Social media advertising has ramped up over the past few years. Startups and big brands alike have embraced paid social strategies as a key tactic in their marketing plans. Consider these social statistics from Hubspot:
- Social media advertising budgets doubled worldwide over a two-year span—going from $16 billion in 2014 to $31 billion in 2016.
- Social media spending in the U.S. alone is expected increase to $17.34 billion in 2019.
- Over 50 percent of B2B marketers surveyed rank social media as a ‘very’ or ‘somewhat’ low cost ad option.
It’s easy to see why social advertising has increased in popularity. You can reach a very targeted audience, the opportunity for engagement is high (does anyone else read all the comments in sponsored posts?) and the “do-it-yourself” platforms allow for a user-friendly experience while generating ROI for budgets of all sizes.
There are important things to remember when crafting your social ads. Keep reading for tips on developing a campaign that grabs the attention of your audience and gets results.
Choose the Right Social Platform
Creating a distribution strategy is a necessary step in building your ad campaign. Even if your brand has a huge social presence, it might not be necessary to sponsor posts on every platform.
Think about the campaign goals and where they could best be achieved. If you’re trying to attract new talent to the business, LinkedIn might be your best bet. Similarly, if you’re promoting an event or securing new business leads, you might decide Facebook makes the most sense because that’s where your audience is most active.
Make Your Ad Actionable
Your ad’s message should always include a call to action (CTA). Decide what you want your user to do next and make the request clear: Download this ebook; Watch this video; Click here to sign up. The CTA is most effective when it stands out so keep it front and center.
It’s best to focus on one actionable item so you don’t overwhelm or confuse the user. If there are too many options, they may choose none and leave the post.
Include Impactful Images
Brands have to compete for attention. Think about what inspires you to click on one ad but not another. It could be a number of things, but I bet the image grabs your attention first. In fact, tweets with images receive 150 percent more retweets than without and Facebook posts with images see 2.3 times more engagement than those without.
Social ads are easy to scroll past, so creating one that’s enticing is the key to getting results. Here are a few tips to get the most out of your images:
- Size the image correctly. Each platform offers guidelines for accurate size dimensions. Follow their recommendations to avoid a sloppy looking ad.
- Do your colors have stopping power? Stick to brand guidelines, but find a color combination in your palette that stands out.
- Avoid putting too much text on your images and keep your headlines snappy. The image is there to draw the user in.
Measure and Learn from Your Results
How do you know if your ad is reaching its full potential? The color of your image, the way you word your message and even the distribution timing can have an impact. Test a few different versions to see which one performs the best. Social ads are not meant to set and forget. You should always be monitoring engagement levels and tweak where necessary.
Social media advertising is a great addition to your integrated marketing strategy. Following the right steps is crucial for a successful campaign that gets results and moves the needle for your business.
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