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Maria Haase

Free Social Media Strategy Course Part 1: Status Quo andSetting Goals

Social Media Strategy Course Part 1: Status Quo and Setting GoalsWelcome to part 1 of our Free Social Media Strategy Course. Today, I would like to show you how important itis to def ine a starting point, a Status Quo f or your Social Media ef f orts and then set goals to keep you ontrack to success. These two f irst steps will help you to keep track of your results, show you if your strategyimplementation is working, which aspects of it are working best, and what doesn’t work and needs to bechanged.

You have to remember, a Social Media Strategy, just like any plan, is not and should never be set in stone. It isimportant that you measure your results, so you know what is working and what isn’t. Then adjust yourstrategy accordingly. Bef ore we start with all the details, I just want to remember you to please sign up forour newsletter (just enter your email address and your name if you wish on the right in our side bar and clicksubscribe to list). That way you won’t miss any parts of our f ree Social Media Strategy course that will give youmore hands on advice and valuable t ips, insights and even free downloads (like the Social Media StatsSheet below).

So lets get started….

To be able to measure your results, you need to know where your starting f rom:

1. What is your Social Media Status Quo?

The f irst thing you need to do is to take a snapshot of your current Social Media ef f orts. 94% of companiessay that they are using Social Media as part of their Marketing strategy, but that does not reveal how muchef f ort they have been putting into their Social Media activit ies. I am sure, you are not starting f rom scratcheither. It is essential that you record your starting point, so you can measure your success and set realisticgoals tailored to your business and industry. So here is your To-Do List :

a. Create a Folder on your Desktop tit led “Social Media +Current Date”

b. Make a list of all Social Media platf orms that your

company has a prof ile on (active an inactive), includingusernames and passwords

c. Create a document f or each Social Media platf orm with thef ollowing inf ormation:

Username and password

Date the prof ile was created

Number of updates (if possible, otherwise, take aneducated guess)

Take several screenshots to show the look and f eel ofyour prof ile

Number of f ans/f ollowers/f riends

Number of interactions f rom your f ans/f ollowers in the past 30 days (including individual numbers f orcomments, likes, shares, retweets, f avorites, +1′s, and other f orms of interaction

Approximate response time to questions, comments and f eedback (did you know that 42% of customerscomplaining on Social Media expect a response within 60 minutes?)

Traf f ic that has been sent f rom this Social Media platf orm to your website

If possible, conversion rates of Social Media traf f ic per platf orm

Here is a spreadsheet that can help get you started. Download our Social Media Stats Sheet for free!

Remember: You can only track how ef f ective your Social Media Strategy is, if you have def ined a startingpoint.

2. Setting Goals for your Social Media Strategy

I have a love-hate relationship with setting goals. On the one hand, it is essential that you set goals, so youcan track your results, adjust your strategy and most importantly, make a budget and other f inancial decisionsbased on your estimates. This is great and totally in line with analytic-obsessive personality that prompts meto check my Google Analytics account every 3 minutes. Goals are also a great way to get and stay motivated, ifyou are in any way like me and give yourself high f ives when you can check something of f you list!

But there are also quite some aspects that make goals less f un. If you don’t reach them f or example. Thissucks, especially, if you based your f inancial planning on your goals and your miscalculation is causing a nastyripple ef f ect through your whole organization. That’s why it is crucial to set your goals in a strategic and smartway – and here is how:

a. Divide up your goals in short, medium and long term goals. In regards to Social Media, everything is prettyf ast paced, so your short term goals should be 4-8 weeks, medium term goals about 3 months and long termgoals about 1 year. This is important to not lose motivation and to structure your strategy. However, keep thebig picture in mind, especially if you are integrating Social Media with an existing Marketing plan.

b. Divide each of these goals into actionable steps. Here are some examples:

Short term goals: Create a strategy; create coherent and well designed Social Media prof iles on xnumber of platf orms; produce x number blog posts, videos, and other f orms of content; increasenumber of Followers/Fans; establish an editorial calender; etc

Medium term goals: Integrate Social Media with existing Marketing Plan; increase engagement by x%; plan

giveaways, contests; link-building and SEO (which posit ion f or which keywords); reduce response timeby x minutes; etc

Long term goals: Increase conversion rates by x%; increase Social Media ROI by x%; hire a Social MediaManager; etc.

Big picture: Take over the universe; etc.

c. And f inally, the most important aspect of setting goals: Make your goals measurable! Treat your SocialMedia goals like your f inancial goals. You would never dare to present your shareholders a f inancial projectionthat in the coming year you plan to grow. No, you need to add specif ics. You will tell them that your revenue willgo up 10% and your costs will go down 3%. This makes you accountable and accountability adds pressure andpressure helps you get things done! It ’s as simple as that.

But how do you come up with these numbers? No, youdon’t just pull them out of you know where… Do yourresearch. Check our your competit ion. Watch how many newf ollowers they get every month. What’s their engagementlike? Obviously, in the beginning, all you can do is give roughestimates. But over t ime, your goals should be more andmore on target. Also, just like your strategy, your goals canand should be revised throughout the year. Social Media ischanging so f ast, holding on to your strategy and goals f oran entire year is f oolish, but this is probably not, what yourAccountant wants to hear. May be you can print out thisarticle f or your accounting department and add this to youryearly budget projections?

However, if you are very f ar of f your goal numbers, checkand see if your goal is truly viable . If it is now, stopwasting time and resources on pursuing this goal. Forexample, it happens occasionally that a Social Media platf ormlooses its momentum and people stop using. Just think of Friendster or MySpace. Or you discover that yourtarget market hangs out at a specif ic Social Network, but does not participate and only watches passively.Don’t be af raid to cut your losses and f ind a more suitable network to achieve your long term goals and,eventually, the big picture.

Thanks f or reading all the way to the end! I hope this advice helps you get started with your Social MediaStrategy. In next week’s part of our f ree Social Media Strategy course, I’ll show you how to f ind your TargetMarket and decide which Social Media Networks are right f or you. If you haven’t done so, please sign upbelow for our newsletter, so you don’t miss any of the f ollowing parts of this f ree Social Media StrategyCourse. Thanks and f eel f ree to share this free resource with your friends!

We’ll be sending out our Free Social Media Strategy Course updates every Monday over the course of 12weeks. Stay tuned and sign up below so you don’t miss any part of our 12 Step Social Media Strategy Course.

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