We’ve all seen them. Ads are commonplace now on social media. Based on your interests and online behavior, businesses on Facebook, Twitter, and the like are able to target users with products and services. Being able to attract your ideal customer boosts engagement, reach and business. Therefore, it is vital you use ads efficiently and effectively.
Continuing my series on social media pain points, I’d like to expand on how to make the biggest impact possible with your ad budget, no matter how much you’ve set aside for this initiative. Here are three areas of focus, plus sample ad budgets to help you get the most bang for your buck!
Audience Targeting
A detailed buyer persona is vital to your overall strategy, much more so for social media ads. This is one way to really drive engagement and reach on your social platforms, so targeting the right audience is key to successful ad performance. Remember, this is your ideal customer we’re talking about here. If you’re not attracting them, that’s a large chunk of your social media strategy wasted. Even if your ad budget isn’t very big, it takes concentrated time and effort to set up. Think of that time as money too. Some things to keep in mind when refining your audience are:
- Country, State, or City: Who are you trying to reach, and where? How does this fit into your goals? Depending on how big your ad budget is, it might not be feasible to reach everyone you want to in one go. Take this into account!
- Interests and Behaviors: Again, this is where knowing your ideal customer comes into play. Pick categories of interest that align with the kind of customer you’re trying to reach. This section within the ad platform is pretty detailed, so be creative but keep it focused on your customer.
- Age Range and Gender: Depending on the ad is targeted for, this category will make a huge impact on overall performance. Different graphics and ad text can resonate better with certain age groups, and male or female customers.
Grab Attention With Images and Text
Images in advertising, whether it’s on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or any other network, should mirror the audience targeting. It’s important, too, that the ad text is compelling, matches the image(s) being used, and speaks to your audience. This is the text that is going to be seen above the ad itself and shouldn’t be wasted. These two components might seem secondary, especially after taking a lengthy amount of time to carefully target, but they’re just as important. Why? Well, if this part of the ad doesn’t match the type of audience you’ve picked, a few things are going to (or not going to) happen:
- Cost per click will skyrocket
- Click through rate will be low
- Reach could be great, but results are low (good targeting with irrelevant image or text)
Overall, performance will be less than optimal. Keep in mind that targeting, images, and text all work together. The above list could be a result of one or all of these components needing a tweak. Social media is all about seeing what works and what doesn’t, so don’t be afraid to test, measure and try again.
Where Do People See Your Ads?
According to Facebook’s Quarter 1 statistics of this year, this platform has 1.65 billion, monthly active users and 1.51 of those users are on mobile. It’s important to note too, that the revenue generated from mobile advertising accounted for 82% of all advertising revenue. This is up from 73% in Q1 of 2015.
Keep in mind that this is JUST Facebook mobile statistics. Knowing what device fans and potential customers are using on social platforms is an important part of making sure advertising has an impact. If something isn’t performing well, check the results and see where responses are coming from.
Spend Wisely
When it comes to spending, it’s important to know not only where your audience is responding in terms of ad placement, but what platforms work best for your company. Take into account which platforms might need a little encouragement as well. Like I mentioned before, a lot can be done with ads, even with a small amount of cash, and because wise spending boosts engagement, reach, and traffic, a weekly or monthly effort is the key to success.
The $25 Monthly Ad Budget:
Marketing resources may be tight and that’s okay! Use this money and test it with different options on a month-to-month basis. See which platforms and ads get the best response, then allot more money towards advertising in the future as business allows:
- Month 1: Facebook page likes
- Month 2: Website clicks (could be Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest)
- Month 3: Twitter engagement ads
- Month 4: Boosted Facebook posts throughout the month
The $100 Monthly Ad Budget:
A larger budget can be easier to work with because there is ample room to test and grow. With this amount, multiple ads on multiple platforms are possible. One month might look something like this:
- $25 for a Website Clicks campaign
- $30 for a Page Likes campaign
- $20 for a Twitter Engagement campaign
- $15 for a Boosted Facebook Post
- $10 for a Boosted Facebook Post
The $200 Monthly Ad Budget:
With this budget we’re talking roughly $50 per week. It’s a considerable amount of money that will be extremely helpful in boosting events, promotions, and reaching recent website visitors. Here’s what a budget geared around an event might look like:
- $50 for a carousel-style Website Clicks campaign that also utilizes your Instagram platform to target users
- $75 Retargeting ad to capture those recent visitors
- $20 for a Twitter Engagement or Website Clicks campaign
- $25 for boosting an Events tab on your Facebook page
- $30 towards boosted posts: Align these with your event promotion. $10 per boost, with the right targeting, will get you far!
Of course, with each budget, switch it up based on the platforms you have, but this should get you going in the right direction!
There you have it. Ads are key to increased engagement, traffic, and business. By focusing your target audience around buyer personas, writing compelling text, and using great images, high-impact ads are within reach no matter what your budget looks like!