How Social Media Managers Can Set Measurable Goals for 2023  

Ready. Set. Goals! 

Goal setting for social media managers this 2023

It’s 2023. And by now every social media marketer should have outlined their 2023 goals. But maybe you’ve not, or you’re still working on it. Here’s an approach that will help you come up with meaningful goals for the year.  

First, Define Goals (Over Intentions) 

Goals and intentions are often used interchangeably, but these are two very different things. Goals are results-oriented. While intentions are the action or behaviors that you take to achieve those goals.  

 
For example, a goal would be to increase social media followers by 10%. An intention would be to create more engaging content to attract more followers.  

 
By setting measurable goals, you can ensure you’re getting closer to your objectives and measure progress effectively. Given that, it’s important to be really clear on what goals are set for the year ahead — whether it’s increasing engagements or reach on a specific platform, or traffic to your brand website from social media. Or simply starting to be more consistent on social media. 

 
Here are effective ways social media managers can kickstart the year having the right goals in check. 

1. Get Timely with the Year Ahead  

With the ever-changing landscape of social media, staying on top of trends will be key for any social media manager’s success. Marketers should keep an eye out for algorithm changes and new platform features that will help them stay up-to-date with the latest trends.  

But your goals shouldn’t be set based on platform features or changes you can’t really anticipate. They should be based on what’s good for your business and why your business is using social media in the first place. If you focus on business objectives and marketing objectives at a high level, social media goals and objectives can become clear. 

2. Take the Lessons in and Build Giant Snowball 

Take a step back and review what worked and what didn’t in the previous year. What was successful? What needs improvement? What content did perform well? How can you elevate what performed to even higher heights? 

Effective social media campaigns aren’t created overnight. Most have gone through a process of trial and error over time. However, those are the exact lessons that a marketer can take in so they can derive strategies that work best for them.  

Once you understand where to add your sweetener, it will be much easier to create goals that are achievable and most likely effective. And just like a giant snowball, take all those lessons you learned in 2022 and roll them into your 2023.  

3. Create an Action Plan 

‘What is it that you want to achieve for 2023?’  

Most social media managers would say: 

  • I want to increase reach, engagement, or traffic by X percent. 
  • I want to focus on video content by creating at least X pieces of content. 
  • I want to run more themed campaigns, increasing from 2 last year to 4 this year. 

These are all great goals to have, as they are specific and measurable. However, they aren’t likely to succeed if there’s no action plan on how to get there. Creating an action plan helps social media managers chunk down their goals into manageable objectives that can be achieved in shorter time frames, instead of trying to do everything at once and getting overwhelmed.  

Once goals are established for 2023, creating this action plan is essential. Outline each step needed to achieve the goal — whether it’s working with influencers or rolling out new content types- and make a roadmap to consistently hit those objectives.  

4. Make Goals More Data Driven 

See goal settings differently this year. Pairing a measurable goal with data-driven insights makes it more achievable and gives social media managers an actual measurement of success.  

Data can help inform the decisions you make when crafting a specific campaign or strategy. From understanding audience behavior to which type of content works best — all these are great pieces of information that can be used to create campaigns based on real evidence resulting from data analytics. Having data-driven goals also helps marketers stay away from assumptions, and rather focus on what’s actually effective for their brands.  

At Ignite Social Media, we’ve been doing this for more than 15 years. We haven’t reached every goal we’ve set, of course. But without data, it’s easy to tweet the day away with no meaningful impact on the business. 

5. Reassess Your Skills  

Now that you have your goals, take the time to reassess your social media skills. Identify where you’re strongest and what your weak points are. Social media managers need to be open to learning and evolving in order to meet these 2023 goals. 

Do you know your way around analytics? Are you creative with designing visuals? Can you create on-trend content? All these skills are essential for success when managing social media channels. But almost nobody gets into this business, being good at all of them. 

Understand the skills you currently have (personally or within your team) and look for ways to upgrade those that need some improvement. Take a course, attend a webinar, or read industry-related news — there will always be something new to learn. And with these skillset upgrades comes an increase in productivity when it comes to your 2023 goals. 

6. Baseline the Trends 

Don’t easily jump into the trend because it’s everybody’s newsfeed noise. Take the time to analyze how this new trend fits (or doesn’t fit) with your goals.  

Trends work differently for each brand and audience, so it’s important that social media managers understand what historically works best for them — and then apply those learnings to upcoming trends to see if they make sense. Baselining trends also help marketers stay away from cookie-cutter approaches and focus on ones that are tailored specifically to their target audiences.  

Plus, if you’ve set your goals for the year, it should be obvious if a new trend is going to help you reach your goals or is really just a distraction.  

7. Choose Your Holidays 

With so many holidays out there, it can be overwhelming to decide which ones you should leverage as opportunities to drive engagement and sales. Choose the holidays that make sense with your brand’s mission and values — those will be the most effective for long-term growth.  

Get a calendar, highlight the dates that you plan to leverage, and start planning your content around those. Whether it’s a special promotion or timely photo contest — having that content ready in advance will make marketing easier for you. Also, think about why this holiday matters to your brand. A simple “Happy X Holiday from Y Brand” isn’t likely to serve anyone’s interests or help you get those goals accomplished.  

8. Always Consider Getting Audience Usage Data 

Social media is very personal. Each person’s feed looks different. That’s why we always start by looking at the People we are trying to reach, and what they care about relative to our client’s brand. Given that, it’s important to consider getting audience usage data when mapping your goals. Knowing your audience’s preferences and how they interact with your content can help you create campaigns that drive engagement, growth, and sales.  

Analyzing audience usage data can be done in two ways — using built-in analytics tools or using third-party software. Both are effective in delivering insights that marketers need to understand their target audiences better, but it’s best to choose the one that works for you. We use both GWI data upfront and our own analytics team as we go.  

The Bottom Line 

A winning social media goal mapping — there you have it, all yours for 2023! 

By understanding trends, leveraging holidays strategically and analyzing data, social media managers are one step closer to achieving their measurable, specific 2023 goals. As the year progresses, be sure to stay on top of upcoming trends, and adjust goals as needed.  

If you need help with your brand’s social media strategy, let us know!

View our blogs for more social media marketing resources.



Ignite Social Media