Social Media is an amazing platform for business… If you know why you’re using it. But, a lot of the time, people don’t actually know WHY they’re using social media, and that doesn’t help with their results. Having an end goal in mind (to any strategy) is important so that you know what steps you have to benchmark to achieve your goal.
If you haven’t had time to think about why you’re using social media for your business, then I hate to tell you this, but a lot of your efforts have most likely been wasted. Visualising your result will allow you to know which exact steps you need to put into place to achieve it. That’s where results happen. If you don’t know what you want to achieve, then neither will your audience, and chances are you’ll be running in circles.
Benchmarking is what makes a successful campaign, whether it’s a social campaign or any other campaign. To benchmark, you must set yourself a goal that is not only realistic and achievable but also something that will truly be of benefit to you.
You could look at some of the following goals to get started:
- Drive more traffic to your website or any other pages
- Turn followers into REAL sales
- Create a ‘brand buzz’, getting people talking about your business
- Increase your SEO and referral marketing
- Create some really good key contacts in your industry that may be of benefit to you
So, how might you benchmark one of the above end goals? And just to be clear, when I’m speaking about an “end-goal”, it doesn’t actually end there. The end-goal will always be in play. You will continuously be going through your benchmarking cycle to ensure that you repeatedly achieve your goal, which is what makes a successful social media campaign.
The art of benchmarking
Let’s imagine your end goal is to drive more traffic to your website, or any other pages. Here’s what you should be thinking about:
- How am I going to drive people back to my website?
- Why will people want to visit my website?
- Where will these visitors be coming from and how might that reflect their decision to click?
- Who will be visiting the company website?
- When will they be most likely to visit the website?
Once you identify each of your questions that you ask yourself, it will break the process down for your social media campaign.
For example: HOW are you going to drive people back to the website? Will it be through continuous posting, articles on the website, offers and competitions, live updates, direct contact, backlinks, etc.?
All of the above can be considered a benchmark. Writing articles for your website doesn’t happen overnight, so it’s something that you have to work toward. You must take the time to come up with interesting and engaging content for your audience to want to read.
The blogging process could look something like the following:
Brainstorming articles to post -> Research -> Content generation -> Post to website and other relevant pages -> Posting article directly onto your social media channels -> Continue to post using various summaries and at different times -> Directly engage with prospects, directing them back to articles -> Posting your articles to groups and forums -> Resulting in successful traffic.
The above process might seem long winded, but this is how you will get organic and successful lead generation back to your website. You must remember that not everybody is online at the same time reading every single one of your posts, so capturing as much of the market as you can is important. Yes, there is such thing as overkill, and that’s why strategizing for each social platform is key. Your social strategy should never be the same across platforms as they all work differently.
If you’re not sure where to start with benchmarking and goal setting, why not try with the above example I have given you? I can guarantee it will deliver results if executed effectively. If you monitor your results successfully, then I would love to hear all about it. You can e-mail me directly to Hayley@thesocialgeeks.co.uk
Hayley Jenkins is the Owner and Director of Social Media Marketing Agency, The Social Geeks. Hayley is a Social Media Expert specialising in content marketing and campaign strategies for businesses across the UK. Visit her website http://www.thesocialgeeks.co.uk/
If you haven’t had time to think about why you’re using social media for your business, then I hate to tell you this, but a lot of your efforts have most likely been wasted. Visualising your result will allow you to know which exact steps you need to put into place to achieve it. That’s where results happen. If you don’t know what you want to achieve, then neither will your audience, and chances are you’ll be running in circles.
Benchmarking is what makes a successful campaign, whether it’s a social campaign or any other campaign. To benchmark, you must set yourself a goal that is not only realistic and achievable but also something that will truly be of benefit to you.
You could look at some of the following goals to get started:
- Drive more traffic to your website or any other pages
- Turn followers into REAL sales
- Create a ‘brand buzz’, getting people talking about your business
- Increase your SEO and referral marketing
- Create some really good key contacts in your industry that may be of benefit to you
So, how might you benchmark one of the above end goals? And just to be clear, when I’m speaking about an “end-goal”, it doesn’t actually end there. The end-goal will always be in play. You will continuously be going through your benchmarking cycle to ensure that you repeatedly achieve your goal, which is what makes a successful social media campaign.
The art of benchmarking
Let’s imagine your end goal is to drive more traffic to your website, or any other pages. Here’s what you should be thinking about:
- How am I going to drive people back to my website?
- Why will people want to visit my website?
- Where will these visitors be coming from and how might that reflect their decision to click?
- Who will be visiting the company website?
- When will they be most likely to visit the website?
Once you identify each of your questions that you ask yourself, it will break the process down for your social media campaign.
For example: HOW are you going to drive people back to the website? Will it be through continuous posting, articles on the website, offers and competitions, live updates, direct contact, backlinks, etc.?
All of the above can be considered a benchmark. Writing articles for your website doesn’t happen overnight, so it’s something that you have to work toward. You must take the time to come up with interesting and engaging content for your audience to want to read.
The blogging process could look something like the following:
Brainstorming articles to post -> Research -> Content generation -> Post to website and other relevant pages -> Posting article directly onto your social media channels -> Continue to post using various summaries and at different times -> Directly engage with prospects, directing them back to articles -> Posting your articles to groups and forums -> Resulting in successful traffic.
The above process might seem long winded, but this is how you will get organic and successful lead generation back to your website. You must remember that not everybody is online at the same time reading every single one of your posts, so capturing as much of the market as you can is important. Yes, there is such thing as overkill, and that’s why strategizing for each social platform is key. Your social strategy should never be the same across platforms as they all work differently.
If you’re not sure where to start with benchmarking and goal setting, why not try with the above example I have given you? I can guarantee it will deliver results if executed effectively. If you monitor your results successfully, then I would love to hear all about it. You can e-mail me directly to Hayley@thesocialgeeks.co.uk
Hayley Jenkins is the Owner and Director of Social Media Marketing Agency, The Social Geeks. Hayley is a Social Media Expert specialising in content marketing and campaign strategies for businesses across the UK. Visit her website http://www.thesocialgeeks.co.uk/
