Steps:
Create S.M.A.R.T. Goals
Determine Metrics to measure These Goals
Measure
Observe, Track and Report
Adjust and Repeat
Of course we all want our social media accounts to become successful and we know how we could make it so but, are we seeing results? How do we know if our social media accounts are becoming successful? Measuring your success could be done in five easy steps. Completing these steps will also bring to light what areas are most important and areas you need to improve in.
Create S.M.A.R.T. Goals
S.M.A.R.T. stands for: Specific, Measureable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-Based. This goal format helps you easily know what you are striving for, how to reach it and exactly what your goal is.
Specific - Being specific creates a goal that is easily measurable. Say you want to gain more followers next month. Think about exactly how much you want to gain. Knowing the exact number helps you to stay focused. If the goal is too vague, then you might lose track on what you are actually working towards.
Measurable - To be able to solidly identify progress and see whether your efforts are worth it or not is crucial. All the numbers matter when determining if your social media account is successful or not. If you are unable to measure and keep progress of a goal, it is not specific enough or is not important to your account.
Attainable -  You want to create a realistic goal, something that you could attain. If you want to gain one thousand new followers by the end of the month when you only have one hundred, you’re probably not going to reach that goal. Having far fetched goals may create discouragement and may have you quitting social media all together. Start small, pick something you know that you could achieve. From there you could increase your goal.
Relevant - Your goals should relate to you and your account. Not on what's currently trending. You may want to follow the latest trend and be like every other account but, does it match your company? Will it work for you? Pick a goal that is necessary for you and your business.
Time-Based - Creating a time frame will help you stick to your goals. If there is no deadline to a goal, then you may never complete it.
Determine Metrics to Measure your Goals
So you have some goals established. Now what? How do you measure these goals and determine if you have reached the end point? Of course, each goal will have it’s own set of metrics and would be measured differently. Most social media accounts have a built-in analytic reader that tracks most numbers that are relevant to you. What metrics should you pick for each goal? There are many ways to measure your goals but here are a few examples:
If your goal is engagement based, say you want more interactions on your post. Your measurable metrics would be comments, likes, @ mentions, shares and tags. These metrics are all things people do to interact with your accounts and posts. Taking account of the total number will help you determine if you reached your goal.
If your goal is awareness based, if you want to get your company more out there. You would look at the number of followers you have and the amount of times people shared your posts or account. Knowing these numbers will tell you how much accounts you are reaching leading towards how much potential customers you may receive.
If your goal is conversational based, say you want to drive leads and sales. Then you would want to take a look at how much people clicked on your website link or other external links you may have. This will tell you how much sales were driven by your social media account.
Measure
You know what metrics you need to measure your goals, now is the time to start measuring. There are external sites that do the measuring of any and all possible metrics for you and puts in one place. But, as mentioned before, most social media accounts have a feature of their own that measures important metrics as well. It is your job to understand each metric and its importance to you.
Observe, Track and Report
Your goals and measurements won’t mean anything if you are not keeping track of it. You need to observe each aspect of your goal and how it is growing every day. Failure to do so, may lead to forgotten progress and never really knowing if your goal is achieved or not. Keeping track of each of your measurements will also show you the overall picture of your goal. Where it rises and falls, where you are reaching your goal or where you are moving a little bit back from your goal.
Adjust and Repeat
Looking back at your reports, you could determine which goals were achieved and which weren’t. If your goal was not achieved, then you need to look at things you may be doing wrong. Are there certain posts that your audience may not like? Are you posting enough? From then on, you could create some new S.M.A.R.T. goals that you may want to complete in the next round. If your goal was achieved take a look at why your goal was met. Maybe you commented back to every comment or you posted at a certain time. Continue to do these factors and make your goal higher, see if you are able to achieve your goal again.