Social Media 101: Tactics and Tips to DevelopYour Business Online

Chapter 69. Social Media Strategy: Aligning Goals and Measurements

Since starting a social media strategy^[231] series, I've been working diligently on understanding what goes into the process. I'm building a framework that, when completed, should prove fairly useful. Along the way, I'll share some of what I'm learning, so that you can learn along with me and, hopefully, influence the end results with your thoughts and ideas. Now let's talk about goals, strategies, and measurements. We start with a specific goal from my company, go into another basic example, and then open the conversation to you.

YOU CAN'T HAVE STRATEGY WITHOUT FIRST HAVING GOALS

Strategy is essentially the diet, but the goal might be weight loss, muscle growth, cholesterol reduction, or allergy aversion. It's not one-size-fits all. Before you know which diet to start, you need to know the goal.

STRATEGY WITHOUT MEASUREMENT IS USELESS

If you're not measuring the effort to reach your goals (Katie Paine^[232] will be so proud of me), how can you be sure you're getting there? Measuring the effectiveness of your efforts is vital to knowing you're making progress. Remember that diets (i.e., strategies) often need adjusting along the way. It's measurements that tell us this.

SAMPLE GOALS, STRATEGIES, AND MEASUREMENTS

Let's put some real information out here and talk about it. I use a few items that I worked up for my own company, New Marketing Labs.^[233]

• Goal: Increase attendance at our live events.

• Strategy: Add Upcoming.org ...