If your business has a Facebook page, a Twitter account or any other form of social media activity, have you ever asked yourself what it is you are looking to achieve from your activity?

If the answer is no then get thinking, if the answer is yes then have you got them written down and are you regularly measuring your achievements against your goals?

Social media can sometimes be an area of business viewed as something that you know you should be doing but is rarely measured or devised into a plan.

What other area of your business would you do for hours a week without measuring the gain and understanding exactly what you are getting from it?

Once you have your goals and objectives you will undoubtedly have more focus to your activity because you will consciously be working toward achieving them. This benefit can be seen in a variety of means, whether that is monetary gain, time efficiency or a combination of both.

Goals for social media are not always fiscally orientated. Ok, if you are selling online then a significant part of your activity will be geared toward gaining sales but in what capacity does your social media activity drive this sale; is it through creating regular dialogue with a certain stakeholder group, is it reaching new customers that you otherwise wouldn’t have found or is it delivering the sale itself.

The likelihood is that it will be a combination of these but understanding where it fits into your wider sales funnel will be an important part of achieving the goal.

With that we have touched on a wider point, which is that your time on social media should not act in isolation, it should be part of your wider business and marketing strategy planning. Marketing is far better when integrated and social media needs to be in this mix. Thinking about how and where you spread your content, how you create dialogue and how you get people to buy from you.

Your social media plan should provide you with a roadmap to future success; to gain more from your time and more benefit.

For more information on how we can help your social media presence please give us a call on 01566 784860 or email hello@mihidigital.co.uk