What do you want to achieve in using social media for your business?
Like any project, it’s always good to start with the end in mind which is why setting goals for social media are important. Knowing this from the beginning will shape what information gets posted.
Simply put, pick three goals and regularly evaluate if you are achieving them
People tend to use social media for important life moments, things they enjoy… or a place to rant. Many times, business owners know they need to be on social media to promote their business but really don’t set out with a plan. It’s time to have a purpose in your posts!
Pick One Main Goal
Hopefully, this is an easy one for you. In setting goals for social media, you should always have one main goal you promote. Think of this like your 30-second elevator pitch (only shorter!). The main goal should focus on the one reason you are in business. This is your company’s unique brand message. The wording can be said in different ways but should always center around what problem you ultimately solve for your customers. Whatever you post on social media, it should regularly come back to this main goal to remind you and your customers why you do what you do.
Secondary Goals
Once you know your main goal you need to define how you fulfill that goal for your customers. As an example, the mission of a physiotherapy clinic is to provide pain relief to clients. The second goal for social media posts will be to regularly promote the different services offered.
Products or Services
If you make products or offer services, it’s obvious you want to showcase those and their benefits. This can be done in many ways by breaking up all the benefits into little bite-sized chunks because social media followers tend to have a short attention span. This can take the approach of direct selling or simply educating customers on the reasons your product is better.
Develop a Community
Perhaps your goal is to develop a community of followers for your business. Your posts might centre around your company culture or important values you share. A perfect example of this is the yoga community. Notice how they are not just selling a yoga session but providing an enriched lifestyle of health, wellness and strong values. Check out Modo Yoga Hamilton (Formerly Moksha Yoga). Other ideas might be to promote a favourite charity, star employees, or examples of the work they do. These types of posts will develop loyalty from your current customers and through their engagement, promote your company to their own circle of influence. It’s the digital version of ‘word of mouth’ advertising. This will build a community of followers given a frequency of communication and time.
Reach New Customers
Maybe you need to reach new customers or drive walk-in traffic to your store. This engagement can be more involved and take more time but it is very possible to leverage the power of social media for this purpose. Using very targeting advertising methods the backbone of social media is to extend your brand and customer base to new people.
Keep Loyal Customers
Are you subscribed to your favourite stores or brands in hopes of getting exclusive deals or discounts? Think of Starbucks. They do an excellent job of engaging customers with deals and promotions on a weekly basis. If your company has a loyalty program, this is a perfect item to promote in social media. It gives your regular customers extra value and keeps them coming back to buy more.
Setting goals for social media will be unique to your company and help get the most out the time and effort required to promote your business online. Trouble setting your goals? We are here to help.
Once you have your company’s goals, it’s time to understand how to effectively engage your customers.
