How to Make Social Media Advertising Work for Your Brand
Social media advertising is key for most brands, but it’s also very easy to botch if done incorrectly. Having a solid grasp on social media advertising best practices can not only provide your brand with a clear marketing directive, it can also help you avoid common pitfalls.
Here is NEWaukee’s list of best social media ad practices:
Before
Before you even get started with your campaigns and metrics, you need to have a clear understanding of a few things:
Know your audience – Who are you targeting? It can be tempting to try to get your brand out in front of everyone, but spray and pray campaigns rarely work. Instead, it’s better to target specific audiences.
Know your budget – Keep detailed tracking of your intended budget to avoid over- (or under) spending. Have a plan for how you’re going to spread out the money allotted to the campaign so that there are no surprises down the road.
Value over disruption – What are you putting in front of your audience, and why do they care? You should be giving them something of value, something that will make them stop scrolling and say, “Hm, yeah, I need that.” You don’t want to simply disrupt them with no reward – that will cause an adverse effect, creating an aversion to your brand.
Have a clear CTA – Don’t muddy the waters by including too many links or Call to Actions. Have one, simple CTA that is easy to access. This will increase the chances of conversion.
During
Once your advertising has gotten off the ground, it’s still important to stay engaged with your campaign:
Don’t underestimate the power of creative – The creative assets that go along with your campaign are critical to the success of your ads. Appealing graphics and well-written content can make all the difference in metrics and post engagement.
Have multiple creatives – Don’t simply push out the same graphic with the same caption five different times. Mix and match different designs with a variety of content – try shorter, snappier posts or longer, more thoughtful ones.
A/B testing – By using multiple creatives or different types of audiences or targeting, you can A/B test your ads, meaning you can compare to see which one is performing better. This will help you narrow down your focus and determine what type of ads do well for your brand.
Don’t spread yourself too thin – Social media advertising can be a full-time job. It’s important to not spread yourself (or your budget) too thin. Keep an eye on how much effort, time, and money you’re sinking into the campaign, as well as the Return on Investment (ROI) you are seeing.
After
Once your campaign has ended, you can utilize the following tips to ensure any future campaigns will be even more successful:
Avoid vanity metrics – A vanity metric is an analytic that can be measured but is not a signifier of real return on investment, such as the number of followers or likes. Instead, you want to focus on concrete KPIs like click-through rates and visitor-to-lead conversions.
Be flexible and agile – Things can change fast in the world of digital marketing, and you’ll have to be able to quickly take your results and run with them. Being flexible, making changes, and reacting on the go are all key to creating future successful campaigns.
Lookalike audiences and retargeting – Use your Pixels and other customer data lists to create custom audiences for future campaigns.
Unsure if you have the time or skills needed to do social media advertising successfully? We’ve got you covered! NEWaukee offers digital advertising services and full creative capabilities. Contact us here to learn more and get started.