Marketing strategies are a dime a dozen. Many of them can be effective if you implement them properly, but few are as effective and user-friendly as social media advertising.
With billions of users collectively using social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, and more you would be crazy not to use social advertising to your advantage.
Why you should focus on advertising via social media
So, why advertise on social media in the first place? Advertising using social media can completely transform the face of your business.
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Let’s consider a few reasons why you should use paid ads on social media to generate more leads for your business:
- Some advertising channels will provide immediate results. However, these are often a one-off affair. Take influencer marketing for example in which you can yield high results quickly, but only for a single instance. Paid social media advertising will consistently deliver results consistently and affordably.
- Many advertising channels require a significant amount of time before you can see any measurable results. Take content marketing for example. B2B content marketing takes quite a bit of time to pick up steam and you might not see results for weeks or even months. Social network marketing, if done right, can yield immediate results.
- Knowing how to advertise on social media can make your life a lot easier because most online advertising platforms are intuitive. Take Facebook advertising for example. It’s incredibly simple to learn and you can set up an effective social media campaign in less than twenty minutes if you know what you’re doing.
The beauty of advertising through social media is that it can deliver immediate results. You can literally start an online business in a few hours and begin driving traffic to your site immediately.
That means social network advertising can facilitate consistent sales from day one. This is a massive advantage for e-commerce sites that lean heavily on social media marketing platforms such as Facebook advertising and pay per click services like Google Adwords.
Social media advertising effectiveness
If you don’t believe in the effectiveness of social media and advertising you just have to look at the numbers.
Facebook is the most preferred social media platform for millennials, Gen Xers and baby boomers. Here are a few stats to digest:
- Facebook users consume more than 100 million hours of videos every day.
- Facebook ad revenue is on track to overtake total print ad spending by 2019.
- 68% of adults in the United States between the ages of 18-29 use Facebook.
Facebook might be the most popular social media network out there, but that doesn’t mean Instagram isn’t slowly closing the gap. Instagram’s many updates include the addition of Instagram stories, Gifs, a new redesign and much more. Let’s look at a few Instagram stats.
- 35% of Instagram users log into their Instagram accounts more than once a day. 51% of users open Instagram on a daily basis.
- Instagram garners more engagement per post than any other social media platform — 54 times more than Pinterest, 84 times more than Twitter and 10 times more than Facebook.
- In 2016 Instagram grew by 100 million users in only six months. This was also around the time the platform added Instagram stories.
Linkedin is the world’s largest professional network, and many businesses are just beginning to tap into the possibilities of using LinkedIn for B2B marketing. Here are a few stats.
- Linkedin has more than 450 million
- 94% OF B2B marketers use LinkedIn to distribute content.
- In November 2017 US marketers were given a poll in which the results revealed that LinkedIn was the safest social ad platform for brands when it comes to being exposed to potentially damaging content such as fake news and divisive politics.
Let’s not forgot about the other major social media platforms such as Pinterest, Snapchat and Twitter. Each have equally astounding statistics that prove their effectiveness when it comes to social marketing advertising.
How do businesses use social media to advertise?
The best social media advertising gurus use a combination of tips and tricks to get the most out of their ad campaigns. If you’re going to invest your money in social media marketing you should focus on these six platforms:
- Snapchat
Interested in learning more about how companies use social media to advertise and interact with their target audience? Download our ebook, and improve your social media management today!
Let’s examine how companies use social media to advertise.
Pinterest Advertising
You could easily draw comparisons between Pinterest and Instagram in that they’re both highly visual platforms. The primary difference is that Pinterest is more geared towards women. In fact, 81% of Pinterest users are female. Let’s look at a few advertising tips:
Be strategic with where you’re linking your pins
Each Pinterest pin can link back to a website of your choosing. Therefore, be strategic with your click-through link. Make sure your link sends users to relevant page that is capable of collecting their contact information.
Focus on trends
Pinterest is all about staying on top of the latest trends. Follow what your competitors are doing. Look at the most recent trending posts. Identify the hottest products. Etc.
Be creative
Don’t forget — Pinterest users often view dozens if not hundreds of pins one after another every day. Think about what you can do to make your pin stand out. It’s all about grabbing their attention and not letting go.
Twitter Advertising
Twitter is often the preferred social media platform for those in the worlds of business and politics and has over 328 million monthly active users.
Twitter’s strong suit doesn’t lie in its advertising. Its greatest strength lies in its ability to grow organically. This is directly opposite to a Facebook fan page, for example, which typically takes money to grow quickly. E-commerce stores frequently use Twitter advertising to promote specific products for direct conversions and to build brand awareness.
Instagram advertising
Instagram is an image driven social media platform and is quickly becoming one of the more popular choices for younger Americans. Let’s look at a few techniques to advertise effectively on Instagram.
Don’t underestimate the power of hashtags
Hashtags have their uses on other platforms, but when it comes to Instagram, they’re a driving force so don’t underestimate their usefulness. Instagram does a fantastic job providing analytics for the number of users who use specific hashtags.
Avoid stock photos
Stock photos simply don’t work on Instagram. You’ll have to use a custom image of an actual photo for your advertising endeavors.
Use stunning images
Instagram’s is all about visual stimulation through images. That means you should focus your energy on posting very high-quality pictures that will draw the eye and captivate the attention of your audience.
Facebook advertising
When it comes to online advertising Facebook can’t be beat. Facebook has over 2 billion monthly users which means there’s enough room for everybody to get a piece of the pie. Let’s look at a few advanced tactics for Facebook advertising.
Test constantly!
Not every ad is going to work for you right away. In fact, some ads may not convert at all. Keep running and tweaking your ads. This includes changing the image, the copy, your target audience and so on until you start converting. The only way you lose is if you give up.
Don’t run the same ad to all your audiences
Each retargeting and prospecting ad you run should be unique in its own special way. You should create a new ad for each unique audience. Don’t expect one type of ad for a specific audience to yield the same kind of results for an entirely different audience.
Use emojis
Emojis have increased in popularity in Facebook advertising. Even big-name companies have begun to use emojis in their ad copy. Test, test, and test some more to see what works and what doesn’t. It’s all about resonating with your audience!
LinkedIn Advertising
LinkedIn is literally where the money is. 75% of LinkedIn users earn $50,000 per year or more. In terms of advertising, B2B services tend to do particularly well on this platform. Here are a few tips to advertise well on LinkedIn.
Track ad performance constantly
You should always track ad performance no matter what social media platform you’re using. When it comes to LinkedIn, however, you should discontinue any ads that are performing under a 0.10% click-through rate (CTR). If your click-through rate is around 1% or higher scale up your budget.
Focus on the problems and challenges faced in the professional world
Since a good number of the users on LinkedIn are professionals in one field or another, you should focus on solving problems professionals face on a daily basis.
Target LinkedIn groups
LinkedIn groups are a powerful tool. This is where business owners and professionals congregate to discuss ideas and share information. Target these groups with your ads for better results.
Snapchat Advertising
Snapchat has one massive benefit that makes it invaluable for many businesses. More than 41% of all 18-34 year olds use Snapchat in the United States.
If you have a product or service that targets this demographic Snapchat is a necessity for your business. However, when it comes to advertising, it can get expensive — extremely expensive.
Take Snap Ads for example, which are mobile, interactive video ads that can cost anywhere from $1,000 – $3,000 a month to run.
There are also Sponsored Lenses which allow businesses to deliver customer lenses their users can interact with. The cost for a sponsored lens can run anywhere from $450,000 – $700,000.
Snapchat Discover is another advertising option that allows businesses to push their story to the top of user feeds. This costs $50,000 a day.
Final thoughts on using social media to advertise your business
Figuring out how to successfully advertise on social media isn’t rocket science. It just takes the willingness to learn new platforms and plenty of experimentation. No other form of advertising can deliver quality leads with the speed and efficiency of social media marketing which makes it a necessity for your business in 2018 and beyond.
If you’re looking to take your social media marketing to the next level Marion offers world class social media marketing services for small to mid-sized businesses.
Contact MARION today for more information on how we can help your business thrive using social media marketing.
