Establishing Achievable Marketing Goals for 2023
New Year, new you, right? The start of a new year is always a great time to reflect on the year that’s behind you and use what you’ve learnt to help shape the year that’s in front of you.
One of the best ways to start is to set some goals, whether you are a list writer or a vision board lover, putting them down really helps to affirm what you really want to be motivated to achieve, as well as keeping you accountable.
Why is goal setting important?
Goal setting is all about understanding not only where you are, but where you want to be, and mapping the points from A to B and everything in between, makes it feel a lot more achievable. Think of it like running a marathon, but breaking it down into 10kms at a time.
Really think about where you want to be in 6-12 months time. We don’t just mean growing your follower count or getting more likes. Make your goals mean more than that.
Bring intention to your marketing.
When you are creating content make sure it all has a goal in mind (can you tell we love the word goal). Post with intention. Do you want more people to visit your website? Do you want to drive sales? Do you have a bricks and mortar business you want people to visit? The answer to those questions will help inform your strategy, and in turn help to bring you closer to your goals.
When you are considering what you are posting, think about the why. Why am I posting to these platforms? Why aren’t I posting to others? Are there other places I can be reaching out? The world of social media is ever evolving, so it’s important to make sure you are recognising your strengths and capitalising on them!
Don’t forget to look at the stats!
To be able to set goals accurately, it’s really important that you take a look at your metrics from the last 6-12 months. By doing this, you’ll be able to see where you are at and make an informed decision about where you’d like to be. We actually wrote a blog all about Understanding Your Social Media Stats last year. It’s got some really handy info about how to track your metrics, and why it’s important!
Setting SMART social media goals
So you know you need to set some goals, but how do you go about it? There is a really amazing system when it comes to setting marketing goals called SMART goals. SMART is an acronym that stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable (or Attainable), Relevant, and Time-sensitive. The idea is to make sure your goals are clear and reachable, each one should be:
Specific: Include specifics to help you track the success of your content.
Measurable: The goal has to be measured in some way. This is where your key metrics come into play.
Achievable: Is this goal in scope? Your goals should be challenging, but still within reach.
Relevant: Is this goal working towards achieving your larger business objectives?
Time-sensitive: What is the timeline for this goal?
So for example – Do you want to increase the traffic on your website? Here’s how you would apply that goal to the SMART framework
Specific: We want to increase traffic on our website by 20% by the end of October 2023
Measurable: To measure this, we will use Google analytics
Achievable: Determine if this goal is within reach, you can do this by looking at your current metrics
Relevant: One of your business goals might be to sell more online, or to get more bookings through your website, if so, this goal is relevant. If not, choose a more relevant goal.
Time-sensitive: You have set a deadline of the end of October 2023.
Go Forth and Conquer!
Now you have set your marketing goals, it’s important not to forget about them! Make sure that you map out your action steps to put them into a calendar, this will help you stay on course throughout the year!
Then set a date each month to check in with your analytics and see how you’re going. This is one of the most critical parts in reaching your goal! If you’re not tracking as well as you’d like, it allows you to make changes in your marking, then check back in the next month and see if those changes made a difference!
Setting goals for your marketing doesn’t need to be scary, and we hope that with these tips you can set your own goals with confidence in 2023!
If your brand or business is lacking in social media strategy or direction it might be time to book a 15-minute strategy session to find out how we can support your business growth.
