How to Run a Successful Social Media Advertising Campaign

Author: Emily Sidley / Source: Business 2 Community It’s no secret that a social media presence is important for connecting with consumer

Author: Emily Sidley / Source: Business 2 Community

It’s no secret that a social media presence is important for connecting with consumers and getting the word out about your business these days. There are all sorts of important elements of a successful campaign, such as posting regularly, not being too self-promotional, including images, responding and engaging with followers, posting a variety of content…of course I could go on. But another helpful way to increase your social media presence is through advertising. Why is this important and how can you get started? Keep reading to find out!

Why is Social Media Advertising Important?

Running a social media ad campaign is a fantastic way to reach new users. When you create an ad, you can determine exactly what type of user you want to target and place your content directly in their news feed.

In addition, the cost of running a social media advertising campaign is very cost-effective; you can choose a daily budget or a set amount for the life of the ad, and then the platform will charge you a few cents to a couple of dollars per click. Compared to traditional advertising, the overall cost is much more manageable for small businesses!

However, is social media advertising really effective? Yes, it is! Here’s what recent research shows:

78% of social marketers surveyed said they’re either very satisfied or somewhat satisfied with the value Facebook Ads provide.
Users who saw Facebook ads were more likely to search and click through to an advertiser’s website, with campaigns experiencing an average 6.3% lift in mobile search traffic.
60% of participants in a study indicated they’ve purchased from a business because of something they saw on Twitter.
43% of surveyed Twitter users plan to purchase regularly from the businesses they follow.

80% of North American brands agree or strongly agree that social media advertising is cost effective and provides ROI.
44% of small and medium businesses use social ads for brand awareness.
41% of small and medium businesses use social ads to drive revenue.

How to Run a Social Media Advertising Campaign

Initial Advertising Questions

Before you being your ad campaign, you need to ask yourself a few questions:

What are your goals? Make sure you have SMART goals in mind! They should be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Timely. So, for example, you may want to have a goal of 100 click-throughs, or 20 new page followers.
Where are your target users? Which social media platforms do they use? If you’re a business-to-consumer company trying to reach millennials, for example, you may want to invest in Instagram ads; if you’re a business-to-business enterprise looking to reach decision-makers, LinkedIn may be a better fit.
What’s your budget? How much can you invest in social media advertising? If you’re trying to decide between LinkedIn and Twitter and your budget is really limited, you may want to focus on Twitter as their cost per clicks are much lower than LinkedIn. Or, if you have some wiggle room, you may want to run ads on both platforms for a week or two and then look at results to better-target future ads.
What sort of content do you have? Will you need to invest in professional photos or video, which may take funds from your overall budget? This is important to think about up-front.