Are you setting SMART Social Media KPIs?
A small but mighty post this week, with lots to unpack and try out for yourself. We’re back on the subject of social media and more importantly, learning to set KPIs. (KPI stands for Key Performance Indicator, which is used to evaluate the success of an organization or particular activity in which it engages in.) What do you want to get out of your social media? You need to establish the exact direction in which you wish to take your social media marketing strategy before you think about what your posts even say.
If you have a social media marketing campaign, you are more than likely to have set yourself some social media KPIs. If not, perhaps that is something you should be looking into. When you do, you need to ensure you’re setting SMART goals. You might be reading this thinking ‘hang on, every decision I make for my business is smart,’ and to that I would say good job, congratulations, but let’s dive a little deeper into what we mean by SMART.
Specific: If you’re going to set KPIs make sure they are as specific as can be, don’t simply decide ‘this month I will gain followers’ be more specific, ‘by May 1st I will have gained 20 followers.’
Measurable: Can you track your progress? For example, if you’re tracking followers, is it possible to check how close you are to your goal each week? Whether you’re on track or whether you need to do more. You could have an app which shows you how many followers you’ve gained, someone could be keeping a record etc.
Attainable: Are you biting off more than you can chew? Make sure that your goals and KPIs are always within reach. You can lose faith if you consistently aren’t meeting your unrealistic tasks.
Relevant: Do your KPIs tie into your bigger business goals? If your larger business goals are to gain more website clicks through your social media, perhaps don’t focus too much on setting other goals that won’t help with this overall aim.
Timely: What timescale are you giving yourself to succeed in meeting your targets?
If all the KPIs you set for your business follow these simple rules, you’re more likely to achieve and track them. It also makes them completely clear to every member of the team involved in reaching the targets set. Tell everyone exactly how achieving each KPI will feed into the bigger picture, encourage teamwork, encourage healthy competition, the more people you involve in the process the more people invested in achieving the best possible outcome, the more people tracking its progress.
Remember one set of KPIs may work for one social media campaign and they might absolutely flop when it comes to another. KPIs will vary massively depending on what social media platform you are focussing on as well! Each campaign will require its own evaluation, with the specific target always kept central to every decision made.
The positives of setting SMART KPIs are endless, have a go at setting some for yourself and your team and don’t forget to come back and let us know how they turn out!
