Goals, Objectives, Strategies and Tactics

1. Objectives, Strategies, Tactics
Week #4
February 17, 2015
Utica College
PRL 408: Social Media
Thomas Armitage

2. In today’s lesson…
● Challenges
● Importance of a plan
● What’s in a plan
● Goals
● Objectives
● Strategies
● Tactics
● Metrics
● Things to remember

3. Challenges

4. Challenges
● “It’s just a fad!”
● “My niche is too small!”
● “It takes too much time!”
● “I don’t see how it can help my business!”

5. Importance of a plan
● Like PR and marketing, social media work must
be strategically planned in order to accomplish
important business goals.

6. Importance of a plan

7. Importance of a plan
● Other reasons:
○ Accountability
○ Timing
○ Budget

8. What’s in a plan
● Background
● Target Audience
● Goal
● Objectives
● Strategies/Platforms
● Tactics
● Metrics/Measure
● Budget
● Conclude

9. Goals

10. Goals
● Biggest, most important thing you want to
accomplish with your work.
● Often abstract.
● Cannot be easily accomplished, needs work.

11. Goals
● Example
○ Utilize social media to reach new target
audience members and strengthen our
online presence.

12. Objectives

13. Objectives
● Smaller, more manageable benchmarks that will
help achieve the goal.
● Concrete.
● Should have multiple objectives. Each will have
its own strategies, tactics, and metrics.

14. Objectives

15. Objectives
● Example
○ 1) Boost traffic to our website by way of social
media sites by 20% by the end of 2015.
○ 2) Boost engagement rates on Facebook and
Twitter by 30% by the end of 2015.
○ 3) Increase online sales via our e-commerce
store by 10% by the end of 2016.

16. Strategies

17. Strategies
● Roadmap that ties tactics together to reach
objectives. Keeps efforts in sync.
● Discuss what platforms you will use and why, as
well as key messages.
● Should have specific strategy for each objective.

18. Strategies
● Example:
○ For objective #3, to boost online sales:
○ Persuade consumers that our products are top
of the line and our online shopping experience
is superior to competitors. Utilize Facebook,
Twitter and YouTube by showcasing our latest
products in video format. Links drive people to
our online store.

19. Strategies
● Who is your target audience?
● Which platform(s) best fit this objective? Why?
● What are you trying to sell?

20. Tactics

21. Tactics
● Typically, a number of tactics are needed to help
accomplish an objective.
● This is where you provide your ideas.
● Be creative. Think promotions, contests,
advertising, types of content, examples, etc

22. Tactics
● Example:
○ Carry out promotion on Twitter where every
day throughout the month of February we will
give away a $50 gift card to Gertrude Hawk to
one lucky winner. Participants just need to
follow us and use the hashtag #TweetforSweets
to enter. We will use SproutSocial to carry out
the campaign and it will be supported by
Twitter advertising.

23. Metrics

24. Metrics
● What will you be measuring?
● How often will you track?
● What software do you need?

25. Metrics
● Example:
○ Objective #1, boost social referrals on site.
○ Tactic #1: Participate in daily blogging efforts
and share these posts on Twitter, Facebook,
Google+, and LinkedIn to drive people back to
our website.
○ We will use Google Analytics to measure how
many visitors we have coming to the website.
We will use filters to identify how many visitors
directly came from social media sites.

26. Things to remember
● Identify target audience first, this will help with
your plan.
● How much do tactics cost and how much is in my
budget? Measure ROI.
● Show examples. Be creative. Be specific.
● Social media plan should be one component of
your overall marketing plan.

27. Things to remember

28. Things to remember
Paper.
Snow.
A GOST!

29. Exercise
● Individually, choose a company.
● Develop the following:
○ Goal
○ Objectives
○ Strategy
○ Tactics
● As a group, we’ll discuss your ideas and
brainstorm on how to best measure them.

30. Next week, we will discuss…
● Content Creation and Blogging
● To do:
○ Read Chapter 10
○ Read articles from #UticaCollegeSM and
comment
○ Quiz next week

31. References
● Arruda, W. (2013, August 27). Three elements of an effective social media strategy.
Forbes. http://www.forbes.com/sites/williamarruda/2013/08/27/three-elements-of-
an-effective-social-media-strategy/
● Cronin, A. (2014, January 20). 7 Things to Include in Your Brand’s Social Media
Strategy. ClickZ. Retrieved on February 8, 2014 from
http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/2323003/7-things-to-include-in-your-brand-s-
social-media-strategy
● Evans, D. (2012). Social Media Marketing: An Hour A Day, 2nd Edition. Indianapolis:
Wiley.
● Sandler, J. (2012, December 26). Your social media marketing plan in 5 easy steps.
ClickZ. Retrieved on February 6, 2014 from
http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/2203265/your-social-media-marketing-plan-
in-5-easy-steps
● Shandrow, K. L. (2013, September 16). 10 questions to ask when creating a social-
media marketing plan. Entrepreneur. Retrieved on February 6, 2014 from
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/228324