Advertising on Social Media

Recently updated on June 28th, 2023 at 09:13 am

Advertising using social media platforms has become the norm for many brands. The algorithmic methods used help brands reach key audiences at key times during the customer journey from awareness to conversion. Understanding how advertising on social media works, including the tips and tactics which improve ad performance, can yield significant results. Without a basic understanding of the advertising process on social networking platforms, paid marketing efforts can incur significant costs without efficient returns. We’re here to help you figure out how to best run an ad campaign for your brand using social media platforms.

The Process

• Step one: Define your objective. This is typically the action you want a consumer to take after engaging with your advert. By selecting a definite objective the methods for creating and optimising the overall campaign can be determined. Three basic categories of objectives reflect the stages of the marketing funnel:
  • Awareness – The ideal outcome is to increase brand visibility and share of voice. The metrics used to monitor the progress toward this goal are impressions and reach.
  • Consideration – The goal for this stage of the funnel is to increase engagement in order to build a better relationship between the brand and the customers. The associated metrics for measuring the success of these efforts are typically website visits, post engagement or video views.
  • Conversions – At this stage the targeted outcome is to direct customers toward taking meaningful steps to make a purchase. Key metrics to understanding your progress toward this goal are website conversions, lead generation forms and downloads.

The idea is to identify the most valuable goal for your brand to target, while using a diverse mix of campaigns across the different stages of the funnel.

• Step two: Select the relevant audience. Simply put, the aim is to run full-funnel marketing campaigns to relevant customers or users. Here are some tips on how to do so successfully:
• • • Use targeting tools: demographic information, retarget website visitors, upload contact lists, use a list of exclusions, CRM.
    • Reverse engineer: Find individuals who match your ideal consumer and evaluate their profiles for demographic trends.
    • Avoid hyper-targeting. With so many criteria to choose from it can be tempting to select many in order to match your audience exactly but doing so minimises your reach. The best practice is to start with a broad audience and then whittle it down.
    • Split advertising campaigns by region.
    • Tailor content to specific audience segments.

• Step three: Select ad format. The media format that you choose for your advertising campaign is typically defined by your overall objectives. Be careful which one you choose because once it is chosen it cannot be adjusted. Key to a successful social media ad campaign is frequency. Social media algorithms typically optimise for the best performing content. LinkedIn, for instance, suggests using 4-5 different creatives for always on campaigns and then monitoring their performance. If results decrease due to content fatigue, underperforming ads should be replaced with new content. This process could occur after a time period, such as once a month, or when enough impressions are gathered to use the data to optimise content design. New posts don’t necessarily mean new creatives have to be made. Variations of images and copy can be tested to find the best performing.

Tips for effective ad creatives:

• Showcase value: inform, inspire, entertain.
• Be relevant: Speak directly to the audience.
• Choose your words carefully: Use direct, simple language that is easy to understand.
• Keep copy concise: Headlines under 150 characters typically receive more engagement.
• Clear CTA: Use specific actions in your call-to-action (‘Sign Up For Webinar’, ‘Try a Demo’) rather than general ones (Click Here).
• Eye-catching imagery: It must be scroll-stopping and high quality. Unique images in high resolution are recommended.
• Step Four: Set budget and schedule (be ready for these to change with circumstances and data). Auction systems are used to determine which ads are displayed. Auction winners are based on bids and the bidder’s score, which is based on the bidder’s past performance. This helps ensure that auctions are fair and the content is relevant. Budgets are set a lifetime to manage how they are spent during a campaign. Lifetime pacing predicts platform activity over a specific time period and optimises budget distribution and spend. How the budget is spent depends on the objective and varies according to ad formats and optimisation goals. A tip for bidding is to begin by bidding high. This will improve the initial performance of your ad by improving your bidder’s score if you have no history. Once a campaign is running, increasing spend allows brands to gain insights on their audience’s behaviour which can be used to improve the strategy.
• Step five: Launch and optimise. Begin running your campaign and make improvements over time. Schedule a start and end date for your campaign. Leave it to run for at least 7 days before adapting your tactics (optimisation). Social media platforms review advertising content by comparing it to their specific content guidelines. This process can take a day or two to complete. Evaluate the performance of your ads weekly or monthly. Use established goals along with benchmarks established by previous campaigns to guide optimisation.

Understanding all of these techniques and tips is one thing. Being able to conceptualise, strategise and implement a successful digital marketing advertising campaign that utilises social media platforms is another thing entirely. Many brands have tried to navigate the digital advertising space and seen meagre results due to their lack of expertise. With years of experience and niche expertise, Digital Doorway and our partners can help your brand achieve optimal marketing outcomes. Get in touch with our team to find out how we can help you.