All businesses have goals.

You wouldn’t start one unless there was a “reason”, a “why”. Whatever your reasons, your motivations for pursuing your business you need to write them down. Why because it helps you with making decisions, stirs you in the right direction, and sometimes you just need to be reminded why you started. This is the purpose of a strategy. When you’re asked to think about your business’ social media strategy it sounds a little daunting and tedious, but the point of the exercise is so you have a road map to reach your goals.

Things don’t just magically appear, results don’t happen overnight and we don’t reach our big goals without achieving smaller insignificant tasks.

I got this tip from a marketing workshop I attended – write down 3-5 attainable goals you want to achieve in 100 days. Then after that period write down another 3-5 goals. Always review the outcomes at the end of your 100 days but hopefully because you’ve broken down your goals into bite-size, measurable pieces you’re achieving them off slowly.

My three goals for this first 100 days of this new financial year was to increase my social media followers across my platforms, and win at least one client.

I’m happy to share in less than 100 days I’ve achieved 2/3 so far! I didn’t even realise until the other day.

My Instagram account has ticked over to 500 followers. I wish I took note of how many followers I had at 27 June, but 500 must have been an arduous task at the time. Having been in business for twelve months and not really seeing growth on my social platforms, this was something I wanted to focus on. Social media is so fickle and getting people to organically follow and continue to follow a business account can be hard. I knew it was going to be hard work. Work in the form of posting quality, well thought through, and balanced content. The next 100 days I focused on my target market and my why. I created content that people would respond to, content that speaks to my audience, and content that shows the business’ personality.

In my 100 days, I was able to secure not one but two new clients. I got out of my comfort zone and asked and asked and asked. Of course, I got lots of “no’s” but managed to get a few “yes’”. I stopped letting my fears and doubts hold me back and saw the opportunities in setbacks.

So my last goal for my first 100 days of this financial year is to get 300 followers on Facebook. I really hate plugging myself, but if you don’t already follow my page, I’d appreciate the love. I don’t post often, I’d like to think I post valuable and entertaining content and my “sell” is usually done subtly within posts.

I strongly recommend breaking down your business goals into bite size pieces and tackle for 100 days. As business owners, we have goals to make profit, have 10 new members a month or increase breakfast service, but how will you accomplish this? Take each and every one of your goals, then break them down by identifying the tasks you need to do to achieve them. Be specific in every task and identify as many as possible, then prioritise.  Choose 3-5 you want to focus on, and only work towards those tasks for the next 100 days. You’ll be surprised how much more productive you can be when you just narrow down your focus.

I’ve even applied this concept to day to day tasks. We all have a never ending list of things to do and it can be overwhelming as we try and tick off as much as possible. As much as we try and stick to our list, we usually get distracted into doing things outside of it, leaving us feeling a sense of unaccomplishment by the end of the day. Again, by just sticking to three tasks to complete during for the day you start to actually tick off items on your things to do list and feel a sense of control.

I guess since I’ve crossed off two goals, I should write down two new ones? … This was never covered in the course.

What do you think, should I wait until 9 October to start three new goals or start 100 days on two new goals now? Do you do something similar with your goals?