Social media platforms were previously used for personal purposes only but today, they have become the biggest marketing tools for businesses around the world.
According to research conducted by We Are Social, approximately 2.8 billion people use social platforms, therefore, most businesses have a huge opportunity to reach their prospective clients in an efficient way through social media advertising.
Today, you only need to design an attractive ad and post it. And, very many people around the world will view it once they log in. This is very different from the past, where the main methods of advertising were cold calling, going door to door, radio and television and newspaper advertising.
The benefits of social media advertising
Precise targeting
Compared to social media platforms, most of the traditional advertising methods are time-consuming, very expensive and quite inefficient.
With the rapid advancement in technology, people all over the world are embracing smartphones like never before. The urge to stay connected is very strong.
If used properly, social media platforms can help you achieve more. Social media will allow you to reach your target audience effectively.
Social media is here to entertain people, so your ads will not seem intrusive compared to non-targeted direct mail and website pop-ups.
Brand awareness & engagement
Social media ads have the potential of increasing the awareness of your brand fast. You can create a business page at no cost which can attract consumers directly.
Cost-efficient
If you have ever advertised using traditional methods, you know how costly they are. According to Social Media Today, social media ads have reported having the highest engagement number while costing the lowest.
How to create a social advertising campaign
Here are a few tips you can implement to create an effective advertising campaign on social media.
Set the strategy
What is your goal? What are you trying to accomplish?
This is the first thing you should ask yourself before creating an ad campaign.
Think of what you want people to do for you or what you want to do for them to increase your brand’s awareness. Do you want them to shop and buy your products? Do you want them to download your free book? Do you want to send educational emails to them on a regular basis?
Once you have this clear goal in mind, the next thing should be knowing your audience.
Who will be interested in my ad?
Knowing your target market inside out will increase your chances of accomplishing your goals. You have probably heard of the saying that goes, less is more. It is better to target a small audience rather than a large one. Targeting a large audience mostly leads to low results.
Create the right campaign
This section will be entirely determined by the goal of your campaign. Most social media platforms offer a variety of targeting and segmenting features, including A/B testing, segmenting, copycat audiences, remarketing, and more.
Choose your content
Everything you use in your ad will definitely determine how effective it will be in the market. Us humans have short attention spans so consider using visuals that pop or stand out from the rest.
The picture or video you use has to go hand in hand with your content so that your target audience can understand what it is all about and is interested enough to click-through to your destination URL.
Anything that grabs attention will be loved by many. This applies to your ad. You want an ad that grabs attention and propels people to take some form of action. The picture or video you use has to go hand in hand with your content so that you target audience can understand what it is all about.
Set a budget, but be flexible
Having a budget is the most important step that majority of advertisers ignore. Establish how much you intend to spend before creating a campaign.
After all, you are creating an effective campaign to make money, not to lose it in the long run.
Understanding campaign options such as ad scheduling and bid adjustments can help you make the most of your budget. And, if you’re getting ROI from your campaign and believe you could increase ROI if you increase your daily ad spend, then you’ll have the data to show it.
Keep an eye on the insights
Social media platforms help you track how your campaign is performing through insights and analytics.
Once your report is generated, analyze what’s working and maybe what isn’t and fine-tune your campaign to improve the results.
In the beginning, your return on investment may not be as high as you’d like it to be, but social media advertising is nimble and easy to adjust if something’s not performing well.
In summary
We are living in a digital world which has made most aspects of our lives easier, including marking. You no longer need to cold call or knock on people’s doors, or even spend a fortune on a TV campaign to get in front of your audience and generate new customers.
All you need to do is know the goal of your campaign and your target audience, create thumb-stopping content, have a clear budget and track your results.
Following these steps carefully will not only grab the attention of your target audience but will also increase your revenues and the size of your company in the long run.
About the Author
Jacob Dillon is an editor and journalist at EssaysOnTime. The best way for Jacob to express himself is to write. Being passionate about what he does, Jacob likes to discuss stirring events as well as express his opinion about technological advancements and evolution of society. Find Jacob on Twitter.
