Social media advertising has revolutionised the face of marketing. More affordable than traditional out-of-home (OOH) advertising, television or radio, social ads are straightforward to set up (once you know what to do), highly targeted and provide a whole heap of insights.
While there are tons of social media channels these days, this best practice guide focuses on the big four: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. These are the most common channels we use with our clients, and for good reason: they get results.
First, let’s look at the kinds of results you can expect. Of course, this will differ according to a number of variables, such as your budget, demographics and content.
For example, here's what you can expect from Facebook:
Often, the page you create for your business is a 'personal' account by default. This means you won't have access to all the insights and options as a business account. So converting the account is a crucial first step.
As well as 'unlocking' the advertising side, a business account also opens up reporting and communication streams. This includes followers being able to send DMs (direct messages) and:
Each social media platform has an equivalent business advertising platform, seen below:
As with most platforms that allow advertising, there are a number ways to manage your spend: total budget, daily budget and setting bids based on clicks (CPC), impressions (CPM) and delivered InMails (CPS).
You can be as conservative or extravagant as you like. Hubspot has created a helpful calculator to give you an idea on spend and return for social media ads.
LinkedIn works best when you’re targeting professionals. While arguably professionals also use Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, it’s more likely that they’ve got their business and decision making hats on when they’re active on LinkedIn.
Not only this, but you can really zone in on those B2B segments, provided that users keep their profiles up to date.
LinkedIn recommends the following best practice tips to maximise success when advertising across it’s channel:
The social media channel we all love to hate (but we’re all addicted). Whether it’s nosing at people we used to know, laughing at memes or discovering new brands, Facebook is the reigning monarch of modern day social media (sorry MySpace!) with 60% of all internet users reported to have a profile.
This in theory provides the most varied reach. And with so many data captures along the way (in addition to what you fill in on your profile, a shout out here to page likes, WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger), there’s potential for incredibly in-depth segmentation possibilities.
Here's what the Facebook business manager team themselves recommend to optimise your campaigns for success:
“Instagram and Facebook are connected. So it’s easier to target your audience based on Facebook data. All budgeting and scheduling tasks, the setup and creation of ads are done through Facebook. So you don’t need to start from scratch and learn about Instagram, once you’ve already used its sister platform for marketing and ads.”
Although Instagram is essentially the same platform as Facebook, the demographic differs slightly, as does their engagement. It is thought that Instagram users are more engaged with brands than any other social media platform.
If your target demographic is mostly male, Twitter is a good place to advertise. According to Omnicore stats, 66% of its users are male, making up for 24% of all male internet users.
Not only this, but according to Kantar, 53% of Twitter users are likely to be early adopters, being the first to buy new products.
Twitter is also a good balance between the strictly business interaction of LinkedIn and the more personal uses of Facebook and Instagram.
#1 Choose an ad format that works for your campaign goals
Promoted Tweets: Create a regular Tweet with your account with text and/or images. With a Promoted Tweet, visibility is boosted to help your content reach more people.
Promoted Videos: Have a great video that you want to draw more attention to? Share it on Twitter, and then launch a Promoted Video campaign.
Pre-roll videos: Pre-roll videos are advertisements from one of our 200+ content partners that are played at the beginning of a video.
Website Cards: Image and video Website Cards enable your brand to share eye- catching creative that seamlessly drives to a landing page of your choice. Create a card and attach it to a Tweet to share with your audience.
App Cards: Twitter App Cards drives both app installations and engagement, and allows you to present your app and the supporting content in a rich and interesting way.
#2 Understand the creative guidelines for each format
#3 Embrace video best practices across multiple formats
Social media is a great way to create affordable advertising campaigns for any budget. If you’re thinking about dabbling with social media ads but aren’t sure where to begin, leave your details below and we will be in touch!