What You Need to Know About Introducing a Paid Social Media Advertising Strategy

Even if you’re comfortable with organic social media marketing, paid strategies might seem out of your reach.

However, they don’t need to be.

Facebook, the most popular paid social advertising platform makes it really easy to see the results of your budget and paid social strategy.

Even if you outsource your social media management, your agency should be open with you about the potential of a paid social advertising campaign.

We encourage all clients to incorporate it into their monthly retainer package. After all, even with a limited budget, with the right approach you should see immediate, positive results.

Platforms

It’s important to test different platforms for both organic and paid efforts.

Which one works best for you will by all accounts depend on where your audience can typically be found engaging with your business.

Some platforms, are often arguably described as being better than others for their advertising capabilities. Ultimately, if your audience isn’t on, say Facebook, then as much as it’s a great advertising platform you shouldn’t be wasting time and money there.

Budget

The biggie. For most, this should have been #1 on the list, but for us, your budget will depend largely on your choice or platform/s (Which ones? How many? What ad types?).

Often the reason that most just stay well away from adopting advertising campaigns, is budget. It seems like such an expensive operation, especially when we hear stories of people spending tens of thousands on single campaigns.

But you really don’t need to spend that much to see positive results.

If you have questions about paid social media campaigns, get in touch with our team for advice.

Conversion Techniques

If you’re going it alone to create your adverts then you will need to trial different methods and follow best practices to give you the greatest conversion opportunities.

We recommend focusing your efforts on:

Creative

For that initial “wow” reaction that causes a user to stop mid-scroll, you need a powerful visual for your advert. If it looks like an ad, a user won’t stop. Whereas if a strong photographic element captures your attention you’re more likely to stop thinking it’s an update you’re expecting/comfortable with.

Strategic

Social advertising focuses heavily on relevance. Facebook, in particular, knows an astonishing amount about it’s users, so if you’re an sports supplements seller, you can target those actively looking to bulk up/lose weight. How? Facebook has collected data on what these people have selected as ‘Interests’ and ‘Likes’, working out they’re interested in it.

Communication

You’re limited with word count — you shouldn’t include too many words on your advert’s visual element and again, it’s unnecessary to do so on your actual ad text. Particularly if you’re targeting mobile users.

• Demand an action from a user — visit, download, sign up, etc.
• Communicate your value — why people should take note of your ad

Measurements

You need to review and measure success rates to ensure that your ads are providing the highest value possible. When you’re reviewing the performance of your advertising campaigns, take note of:

• Clickthrough Rate: How many people clicked your advert, or actually engaged with your ad? Looking at the obvious metrics can sometimes provide a clearer picture — and more value — than the end result.
• Conversion Rate: What conversions are you actually getting from you efforts? Whether that’s web traffic, downloads or meeting requests.
• Cost Per Conversion: How much did each conversion cost? Is it a viable route in terms of ROI?

If you’re looking to introduce paid advertising — or learn more — into your strategy, get in touch with our marketing team. Find more like this via Social Media.

Originally published at www.thriveability.co.uk.