Setting Goals For Your Facebook Campaigns
Determining Goals For Your Facebook Campaigns
This post is part of a series titled “How To Use Facebook Ads For Small Business”.
“`Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?’
`That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,’ said the Cat.
`I don’t much care where–‘ said Alice.
`Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,’ said the Cat.”
Alice In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Establish a specific, measurable campaign goal that’s aligned with overall business goals.
Without a clear goal in mind, you’ll have no way to measure success and no hope of attaining it either. You won’t be able to refocus your efforts from the ideas that aren’t working to the ones that are without a clear measuring stick for success. This is why determining a goal for your campaign is so crucial to creating your Facebook campaigns.
Businesses big and small struggle with setting goals and defining those goals in meaningful terms. A popular model that we’ve used to help our clients is the S.M.A.R.T. goal model. Use the five traits of a S.M.A.R.T. goal to help come up with a S.M.A.R.T. goal for your campaign.
Set a S.M.A.R.T Goal
S.M.A.R.T. goals clearly explain what your intention is and the measure of a campaign’s success.
- Specific: Your goal should be associated with a specific desired result. This can be sales-related and product specific or can be a related marketing goal. It should align with your store’s business goals and strategic plan. It should answer the questions of “who” and “what.”
- Measurable: We want to be able to determine how we will measure when the goal is completed. If a goal for a campaign is measurable, we should be able to answer the question, “How will we know when the goal is accomplished?”
- Attainable: A campaign’s goal should be far enough beyond our reach that we need to work for it. It should also be realistic enough that it is not unattainable. Be careful not to set up your campaign for failure by making your goals too unreasonable.
- Relevant: Your campaign’s goals should align with your business goals and focus on one relevant area.
- Timely: Campaign goals should have a clearly defined time-frame for completion.
Goal Examples
We’ll give two examples of S.M.A.R.T. goals and refer back to these examples throughout this course. The examples cover targeting based on a product and targeting based on a customer’s situation.
S.M.A.R.T. Goal Example #1 –Trollbeads Bracelet Target (Product based)
Increase sales of Trollbeads products by 15% during May of 2014 as compared to May of 2013. We will do this by targeting women between the ages of 35-54 within 25 miles of our store who “like” Trollbeads and related charm bracelet-style products. Our Facebook ads, imagery and copy will be geared towards Mother’s Day.
- Specific: Increase sales of Trollbeads
- Measurable: By 15%
- Attainable: A 15% year over year increase is a challenge, but not impossible.
- Relevant: Increasing sales of a core product to a key audience of potential customers is obviously aligned with the store’s business goals.
- Timely: During May of 2014
S.M.A.R.T. Goal Example #2 – Bridal Target (Situational Target based)
Increase bridal registry purchases by 20% from March of 2014 through August of 2014. We will do this by targeting women aged 22-34 within 25 miles of our store who have recently changed their “relationship status” from “in a relationship” to “engaged” within the last 6 months. The target will be the bride with the goal of getting her to register and share web pages with her bridal party.
- Specific: Increase bridal registry purchases
- Measurable: By 20%
- Attainable: A 20% year over year increase is a challenge, but not impossible.
- Relevant: Targeting brides for a store that does bridal registry gifts is well aligned with the store’s overall business goals.
- Timely: During the period of March through August of 2014.
Action Step 1: Create A Smart Goal
This is the first of several action steps that you’ll complete throughout this course. You’ll refer back to earlier actions to complete new ones, so you should write down your answers as you work on each step.
Using the examples provided above, write a first draft of the goal you want to accomplish. Now try to determine each element of the S.M.A.R.T. goal: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely. If any element is missing, add detail to your goal to address it. When you’re finished, write down your finished S.M.A.R.T. goal for future reference.
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