Social Media Ad Strategies to Perform Better Online: 7 Steps

Are you gearing up for your first social media ad campaign?

Congratulations on taking the first step to getting more customers for your business.

Social media advertising has taken over the marketing space. With 3.2 billion daily active users on social media, it’s not surprising that companies are moving a lot of their ad budgets to social platforms.

But advertising on social networks comes with its own challenges. You can’t do things like you used to.

The seven tips below will show you the ad strategies you can use to get started.

1. Pick the Right Platform

There are a lot of social networks out there. Not all of them may be effective in promoting your business.

Before you set up your first campaign, research all the platforms out there to learn what their userbase is like.

If you are a consumer brand, then you want to focus on platforms where you can build a brand following. Instagram and Facebook are great for this.

You can build a Facebook page and promote your posts to get people to follow your content. Once you have them hooked, you can start selling them your products.

If your focus is on selling to businesses, then LinkedIn might be a better choice. It can help you build credibility and connect with other business owners that you can work with.

2. Track Everything

The amount of information you have on social platforms is incredible. If you aren’t making use of this data, then you are missing out on optimizing your ad campaigns for the most ROI.

Take a platform like Facebook. You don’t only have basic demographics like sex and age. You have access to the interests of the users on the platform.

Each user has a likes area where they indicate that they enjoy specific topics. When you start your initial campaign, you can see the interests of your ad conversions and start targeting those individuals.

Of course, you should also keep track of the age, sex, income, and education of the people that are converting as well.

Once you have this data, you can create individual campaigns for these people that target their demographics.

This customization will allow you to create more targeted messaging that will give you more conversions.

3. Research Your Competition

Why should you start from scratch when your competition is already advertising online? If you share a common audience with them, then watch the things they’re doing on social media and try it for yourself.

There are many tools available that will allow you to keep track of the ad campaigns other businesses are running. If you see them continuing to use the same ads over time, then that’s a good indication that they found a winner.

You don’t have to copy their ads, and probably shouldn’t. Instead, use their successful campaigns for inspiration. You can put a unique spin on things to make something even better.

4. Promote the Right Kind of Content

Much of social advertising is promoting content. You need to provide valuable information or entertainment for the audience you are trying to reach.

Because of this, not all ad types may work for your brand. When you are setting up your campaigns, you can try the following ad formats:

• Entertainment
• Informational
• Sales

You will need to try out each of these to learn which one your audience wants to see. Once you figure this out, try to format your ads so that they blend in with the organic content on your target sites.

By making your ad look more naturally, you aren’t coming off as salesy, and a potential lead won’t think as much about clicking through to your content.

5. Create a Sales Funnel for Your Ads

The chances are you aren’t going to make a sale the first time someone sees your product. Because of this, you need a way to capture your leads so you can keep in touch with them.

If you want to keep things on your social platform, try to convince your audience to like your social profiles. A like will allow you to continue sending your prospects content without any more ad dollars.

But if you go down this route, you should always research the organic reach of your platforms. Websites like Facebook have significantly reduced organic reaches of company pages. It’s harder to make use of these profiles to reach your fanbase now.

A better option is to set up an email list. You don’t have to worry about a website restricting your ability to reach your customers.

All you need to do is send an email to get in front of your customer’s eyes.

6. Optimize Your Bidding

Sure, you can outbid all your competition to get the most eyeballs. The question is, will you have a good ROI?

Before you crank up your budget, try keeping your costs low in the beginning. You need to find a balance between ad costs and ROI.

The safest option would be finding a middle ground between the low-end and high-end bids. Once you find your balance here and are hitting your daily budget, you can crank your daily spend up to start increasing your conversions.

7. Hire an Agency to Help

If you don’t have experience in digital advertising, then setting up a successful campaign can take more time and money than you are willing to spend. In these cases, it makes more sense to hire a social media agency to help.

An agency already has the talent and resources there to set up successful ad campaigns. You don’t have the learn yourself or spend resources on hiring the talent.

Hiring an agency will allow you to focus on your core business and do what you do best.

Use These Ad Strategies to Get More Customers

If you go into paid advertising without a plan, you’re asking to lose money. Use the seven ad strategies above to help the ROI of your social media campaigns.

When you find a system that works, you can create a lead engine that will last a long time.

Are you looking for more digital marketing strategies you can use for your business? Head over to our digital marketing section to find more of our tips.