SOCIAL MEDIA IS NOT A BUSINESS GOAL

As digital marketers moving beyond blog posts (blogs, at least, have been around for 22 years) our KPIs have been shifting as well. It’s important to grow our followers, get likes, and shares (and of course document this data as we grow an audience).
But as we measure page views, click-throughs, comments, retweets, likes, and follows, we need to acknowledge that even as these tactics in our workflow are necessary; they are not (in and of themselves) business goals.

When we’re knee-deep in planning our social campaigns or building up our influencer relationships, it’s easy to forget how new the everyday tools we use are. LinkedIn was founded in 2002, but didn’t release its publisher platform for article sharing until 2014. Facebook, founded in 2004, didn’t receive widespread adoption outside of universities until 2008. Twitter launched in 2006, only hitting digerati status in March 2007, much less the general public. And Instagram? In 2006, Kevin Systrom was an intern at Odeo (the company that birthed Twitter) and didn’t launch Instagram until 2010. And if you’re thinking of those other platforms you use daily? Pinterest didn’t launch until 2010 and Snapchat was only a sparkle in Evan Spiegel’s eye until late 2011.

Our essential business goal as marketers is to bring opportunity and revenue to our brands. Without going deep into the Marketing 3Cs, our job is to represent our corporation, assess competitors, and identify our community. That’s why as we mature in our use of digital tools, our approach to KPIs needs to grow with us. It’s at this point that we should consider, besides wanting people to read our blog posts, what actions do we want them to take? That’s why we need a call to action associated with every blog post. This can be as specific as wanting them to download an ebook or attend the next webinar. Or as simple as reading other blog posts or sharing our posts on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

On Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook, what do you want your followers to do once you get them? Share or retweet your posts? Or do you want them to create community by commenting and interacting online? What type of followers do you want? Do you care about their professional backgrounds or how they spend their leisure time? Are there any other key characteristics, and how can you ensure your social media audience matches your sales targets? Getting deeper into the reeds, how do you know when those in your audience might be ready to start on the customer journey?

Once you answer these questions, the best place to start a social media campaign is to go where your audience is. So, yes, a social media campaign isn’t only a retweet, a follow, or a comment, though it includes all of those things. It also includes a campaign that takes into consideration business goals.