Advertising on social has established itself as a key pillar in digital marketing strategies. However, in 2024, a mere presence on these platforms is no longer enough to guarantee tangible results.
Organic content, although crucial for keeping brand presence alive, often results in limited conversions in the short term. This phenomenon is largely due to the very nature of platform algorithms, which favor sponsored content at the expense of organic content.
Therefore, it becomes imperative to integrate paid promotion activities, such as advertising campaigns or influencer marketing strategies, in order to achieve immediate results and reach set business goals.
What are the benefits of paid activity on social
Although a well-crafted content strategy is extremely useful, advertising campaigns offer a number of benefits that are not achievable by organic methods, including:
- Fast results: while organic marketing takes time to bring concrete conversions, advertising accelerates this process and offers a great competitive advantage in terms of timing.
- Broad audiencecoverage : advertising on social allows you to have a broader reach than organic methods and quickly expand your fan base.
- Specific goals: only through advertising tools can you focus on conversions such as sales, increased visibility or lead generation.
- Precise Targeting: campaigns allow you to directly reach people interested in your brand or products, while also stimulating latent demand.
- Advanced monitoring: advertising platforms offer more detailed monitoring than organic insights. This allows for more informed and data-driven decision-making.
How to advertise on social media: best practices
Social media platforms, including giants Meta, LinkedIn and TikTok, offer a wide range of opportunities to create advertisements, but the success of a campaign depends on the strategy employed.
It is important not only to select the appropriate channels, but also carefully define the messages to be conveyed and the budget to be invested.
In the following paragraphs we will look at some key best practices that should be applied regardless of the channel used.
Identify your audience
Knowing who your potential customers are is the first step in creating effective ads. Analyzing your target audience demographically and behaviorally helps you tailor your messages and reach the right people at the right time.
Although this detection process varies for different social media, there are some of the common methods:
- Retargeting: this approach involves targeting people who already know about your product/service. It is identified by tracking pixels or uploading a database of people who have previously come in contact with the company. Basically, it targets users who have already visited the website or interacted with the brand’s content.
- Similar audience or Look alike: this is a segment identified as akin to a source audience provided by the company. This can be achieved through the online community, event attendees or newsletter subscribers. It is particularly effective if the goal is to find new potential customers who have similar characteristics to those already interested in the company.
- Audience segments: this method involves manually creating audiences using the targeting options offered by the platform. Advertisers can define segments based on various criteria such as age, gender, geographic location, interests, and other online behaviors.
Choose the right advertising target
There are several objectives that can be set in social media campaigns, and the choice depends on the specific marketing needs and business goals.
Some common goals include:
- Engagement: stimulating userinteraction with on-page content, such as likes, comments, shares and clicks on links.
- Traffic: driving traffic to a website, landing page or other online resource.
- Conversions: getting users to take specific actions, such as making a purchase, downloading an app, filling out a form, etc.
- Lead generation: acquiring contact information of potential customers interested in products/services.
You might also be interested in our article on:
Lead Generation on social media: 5 strategies for 2024
Choose the type of advertisement
Once you understand your audiences and goals, you need to design advertising content that resonates with your target audience and the hoped-for conversion.
This means creating messages that are relevant, interesting and able to elicit a positive audience response. The major social platforms, while different from each other, allow broadly the same types of formats to be used for ad creative, such as videos, photos and graphics, carousels and product collections.
Similarly, it is possible to define the period in which the sponsorship will be displayed, also enabling the launch of dynamic ad campaigns that allow the platform to create diversified ads based on the user to whom they are shown.
At this stage, creative emerges as a central element in the ad creation process. It is essential to develop an ad that fully reflects the brand’s identity, ensuring that every element-from copy to engaging imagery and call-to-action(CTA)-is in tune with the company’s personality and values.
Define the budget
How much budget should be invested for a social advertising campaign?
There is no universal answer to this question as the latter depends on various factors and varies from situation to situation, depending on the context of the brand or company. It also depends on the type of social channel you want to advertise on; each tool has its own requirements and may be more or less expensive than others.
All social channels allow for budget management directly within the platform itself, offering options such as allocating a full or total amount for the entire duration of the campaign.
In addition, it is important to consider the best time to invest the daily budget, taking into account the times of day or days of the week when our target audience is most active. In fact, some platforms allow ads to be scheduled to be displayed at certain times, thus maximizing the impact of the campaign.
Dedicating a portion of the budget to run A/B tests on various elements of the ads, such as creative, copy or audience, is also essential. This experimental approach makes it possible to identify the most effective variants and optimize budget spending based on the data collected, ensuring efficient use of resources and maximizing ROAS.
Measure, analyze and optimize
Optimization is never a one-time process, but rather an ongoing practice. That is why it is critical to regularly monitor performance metrics and make adjustments to budgeting and targeting strategy based on real-time data.
This dynamic approach is crucial for adapting your campaign to the changing needs of users and getting better and better results over time.
Some of the KPIs to be monitored:
- Impression
- Coverage
- Engagement
- The click-through rate (CTR)
- The cost per click (CPC)
- The conversion rate
- The time spent on the page
These metrics offer valuable insights for improving your campaigns. For example, a high number of views with a low CTR might indicate that your ads capture attention but do not prompt your audience to take an action. In that case, you might consider revising your call-to-action or product or service presentation.
With constant optimization and a thorough understanding of the data, you can ensure the lasting success of your social media advertising initiatives.
Want to start advertising on Social Networks? Do it with Isola!
Running a social media advertising campaign on your own can require considerable effort. Staying abreast of changing trends and algorithms, as well as understanding a number of complex technical aspects, is essential.
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Our goal is to ensure that your social media presence is always top-of-mind, helping you achieve your marketing goals in an effective and measurable way.
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