Are your ads on the right platform?
Deciding the perfect social media strategy as a marketer for any company is imperative. I think that the first step, a very crucial step, is to determine the objectives for the business. What are their KPI’s (key performance indicators)? Meaning, what is the target that the company is expecting the marketer to hit. Having a predetermined gauge will help to lay out the company’s expectations and provide the marketer with a starting point of where they are trying to reach. This will also help to keep the marketer on track with their efforts and allow them to measure their progress along the way.
Next is the how. The marketer then has to decide which platform(s) are best suited to meet the company’s goals. I meet with my clients on a monthly basis but have constant communication with them through a portal we use. In the monthly Zoom meetings, I check in with any new product launches, discounts, etc. I also will often suggest different platforms for them to expand to. With the marketing agency that I work for, we typically start out all clients with Facebook/Instagram ads and SEO/ web work. This is because the majority of our clients are e-commerce businesses and Facebook is known to acquire the highest ROAS from paid advertising. By the end of the decade, Facebook was driving more than 80% of all U.S. social referrals to e-commerce sites. Thus, Facebook actually accounts for more than 40% of annual digital display ad revenue, which is even more than Google PPC. (Radd Interactive, 2020)
However, I believe that since there are so many different types of businesses, there are different needs for each. So I think that from my experience, it is easiest to figure out one main social media platform to start with, that best resonates with the company’s target audience, and go from there. Branching out to other platforms, along with one primary platform, is usually an excellent idea. This is because this will allow diversification for the business which is beneficial for a few reasons. One is that Facebook is pretty inconsistent with results - having fluctuation from week to week with ROAS numbers for example. Another is that taking advantage of other platforms, like also allocating a budget toward Google, will diversify a company’s traffic.
Part of the magic behind social media marketing is that there are many different platforms for different objectives. TikTok is now a huge segway for brands to accumulate new sales. There are even trends that revolve around the concept of “TikTok made me buy it”. Depending on the company’s audience and goals, this is a great platform for running ads. Thus, some of my clients are a great fit for TikTok ads like hair salons, clothing brands, etc. for #hairtransformation and #ootd ad content. While others, like my physical therapy and residential moving clients, may benefit more from adding in LinkedIn ads with Facebook lead gen campaigns.
Another important element that I want to focus on is content. What initially draws you in when you see an ad? Is it the standard black text depicting what the ad is about? No, it’s the content. Ideation and design for ad content are half the battle. Important questions to ask yourself as a marketer, when brainstorming ideas, include:
Will this ad resonate with my audience? 🤔
Will this concept stand out from our competitors? 🌟
Is this design eye-catching and engaging? 👀
Ads are all around us, literally at the tips of our fingers. So how are you going to attract those mindless scrollers?
By creating the right content. ✔️ For Facebook and Instagram ads it is important to have a mixture of nicely edited, attractive images, as well as video footage and gifs to help bring the product or service to life. Videos are also a great way to engage with viewers and heighten their interest. As a digital marketer, you have to constantly be thinking of new ways to draw attention and keep up with current trends.
Trends are important to incorporate into ads because they help to push past the market boundaries. They help to pave the way for new ideas and allow brands to communicate with their viewers. If a brand keeps up with trends, the brand is remaining relevant. Social media is ever-changing, and that includes topics that come and go. Running an ad that correlates to a current trend can generate tons of exposure for a brand. If a company runs fun and trending content for ads, then that can really create a sense of loyalty for the correct audience.
Having a set content creation and launch cadence is a great way to stay on track and keep new concepts filtered in. (Greenberg, 2009) This is a tactic to make a “promise” to frequent content updates in an effort to not alienate your audience or allow ads to grow stale or repetitive. Plus, most e-commerce websites are geared toward conversions, so you need a way to bring in that traffic.
Aside from coming up with innovative and fun ad concepts, another point to keep in mind is formatting. Facebook and Instagram ad types include carousel, stories, single image, single video, single slideshow, collection, etc. Carousel ads involve multiple scrollable images or videos, slideshows are videos that automatically loop featured images, and a collection has items that open up into a full-screen mobile experience. Also, there are specific dimensions necessary for correct ad display. Square ads should be 600 x 600 and story ads should be 1080 x 1920. Then you have YouTube ads which are video, in-stream, thumbnail, etc. and Pinterest ads can be promoted pins, promoted carousels, and more. You get the idea. There are so many ways that businesses can advertise their products and services on social media. But overall, it is definitely recommended to focus on a few sites that are highly used by your intended audience, as opposed to running ads on every single one. Start small, to really have a full understanding of one or a couple of platforms, and then scale out as your business grows.
References:
Greenberg, M. (October 20, 2009). Content is king of social marketing. Multichannel Merchant. https://multichannelmerchant.com/marketing/content-is-king-of-social-marketing/
The best social media sites for marketing (and most popular). Radd Interactive. (2020, July 20). https://raddinteractive.com/the-best-social-media-sites-for-marketing-and-most-popular/#:~:text=Facebook%20is%20also%20the%20site,to%20invest%20your%20advertising%20budget.
