By Ashley Laabs

Why do you have a social media page for your business? If your answer has anything to do with what other companies are doing or how many consumers are on a platform, you might be missing a sense of purpose for your digital marketing. Posting on social media without regard to your company’s goals or values is like jumping on a bandwagon without much concern for the destination. Most small businesses don’t have the time, money or resources to take a “see what happens” approach, which is why the answer to this question is so important.

“Why” is the core of your strategy: It affects the who, what, when, where and how of every piece of marketing. Why does your business even exist? Dig deep into your mission and think about how social media resonates with your ultimate purpose. If your tanning salon is a trendy beauty boutique, your social media might be a way to keep your fans up to date about the latest trends. Stores with more of a high-end vibe might want to use it as a way to provide consultation and service no matter where their customers are.

However, it’s also important to go beyond these qualitative personalities to address quantitative business goals. Are you trying to drive sales, loyalty, referrals, awareness, or something else? How much of a change are you trying to create? What is the timeframe for your goal? Does your social media platform of choice align with these expectations?

Social media is a great tool for brand awareness, community building and customer service. If your goal is to build a reputation, social media can play an important role in making that happen. However, it isn’t always the most effective medium. Scissors may be the right tool for cutting paper, but you’ll be better off using a saw to cut wood: Both of these objects have the same function, but they work best when applied in the right context. Before you invest a lot of time and money into your marketing, it’s important to pick the right platform for your specific brand and goals. Think about who you are targeting, and where you are most likely to find them online. The age, interests or location of your customers might make them inclined to use one platform over another.

The next step is to think about how you will measure success. If you want to increase brand awareness, and you plan to do that through social media, how will you know if it’s working? This is where data comes in. Identify the most important metrics that measure your goal – these are also known as key performance indicators. For brand awareness, you might want to consider the engagement rate, average reach per post, and the average amount of new followers per month. These metrics will help you understand how many people are seeing your content, how many are interacting with that content in some way, and how many people have decided to follow your page.

Another important thing to consider is what you want people to do once they reach your social media page or profile. Continuing with the example of brand awareness, we want people to engage with our content. Start thinking of how you can encourage people to follow your page and like, comment or share your posts. You could increase engagement by asking questions. You could encourage them to tag a friend. You could incentivize them to like your page with a special offer.

The connecting thread between these ideas is a call to action. When you know what you want people to do, you have to tell them to do it! Just like making a sale behind the counter, you have to close the deal. It’s not enough to present your customers with information and hope they make the decision you want: Tell them what comes next, whether that is commenting with their favorite lotion or making a visit to the store.

By now you have identified your business goals, picked the right platform to achieve them, selected the most relevant metrics for success and brainstormed the call to action. Make sure you actually write these down somewhere that you can refer to while you are writing content. Now it’s finally time to create your content and share it with the world! Later on, you can compare those key performance indicators to the previous day, month or year to see how well you’re doing.

When you frame your marketing efforts with your company’s values, goals and audience, you are in control of your final destination. It’s time to stop jumping on the bandwagon – take control of the wheel and drive somewhere amazing.