When you think of welcoming in the new year, what comes to mind? Champagne, party favors, and perhaps a little NYE make-out action? Of course, we think of those things too, (who doesn’t?), but this is also the perfect time to think about bettering your business. That’s why there’s no better time than right now to begin setting your social media goals for the new year.
As Ellie Mirman stated on Hubspot, “A key part of a successful social media strategy is knowing what you want to get out of social media since this will drive your actions and help you measure progress
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So get ready to ring in the New Year with a glass of bubbly and clearly defined social media goals. If that’s not a recipe for a successful 2013, we don’t know what is! Be sure to download our goal-setting worksheet and then check out our tips for creating your new social media strategy below.
Tip 1: Commit Already
How much time are you willing to spend on social media marketing daily, weekly, and monthly? Jerilyn Soncrant, senior manager of social media at Scott’s Marketplace, says, “Setting realistic goals and being consistent are key components of a social media strategy. If you only have a limited amount of time to spend on social media, make sure you’re spending it wisely. If that means only being active on two or three social media platforms, that’s OK. It’s better to build a great following and engage with fans regularly on one network than belong to all of them and never post anything. Also, don’t forget there are a number of free tools out there to help you save time. Facebook has a built-in scheduling tool that I use on a daily basis to schedule posts on our pages. Also, HootSuite is another great tool that allows you to schedule posts to a number of different social networks.”
Tip 2: Get Familiar
Are you familiar with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, Foursquare, and blogging? If not, research the areas you need to learn more about and determine if they’d be a good fit for your business. Make it a goal to establish a presence on all social media sites that would benefit your business — if you can devote enough time to them — and think about starting a company blog, too! Erik Deckers, co-author of “No Bullsh*t Social Media via Mass Relevance blog notes,“My number one tip for social media marketers is to pay attention to blogging, and make it your primary focus. Content marketing is not only the new buzzword, it’s the new focus of everything. People are consuming content at a crazy rate, and content curation seems to be all the rage, with everyone pinning, reblogging, and Tumbling.”
Tip 3: Refine & Define
Were you able to accomplish your social media goals for 2012? Think about what worked well and what didn’t and how you can better refine your goals for 2013. Kristi Hines, blogger at Social Media Examiner via Mass Relevance blog, suggests, “Define your goals for social media and make sure that you are measuring your results to ensure that you are meeting those goals. When set up properly, Google Analytics can track goal completions (such as purchases, mailing list sign ups, etc.) and associate them to their referral traffic sources, including social media networks. There are also lots of tools to track follower/fan growth, engagement, and much more on the top networks. Do some research, find the right tools, and ensure that you’re spending your time and money wisely.”
Tip 4: Start Scoping
Do you know what your competitors are doing? What social media networks they’re using? How many fans they have? Who they’re targeting? Some might call that lightly stalking them, but we prefer you call it being business savvy. Doing this enables you to research your competitors to see what you like – and don’t like – about their social media strategies. And with this information, you can better craft your own super social media strategy for 2013.
Be sure to download our social media worksheet so you can keep your goals handy throughout the new year. Don’t forget that setting realistic goals and tracking your progress is essential to social media success!
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