Setting social media goals is the best way to consistently improve your social media efforts. Writing your goals down and regularly reporting on your progress also significantly increases the likelihood that you will achieve what you set out to do. The key step in creating goals is to make sure they are all measurable. This way, when tracking and reporting your progress there is a consistent way to compare data.

The first step is to record all your existing social media accounts and platforms’ data. This will give you an understanding of your current level of performance, which you can use as a baseline. This means recording how many followers you have, the average number of likes and comments, and any other relevant metrics. Looking at this data should help you decide what kind of growth or improvement can really help improve your business. 

For your social media marketing goals to be useful, they need to be realistic and trackable. A measurable goal should address questions such as: How much? How many? How will I know when it is accomplished? They also need to be tied to clear objectives that will help you make progress. The S.M.A.R.T goal framework is all about creating relevant, achievable goals that help support your overall business objectives. The acronym stands for:

Specific: Be clear. Does “increase engagement” mean you want 100 new followers or 1,000? Making your social media goals specific helps you track progress and measure success.

Measurable: Every goal needs some kind of metric. “Improve customer service” is a great concept, but it’s not a goal unless you have a way to measure that improvement.

Attainable: Your social media goals should absolutely require you to stretch, but they should be within reach if you put in the required work.

Relevant: This is the piece that ties your goal-setting back to larger business objectives. If your goal involves increasing Facebook likes, for example, make sure you understand how that will benefit the business.

Timely: Deadlines keep everyone accountable. Include a timeframe for completion of your goal so you know when to check in on your success. You might also want to include some milestones along the way for incremental check-ins.

Beware setting goals that someone else has power over. For example, "Get that job!" depends on who else applies, and on the recruiter's decision. But "Get the experience and training that I need to be considered for that job" is completely up to you. Setting S.M.A.R.T goals is a good way to set both realistic and rewarding goals.