Set yourself up for massive success in 2017 by planning a killer social media strategy

2017 is approaching fast, and you know what that means:

Before long, New Year’s resolutions are going to be all you hear about on social media.

And maybe you’ve got even some personal resolutions of your own in mind.

Don’t stop there, though – set business goals too. More specifically, set social media marketing goals that will help you grow your business in 2017.

Now, you may be thinking:

I’m already so busy. Why should I care about my social media plan for 2017 so much?

Here are a few good reasons:

• By spending as little as six hours per week, 66% of marketers see lead generation benefits with social media.
• More than half of marketers who’ve been using social media for at least two years report it helped them improve sales.
• At least 61% of those investing a minimum of six hours per week in social media marketing saw improvements in search engine rankings.

Worth the effort, right?

If you think so, keep reading. I’m going to talk about how to set smart, achievable social media marketing goals that will help you crush the competition all year long.

Set your “big picture” business goals first

Before your set social media marketing goals, you need to understand your main business goals.

After all, social media goals aren’t really your end goals – they’re steps in the process to achieve your bigger business goals.

For example, say your goal is to gain 10,000 new email subscribers so you can sell X number of products. Based on that, you’d start setting social media goals that would allow you to build your email list.

See how that works?

Your social media strategy is just one piece of your marketing strategy, and your efforts on social should tie in with what you’re trying to accomplish overall.

Because the last thing you want is to haphazardly set social media goals that aren’t really going to benefit your business.

Look back at past results

Once you’ve figured out how social media marketing fits into your “big picture” marketing/sales goals, you need to pinpoint the best social networks to focus on.

Analyze your results from previous years, and ask yourself questions like:

• Which social networks result in the most sales for my business?
• Which social networks drive the most website traffic?
• Which social networks are most popular among my target customers?

Not only will the answers to these questions help guide your strategy – they’ll help you avoid wasting time and money promoting your business on social networks that won’t give you a good ROI.

Of course, this doesn’t mean you should only stick to what has worked in the past. Just be smart about the new social networks and strategies you choose, and prioritize building a presence where your target audience hangs out.

Choose numbers and timelines over vague goals

By this point, you should have already come up with concrete business goals to build your social media strategy around.

So now, it’s time to set specific social media goals that will help you reach those bigger business goals.

Don’t be vague in your approach here – your goals must be measurable.

For example, if you find that most of your website traffic comes from Twitter, you wouldn’t just say, “I’m going to get more active on Twitter in 2017.”

Instead, you might outline exactly how many Tweets you’ll schedule each day in 2017 and set a specific number of hours to hang out on Twitter every week (answering questions, building connections with your following, etc.).

Similarly, if you want to conquer YouTube in 2017 because you know your target audience spends a lot of time searching for content there, you’d want to set a specific goal related to YouTube, like “I will post one new video per week in 2017.”

The more measurable your social media goals are, the better you’ll be able to hold yourself accountable as the year progresses.

Figure out which tools you need to achieve your goals

I know, I know – this kind of planning can be a little time-consuming. And the costs of marketing tools can add up fast.

But trust me:

It’s worth being able to stay organized and get everything done.

Think about the time you’ll save and the return you’ll get on your investment rather than just the price tag.

If you’re not sure where to start, here are a few ideas to consider:

• Canva – This free graphic design software allows you to create stunning graphics for just about any social media site. No design experience required! They also have a paid plan if you want to upload custom brand colors/fonts, collaborate with a team, etc.
• MavSocial – Our social media scheduling software includes a content calendar, analytics, and all the features you need to plan and publish social media posts. Start your free 14-day trial right here – no credit card needed.
• PicMonkey – Need to create a quick overlay for a YouTube video? Want to tweak your photos without splurging on Photoshop? Try this free photo editing and design tool.

These are a just few examples of tools that will help you step up your social media game. Do some research, and pick the best tools based on your business needs.

Remember, you should set social media marketing goals that are realistic but challenging!

What I mean is this:

If your website barely gets any traffic and the only person who follows you on Twitter is your mom, you can’t expect to gain 100,000 new Twitter followers every month of 2017.

But you know what?

If you got about 100 new Twitter followers per month in 2016 with minimal effort, you could shoot for 200+ new followers per month in 2017 with your new strategy in place.

Think about where your business is now, and compare that to where you want your business to be at the end of the new year.

When you approach planning this way, you can set social media marketing goals that are realistic enough to be achievable but challenging enough to keep you motivated.

Have you already set social media marketing goals for 2017? Share your favorite planning methods in the comments section below!