You've heard it said that social media is the best way to market your business. But even if you're not a natural when it comes to building connections and engaging people online, there's a way for you to use social media as an effective marketing tool: advertising. As more people spend time on their phones and computers, they're looking at ads while they make decisions about where to spend their money—and those ads are increasingly likely to be seen on Facebook or Instagram feeds.
The good news is that ad spending on social media platforms has grown every year since 2014, according to eMarketer (an estimated $33 billion will be spent this year). And with new features like geotargeting and self-serve options popping up all over these sites, businesses have plenty of opportunities for reaching new customers through targeted ads. But as with any other marketing tactic in your toolbox, if you don't put some thought into how you advertise on social media platforms then your efforts could result in wasted money or no measurable results at all.
Focus on advertising, not marketing.
While it's important to have a strong brand and marketing strategy, the real value of social media comes from advertising. Advertising is paid, while marketing is free. For example, if you want to promote your company's products on Facebook or Instagram, you can do so by paying for ads that target specific audiences with tailored content. On the other hand, if someone organizes an event related to your industry and mentions your name in posts about it (this happens all the time), then that person has done some free advertising for you!
Target your ideal customer persona.
Know who you are targeting. The first step to social media advertising is knowing who your ideal customer persona is and where they hang out online. You can do this by conducting a competitive analysis of similar brands in your industry, or asking friends and family what websites they visit on a regular basis.
Use the right social media platforms for your target audience. Once you've determined where people like your ideal customer persona spend their time online, it's time to start creating ads that show up when they're there! For example: if most of your customers are young moms who love Instagramming pictures of their kids (and who doesn't?), then Instagram should be at the top of your list for ad placement because it allows businesses like yours access to those specific users through targeted marketing campaigns such as carousel ads or branded content stories.*
Understand what customers want and need from businesses like yours in order for them not only feel comfortable buying from them but also recommend others do so as well (i.e., word-of-mouth). This includes both tangible benefits such as quality products/services offered by businesses along with intangible ones such as providing great customer service via phone calls/emails/etcetera over time so long as these interactions are pleasant experiences overall rather than stressful ones which may cause people not return again unless absolutely necessary due poor experiences previously had made them wary about trying again later down road due losing trust altogether after one bad experience too many times before finally deciding enough was enough already!
Create a specific and clear campaign objective.
Before you even start to create your ad, it's important to define the campaign objective. This will help guide the rest of your social media strategy and ensure that you're spending time on activities that are going to bring results.
When creating an objective for your ads in particular, there are two main things to consider:
What exactly do I want my audience to do? And how much money am I willing to spend on this goal (or "ROI")?
For example, if a company has a product they want people in their target market segment (age 25-34 females) who live within 100 miles from their business location and have shown interest in similar products before through searching for "green cleaning supplies" on Google - then their campaign objective might look something like this: "Increase sales by 10% over 12 months by targeting relevant users who live within 100 miles from our store location with highly targeted Facebook ads."
Get your product in front of the right users.
Social media ads are a great way to get your product in front of the right users. Social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram allow you to target people based on their age, gender and interests, as well as their location. You can also target users based on behavior (for example: people who have visited your website but haven't converted). This can be more effective than targeting based solely on demographics such as age or gender because it's more likely to reach people who are actually interested in what you're selling rather than just anyone who happens to fit into one demographic category or another.
Social media advertising can help you reach an audience that's interested in your products or services, but it takes planning and strategy to get results.
Social media advertising can help you reach an audience that's interested in your products or services, but it takes planning and strategy to get results.
Targeting your audience: The most important part of social media advertising is targeting the right people with the right message. You need to know who your target customer is so you can make sure they see the ads and respond to them. To do this, use demographic information like age range, gender and location; interests such as hobbies or sports teams; behavior patterns like past purchases or online searches; or other data points from third parties (like purchase history from credit cards).
Successful campaigns have clear goals: If a campaign isn't going well after four weeks, figure out why and make changes accordingly! This could mean changing where ads appear on Facebook pages based on viewers' demographics--for example, focusing more heavily on female users who live near Chicago than male users who live somewhere else--or cutting back on spending until engagement increases again over time
Conclusion
Social media advertising is a great way to reach your audience, but it's important to remember that it's not a magic bullet. You need to do your research and think through your strategy before jumping into any new channel or platform. If you're not sure where to start, get in touch with our experts at Bub Marketing!
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