Specific

The objective should have a specific outcome. Launching a corporate blog or creating a discussion group is not as specific as generating 100 sales leads or increasing your quality score for customer satisfaction by 5%.

Measureable

There should be a reliable system in place to track and record progress toward the objective.

Increased “engagement” may not be as meaningful as measurements like connections established with clients or comments made on your products and services.

Achievable

The objective should be attainable given current resources and time frame. Leveraging an existing community to generate 300 leads in 3 months is probably more achievable than building a robust customer community in the same time frame.

Relevant

The objective should be relevant to overall company objectives. Becoming a well known blogger may help build brand awareness, but may not help improve customer service issues.

Time-based

The objective should have a specific start and end date. A hard end date with specific mid campaign milestones will force marketers to adjust and optimize to meet goals.