How to Set and Track Goals as a Content Creator

The biggest thing standing in the way of reaching your goals is not defining them. Goal setting helps you understand where to spend your time and how to allocate your resources, which is especially important for creators working as businesses of 1 person.

Through understanding and setting goals for content creators, you get to the “why” behind everything you do and can feel motivated, especially through more challenging periods. You can evaluate your progress (which is further motivating) and constantly improve in the right ways. And of course, you can actually achieve your goals!

In this article, we’ll take your through how to set your goals and reach them!

Define your goals for content creators

Let’s talk about the first step: actually setting your goals. Goal setting may sound simple - after all, don’t you just pick something and then do the actual hard work of reaching your goal?

But in order to be effective, you must define your goals thoughtfully. If you don’t set the right goals, all your efforts will be toward the wrong direction. Goal setting is truly the foundation. Here’s how to effectively define your goals.

Define your time frame

Not all goals are created equal, and we should have a variety of different goals that span different timeframes. Consider setting:

• Long term goals - your goals over a 3 to 5 year time period
• Medium term goals - what you want to achieve each quarter or year
• Short term goals - what you want to accomplish each week (or even each day)

Articulate your milestones

For each of these time frames, what do you want to or need to achieve?

For longer term goals, you may think more about what you “want” to do - over such a long period of time, it’s hard to actually predict what you actually can or need to do because there’s so many variables.

An example of a long term goal is being a top 10 creator in your category or making 7 figures in revenue from your creator business.

For shorter term goals, you may think more about what you “need” to do to achieve your longer term goals. The range of possible things you can achieve within a day is likely small.

An example of a short term goal to achieve this long term goal is “posting 5 times a week.” Doing so will help you improve your content and grow and engage your audience in service of your long term goal. To achieve a goal like this, you can use our post activity tracker to track your posting daily across platforms.

Identify challenges

Now imagine yourself working through these goals. What challenges will you face? Of course, you can’t predict everything, but just taking the time to think through possible obstacles will help you plan and avoid them in the future.

Write down the anticipated challenges. What will prevent you from reaching your goals? Is there a way you can be proactive about these roadblocks? Make a plan to solve them and adjust your goals as needed accordingly. For example, if cross posting content to different channels is time consuming, can you find an app or tool that will help you? Or can you develop a system to post in the same order to the same channels every time so you build a routine and get more efficient at it?

Evaluate your goals

Are your goals SMART? SMART goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time bound.

• Specific - are your goals concrete enough? Do you have clear next steps on how to achieve your goal?
• Measurable - can you measure the success and the extent of your success in reaching your goals? Can you regularly measure progress toward your goal?
• Achievable - are you being realistic with your goals?
• Relevant - are your goals in line with your values and dreams?
• Time bound - is there a time horizon for your goals?

Create your action plan

Now that you’ve set your goals, it’s time to make your action plan to reach them.

Back into your to do lists

Start from your goals and think through what you need to do each day, month, and year to achieve them. Write these steps down in a to do list format or whatever works best for you. You can also use tools like Todoist, a free to do list app.

Make a calendar

To do lists don’t work unless you actually follow them. A great way to follow them is to add them to your calendar (or make a calendar if you don’t already have one). Block out time on specific days to do the action items on the to do lists you just created.

Get into a routine

The best way to ensure you stay on track in reaching your goals is to establish good habits. Some great habits to establish include:

• Adding all action items that arise to your calendar
• Being consistent and chipping away each day - for example, if your goal has to do with content, make sure to create content and post each day
• Reviewing your to do list at the end of each day and adding unfinished tasks for the next day’s list
• Rewarding yourself when you reach smaller, short term goals to keep yourself motivated
• Writing down your "rocket" for the week ahead—coined by Codie Sanchez, this just means identifying the one tasks that will supercharge your productivity for the rest of the week!

Tracking your progress

After setting your goals, defining an action plan, and beginning work on it, it’s time to see if your efforts are working and bringing you closer to your goals!

Make a tracker for your metrics

When discussing SMART goals, we noted that goals need to be measurable - you must be able to measure your progress toward them. Which metric did you pick to measure your progress? Make a simple tracker in Google shoots or Notion that you manually or automatically update regularly with the value of this metric over time. If your goals are income related, you can easily use Beacons's Income Dashboard to track your progress.

Need some guidance on which metrics will be most helpful to you? Check out our guides on the most important metrics for creators:

• Important Growth Metrics for Creators: Creating and Promoting Content
• Important Growth Metrics for Creators: Running Your Business

Review your metrics

Don’t just make the tracker but actually spend time reviewing it. Ask yourself:

• Am I tracking where I need to be?
• Why did this metric rise?
• Why did this metric fall?

Reflect regularly

Metrics aren’t everything - what matters isn’t only what is measurable. Spend time reflecting each week on the more meta questions:

• Are you enjoying the work you’re doing daily?
• Are you able to take on more each day or week?
• Are you still excited by your goals?
• What goals for content creators resonate with you?
• Are your goals still realistic or should they be adjusted (up or down)?

You’re ready to get started with goal setting now! Here are your immediate next steps:

• Write down your values and ambitions and turn these into goals
• Break your goals up into short, medium, and long term ones
• Make an action plan for your goals
• Set up calendars and trackers

No matter what your goals are, Beacons is here to help. Get a personalized list of recommended tools and see all that is available to you.