Sookio writes:
Organic reach is declining as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn clamour to grow their networks and keep investors happy. Because of this brands now need a social media content strategy that tops up organic reach with paid advertising.
This isn’t all bad news though! The advertising offerings from these networks mean you’re now able to reach relevant customers in a measurable and affordable way.
Social media advertising is well established now and most of the networks have plenty of options for advertisers to choose from. You can target adverts based on location, demographic, interests, life events and even buying behaviour.
So, where do you start with refining your advertising strategy? Boosting the odd post might have worked for you in the past, but the best advertisers benefit from a more targeted approach. Here’s where to start:
1. Define goals first – why are you placing ads?
As with any marketing activity, it is very important to define what you want from your advertising. There’s little point running a campaign just for extra likes or followers – advertising spend should generate sales or produce leads.
You should also define the KPIs that will help you achieve this. How much should your web traffic increase to in order to provide a certain level of sales? Will a higher follower number mean that you reach more people and therefore create leads? Think about your goal conversion rate and then choose a network and advertising campaign to suit them.
2. Plan your content to include ad optimised posts
After you’ve defined your goals you can then move onto producing the right content for your advertising campaign. This could be as simple as having the right images available up to producing ‘hero’ content like landing pages, infographics or whitepapers for lead generation.
For example, a B2B company in a niche market could create a whitepaper on a relevant subject to be promoted. They can encourage downloads using the promoted tweet feature on Twitter. People can be targeted based on keywords relating to the whitepaper and/or relevant accounts that they follow.
First of all, when you are producing your content plans you should think about the posts that would work well as a promoted tweet or Facebook post. Optimise the images, text and the landing page when producing your content plan, so when you come to promote the post it is already set up.
Think about what your audience responds to – do they really like videos? Produce some short videos on subjects your audience will appreciate and that encourage engagement with your brand. Would you like to have more email subscribers? Promote the benefits of your newsletter to your fans on social media, maybe with a discount code too.
3. Competitor research
It’s really important to take a look at your competitors, as they are speaking to the same audience as you. Take a look at their content and research what their most popular networks are and which posts fans engage with the most. Tools like Socialbakers will also allow you to detect promoted Facebook posts, giving you a peek into the type of advertising campaigns they run.
While you shouldn’t copy your competitors, looking at how their fans engage with them can help define the messaging and style of your adverts. You may even pick up mistakes they’ve made; this gives you a bit of a head start!
4. Evolve your ad creative and targeting
The beauty of digital marketing is that there’s lots of data! Take advantage of this - once you’ve set up your ads, don’t just leave them running but check the results on a regular basis.
Keep your goals at the front of your mind, and if something isn’t working then don’t be afraid to make a change.
Read the rest of this post here.
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