social media. The smart people integrate it into their marketing and PR campaigns in a way that makes the entire thing stronger.
June 13th, 2011 at 12:08 pm
You completed a number of nice points there. I did a search on the matter and found most folks will agree with your blog.