Despite the current climate, investing in marketing right now might be one of the only ways for companies to stay relevant with their consumers. Since we can’t socialize in-person, socializing online has become an even greater comfort for many – and brands need to be a part of this momentum. Social media usage on platforms such as Facebook are experiencing unprecented usage, setting new traffic records daily. It can be overwhelming to know where to start, but as a California born performance marketing agency we can help you through the journey. Facebook, Twitter and others are literally our neighbors as we are based in Walnut Creek within the Bay Area/Silicon Valley radius. Below, we’ve created a robust social media strategy to help you get started and get social.
The Power of Social Ads
Social ads put your business’ message in front of your target audience, encouraging them to engage, click through, and buy. Increasingly, social media sites are starting to prioritize ad space over organic content for one reason: it rakes in more revenue. Every year, billions of dollars in this country are spent on advertising on social media. In 2018 alone, that amount reached nearly $27 billion and included paid advertising on social networks along with games and applications. While the 2020 social ad spend predictions may be up in the air given the COVID-19 situation its usage rates are clear with an upward trajectory.
If you’re an emerging business or a new brand, you may consider putting your scarce resources toward something more traditional, but you would be wise to jump head long into the social media ad game. Essentially, you’re letting all those social sites work for YOU, not only advertising your products and services but also promoting your social media pages and growing your following. From Facebook to Twitter to LinkedIn, your strategic move should take into consideration the right timing, targeting, budget and content in order to connect with your desired audience and achieve the big numbers (likes, shares, followers, comments). Let’s go over how the ways you can advertise on the major platforms.
Facebook Advertising
Facebook offers a variety of ad formats, from simple to complex campaigns.
- Domain ad: This allows you to choose the audience to reach directly to your website through a domain ad. All you need is a relevant title and a short description with website URL in order to get some lead generation.
- Page Post Link: These are Newsfeed ads featuring an eye-catching image to capture users’ attention. After you post the ad, you can then test both the text and link description. Check comments often and proactively reply to them.
- Carousel: This is mainly for e-commerce advertisers who promote multiple products from their store via a single ad strip. These ad types are available in news feeds, kind of like a page post link but you can feature up to five links at once.
- Page like ads: This visible call-to-action allows users to immediately like your page, a good technique to boost your page likes. Pair it with a high-quality image to achieve higher performance.
- Offers: You have to have a minimum of 50 likes on your page, but this will give a clear call-to-action that will appeal to users.
- Events: You can connect with your existing audience and create new customers by inviting people to your upcoming events, keeping them apprised of the venue, dates, and times. You can even limit the geographical reach of the ad. This is great for local brands.
- Lead ads: Capture users’ interest in your products and services and guide them through the sales funnel.
Like Facebook, Twitter is also experiencing surging levels of usage . With 330 million monthly active users, this brand-friendly platform is an ideal way to connect with people, bring value to your business, and manage customer service relationships. There are three main ad types: Promoted Tweets, Promoted Accounts and Promoted Trends.
- Promoted Tweets: These are paid ads to display to those who have not yet been following your account yet. They have the ability to be retweeted and liked.
- Promoted Accounts: These can be seen directly in ‘Who to follow’ suggestions, search results, and a potential follower’s timeline.
- Promoted Trends: This is like Facebook’s news feed, whereby trending topics on Twitter appear on the left side of the page or app. You can promote a hashtag or a story at the top, and if someone chooses to use your hashtag, you enjoy organic exposure for your ad campaign.
LinkedIn is a social platform that helps you make connections with others in the workforce and grow your business. LinkedIn has a level of trust with its users providing career information, advice, and opportunities. Recently, LinkedIn expanded their newsfeed to ensure their users had reliable, consistent, expert updates on the current pandemic. With more than 575 million users, LinkedIn ads target professionals and key decision-makers with relevant content. This platform happens to be the one of the most effective for generating leads directly, allowing your company page to be converted into a lead generation tool. We recommend using an image that garners attention, craft a compelling pitch to your audience and ensure your recent updates section is clickable and conversion-focused. You can promote your individual brand through the Showcase page — another form of lead generation designed to develop long-term relationships with a specific audience.
Closing
By applying these practices to your social media advertising campaign, you will be able to connect with audiences current and new, and keep a connection open when its most needed during these turbulent times of COVID-19. By engaging with your audiences on Social right now, you’ll connect and engage with your audience, speak their language, appeal to their emotions, and foster a clear and authentic brand story to show how your brand aligns with their values.
Reach Out To Us
Take action. Go on the offensive. Don’t wait for the virus to suck the life from your business. There are plenty of opportunities to be had…you just need to know where to look. Not sure where to start? Reach out to Single Origin today!