Goal-setting is the cornerstone skill of the most successful Instagram marketers. You need a clear way to set your intentions and measure your results so you can create clarity in an otherwise vague social media environment.

While other marketers try to feel their way towards success, you will calculate your way there with your goals. This actually makes it easier as an Instagram content creator too, since you won’t doubt yourself creatively when you know your goals are being met.

This guide will teach you how to set and iterate upon useful goals for Instagram.

Measuring Success on Instagram

There are many ways to measure success on the Instagram platform. Each one has its benefits and drawbacks.

You could measure success by your follower number. The higher this number goes, the bigger your potential daily audience is. However, it’s a bit dangerous to focus on this since you can “game the system” and get a lot of followers that are just bots.

You can use engagement to measure your success. This is harder to boost than followers, especially if you focus on comments. A page that is getting more and more legitimate comments over time is probably doing great.

Another way to measure success is money. If your goal is to turn a profit from your social media activities, this is a simple measurement method.

Iterating On Your Goal

Once you decide which metric you want to focus on, you can set a goal. You could decide to try and get 100 new followers this month, or to increase your average comments-per-post every two weeks. The goal itself doesn’t matter, what matters is that you set one.

Set goals that take place over a 2-4 week time frame. This is enough time to accomplish meaningful work, but short enough to keep you accountable.

At the end of each goal’s scheduled time, pause and reflect. Did you accomplish your goal? What helped and what didn’t? How can you set better goals for next time? This is a process that gets more effective with time.

Consistency Wins

There are many quick viral sensations on Instagram that fade away just as fast, leaving little for the marketer in rewards. You want to avoid this fate. Seek consistent and stable growth and you can build an influential and sustainable page within a few years.

While other brands pursue unfocused marketing campaigns, you can make real and measurable progress month after month. This is bound to have a positive impact on your page as well as your brand. There’s simply no better method for digital marketing than the slow-and-steady iterative approach.

Staying Motivated and Doing The Work

Now you have the information that you need to set goals and accomplish them on Instagram. The last piece of the puzzle is to assess your motivation.

You should have a vision of what your page will look like and the impact it will have in 2-3 years. This vision should excite you and push you to work even harder on your marketing task. If you do the work and continue to set and surpass your goals over the years, you will see tremendous success on Instagram.