Social Media Advertising – Tips & Tricks to be Successful
Social Media Advertising is the most popular way nowadays to boost the awareness of your products and services, as well as generating leads and increase sales. However, if you do not have a Social Media expert running your campaigns yet, you might not get the ROI you were expecting.
Below we have listed great tips & tricks to make your campaigns successful even if you have just started using this advertising channel.
Choose your advertising platform wisely
The first step into making your campaign successful is to choose the right platform to advertise on, depending on your product or service, and off course, your target audience. Even if you see traction on Facebook, maybe for your specific case, LinkedIn or Twitter works much better, and generates higher awareness or better leads than Facebook. As such, do a test campaign on all platform, choose your target audience wisely, then start off the proper campaign. Even if most of us use all three Social Media Platforms, our behavior is different, thus you might not get the results you were expecting.
Test, test and test again
Each platform offers various ways of promoting your business, and it all depends on your main objective. Decide what you want as your result for your campaign: is it website traffic, is it more followers, maybe direct lead adoption, or more engagement? Once your objectives are set, test on each platform what works best for you. On Facebook, you could go for a single image with variations, on Twitter you can go either with a website card, or a simple promoted Tweet, and on LinkedIn you can either select a Text Ad, or a sponsor content one. Test them all, with small amounts, the go for the one that shows best of results for you. No company is the same, so no matter what others do, you must always stick to what works for you, and for that, you must test, test, and test again.
Make it more informative and less promotional
The Social Media experience is based on great content. If you make your ads look like proper ads, people might run away from you. Instead of making your content promotional, try offering people pieces of information relevant to them. On Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn the most successful campaigns are made being informative rather than commercial, or promotional. Give people something they are interested in reading or watching, instead of trying to convince them directly to buy or use your product. Furthermore, all three work on bid auction, meaning you compete with other advertisers that wish to show their ad to the same target audience as yours. Even if the actual bid matters, the Relevance Score is the most important one in winning the auction. The Relevance Score is calculated by each platform depending on the engagement received for that ad / post. The more comments, likes, shares or interactions the post or ad receives, the higher the chances of you winning the auction and paying even less that the normal bid. As such, if you create great piece of content, relevant for your target audience, you will not only win the auction and get your ad displayed to even more people, but you will also increase your chances of getting conversions, and generate more leads.
Promote your best performing posts
Even if you choose to go down the path of paid advertising, organic advertising and social sharing makes a great difference when it comes to results. Post regularly on social media, once a day on Facebook and LinkedIn, and up to 3 times a day on Twitter. Look at your results: select a time frame of a month and see what were the posts and shares that had the best interaction with your normal followers. Those are the posts you should be promoting during a paid advertising campaign. They have proven to work best even without paid advertising, so the chances of getting even more engagement are even higher.
Pay attention to your Audience
Each platform offers many great features when it comes to your Target Audience. Do not stick with one type, but expand as much as possible. On Facebook, you can use your normal defined audience though Interests, or Job Titles, but you can also create Custom Audiences based on your current website visitors, as well as Lookalike Audiences, which are people with similar interests or behaviors as yours. Twitter also offers similar targeting options, so use them without a doubt. Expand, test, and run until you find the right fit for you.
Be short, concise, and use great artwork
Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are abundant in content each day, so for you to stand out, you must give your audience exactly what they want to see. Avoid using long phrases, keep them short and visible without effort, try to explain as best possible how your product or service helps them. Tell them what is the problem that you are solving for them. Add to that great artwork, that reflects entirely what your ad is about. Minimize the amount of text on the ads, and make them clear and eye catching.
Social Media Advertising done properly will provide many advantages, from increasing awareness and branding to actual lead adoption and even sales. Decide what you want to achieve, test each platform and type of ad, and run your campaigns. Good luck!
