Road to 10,000: Weekly Blog Goals and Updates, Week 3

I am taking you on an amazing carpet ride.  No, not really.  But, I am taking you on a ride - my journey to 10,000.  My goal for Sarah Smirks:  The Marketing Mama Blog is to reach 10,000 UMV, Twitter followers, and Instagram followers in a year.  That’s quite the goal.  It’s a goal that I find almost daunting when I work 50+ hours a week at my job in marketing.  However, I think it’s manageable.  I think, if the big bloggers are getting 100k+ UMV a month, I can get 10k, working on it in addition to my full time job and family.  I’m going to do it.

Every Monday, you’ll see my weekly goal updates and new goals with my plan of attack.  Who knows?  Maybe what I learn on this wild ride will help a new blogger.

Hold on tight, here we go!

Goals from Last Week:

Sessions Goal:  70/weekday

Status:  #Fail

Well, this is iffy.  If I use unfiltered, possible spam, Google Analytics, I reached my goal and got to 71.8 sessions per weekday.  However, I’m going to go ahead and use the filtered view, just in case I got spammy visits.  With the filter, I averaged 52.4 visits/weekday.  Plus side?  I did raise my average from the previous week by 12 new visits a day.  Yay me?  Maybe having my goal at 30 more sessions per day week over week was a little out of reach.

Bloglovin Goal:  60 followers

Status:  Rocked it.

I beat my goal!  I am now at 73 followers.  How did I do it?  1)  I am in several blogger groups and whenever there is a Bloglovin link party, I join.  2)  I wrote a blog post about Bloglovin and promoted it on Facebook with a boosted post.  3)  My Twitter automated DM is a call to action to follow me on Bloglovin.

Instagram Goal:  600 followers

Status:  Rocked it.

I put this goal to shame.  I am now at 707 followers.  To get there I 1) Joined blogger link parties 2) Read some great articles on branding my IG profile.  Check this one out from Domestically Blissful, 7 Useful Tips for Growing Your Instagram Followers and this one out from Love Plus Color on Finding Your Instagram Voice.  3)  I crowdsourced on my blogger groups.  I posted a screenshot of my IG profile and asked for constructive criticism.  They were amazingly helpful!  If any of you helpful bloggers are reading this, thank you for the help :)

Facebook Goal:  150 followers

Status:  Rocked it.

I hit 173 followers on my Facebook page! I used boosted posts, and instead of using the default option, boosting to current followers and their friends, I boosted to entrepreneurs and bloggers.  This got me a few new followers.  I also always join the Facebook page link parties.

Twitter Goal:  1,800 followers

Status:  Rocked it.

I barely squeaked this goal out.  I am currently at 1,806.  It was touch and go for a hot minute  I wasn’t sure if I’d meet it!  Twitter is by far what I’m best at.  I automate Tweets three times a day, two promoting my blog posts and one promoting another blogger who has a great post.  Then, I will retweet once or twice a day when I see something good.  Bonus of the week:  Marketing God Anne Handley followed me!!

Blog Goals for this Week:

Blog Sessions - 60/weekday:  I plan on meeting this goal by joining link parties for each new blog post I write.  I will also promote old posts on Twitter, Google Plus, and Facebook.  Lastly, I am guest posting on Helicopter Mom & Just Plane Dad this week, so hopefully I get some new traffic from it!

Twitter - 2,000 followers:  This week, I am shooting for 2,000 followers.  I will follow some awesome new tweeters; give some Twitter love with retweets, favorites, and shoutouts; and lastly, I am going to continue my Twitter post schedule, which has been working well so far!

Instagram - 750 followers:  I am going to continue to work on branding my Instagram profile, and work harder on giving some Instagram love.  I need to take more time to comment and like other’s profiles.

I am only writing goals for these three aspects of the blog this week, so I can focus and spend more time working toward those channels.  I don’t want to spread myself too thin, and end up not meeting any of my goals.

Come back next Monday for my update.  

Check out week 1 and week 2 here.

Now, tell me, how do you grow your Instagram followers?  Do you have a strategy?  If so, please share!