Maximizing Brand Impact With Social Media Advertising

If you’re new to social media advertising, you may be wondering how social media ads fit into your social media brand management strategy and which types of ads you should use for your marketing campaigns. And if your social media advertising strategy isn’t bearing fruits, you may want to know how to make it more effective.

In this article, we take a comprehensive look at what social media advertising is and how it can lead to a strong brand presence.

What Is Social Media Advertising?

When it comes to choosing a social media marketing strategy, you can go for organic or paid marketing. The former form of marketing is free but, unfortunately, makes it harder for your marketing efforts to get noticed.

On the other hand, paid social media advertising is costly, but its aim is to market your content to a targeted audience. Social ads use paid mediums to promote your brand or products to specific customers.

The main difference between organic and paid marketing is the price, as social media advertising will require you to spend money. Further, paid ads give your content a better chance of being viewed by the right people, which leads to higher conversion rates.

The Principle of Social Media Advertising

Your customers are being bombarded by ads all day. If you’re looking to trigger an action with your paid ads, you need to ensure they stand out. Well-crafted ads turn potential customers into loyal brand advocates.

To help you develop a robust social media ads campaign, here are six winning principles of social media advertising.

· Set your goals – First and foremost, you need to set your ads campaign objectives. For instance, does your campaign aim to boost your social media presence or increase your engagement rate?  Ensure the goals you set align with your business objectives. Further, make the goals SMART: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely.

· Know your target audience – Another principle of targeted ads is to know your target audience. Research your audience demographics, needs, challenges, and buying habits. You can use audience segmentation to divide your core audiences into manageable groups that are easier to research. Understanding your audience will help make your marketing campaigns relevant, which will likely drive conversions.

· Make your ads as compelling as possible – If you want to build a loyal community of followers, you need to tell a compelling story with your ads. Such a story will create meaningful relationships and also make your ad feel less sales-y.

· Make your ads mobile-friendly – About 3.25 billion online users access social media platforms on mobile. This is why your ads need to be designed with a small mobile screen in mind. Moreover, ensure the branding and writing are large, clear, and legible on a mobile screen.

· Test your ads and report results – Perform A/B testing on your ads to determine what’s working and what isn’t. Further, measure your ad campaign to determine if you’re meeting your objectives. Performance reports will also provide you with valuable insights you can use to adjust your advertising strategy and make informed marketing decisions.

Types of Social Media Advertising

Stuck on which social media ads to use in your advertising campaign? Here are six types of ads you should consider.

1. Image Ads

Most social media marketers use image ads. You’ve probably seen these ads on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Snapchat. They’re meant to grab your audience’s attention and create awareness about your product. In addition to having an image, you can include a call to action or a link to your website.  Ensure you use high-quality images on your image ads and keep the text to a minimum.

2. Carousel Ads

These ads have multiple videos or images in one ad. Each of the images will have a title, description, link, and a call to action.

Carousel ads are particularly suitable when you want to:

· Highlight different features of a product

· Tell your brand story

· Show multiple products

· Show behind the story scenes

3. Video Ads

Today, social media users prefer video content to text, as the former is more visually appealing. Before sharing a video ad, get the dimensions right. Your visual content should also be short, captivating, and easy to understand, even with the sound off. You get bonus points if your ad is made up of user-generated content.

4. Story Ads

Story ads are popular on Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat. These allow you to promote your products in between your target audience stories.

Story ads are short, making them suitable if you’re running a time-sensitive campaign. They’re also perfect for building awareness as they appear on top of a user’s feed. Ensure your story ads are interactive and attention-grabbing.

5. Messenger Ads

Messenger ads appear on the user’s chat tab. They are common on social media networks such as LinkedIn and Facebook Messenger.

When making these ads, keep them simple and direct.

6. Branded Content Ads

These ads feature real people and are popular on TikTok and Instagram. Since branded content ads allow you to promote posts of real active users of social media, they look very much like organic content.

How to Make Social Media Advertising More Effective

How can you make your social media advertising efforts more effective? Here are tips that can help.

· Clearly define your goals – With an ultimate goal in mind, you’ll be able to create ads that are targeted to the right audience.

· Have a target audience in mind – Generic ads that are targeted at a very broad audience don’t work. Curate your ads based on social media algorithms so that they appear on the timelines of the intended audience.

· Use quality and attention-grabbing visuals and content – The content or visuals you use should make your audience stop and read your ad. Ensure you use relevant content that provides value to your target audience. The ad images and videos should also be of high quality and tell what the ad is about even when there is no text content.

· Add a call to action – Consider your campaign goal and add a relevant call to action to your ad. Just one call to action works best when it comes to social media ads.

· Link to the relevant webpage site  – Link your audience to the most relevant landing page of your ad content. Ensure the page has all the information the user requires to take action.

Conclusion

Social media networks are vital for boosting your social presence and building brand awareness. However, to enjoy success on social networks, you need to have an intentional advertising strategy. Hopefully, after reading this article, you now know how to get started when it comes to a successful social media ad campaign.