How to create an effective social media advertising campaign

Looking at the world of social media advertising can be pretty daunting. There are a lot of metrics to consider and the results of a successful or abysmal campaign can appear to be magic.

Whilst it’s true that professionals might be able to pull a rabbit out of the hat and achieve results you’d have never expected – it isn’t all a dark art. Here are a few tips you can implement to make your social media advertising stand out.

Choose the right platform

Okay, so now you’ve decided to advertise on social media, the next step is picking which platforms you want to utilise. Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Instagram and LinkedIn are some of the bigger names to choose from, and each have pros and cons.

A common misconception is that Facebook is the best platform to go for. Sure, it has the biggest market share so to speak – with 2.07 billion active users as of quarter three of 2017, but that doesn’t mean it’s always the best for your needs.

The best way to assess which platform suits your campaign is to look at which platforms your target audience are most likely to use. If you’re selling fashion products, you could find that Instagram is better for you as your audience might be more visually focused. And if you’re selling a professional coaching service – your user base should be more receptive on LinkedIn.

None of this is to say that you have to choose one platform and stick with it, you can mix and match, but that doesn’t mean you should copy paste the same concept across each platform. Which takes us to the next point.

Use the right content

Much like picking the right platform, choosing the right content for your advert isn’t something that you should impulsively do. Planning is key, and thinking about your end goal should always be at the forefront of your decision-making.

Depending on platform you might be better off with something highly visual, copy driven or even video content. These decisions should be made based on what’s right for your audience and your brand, not just what you’ve seen work for other companies.

Target

Targeting in social media advertising refers to the group of people that you will be showing the advert to.

This is something that you can customise to make the most out of a specific campaign, for instance by selecting the age, gender, location and interests of those you want to serve your advert to.

Choosing the right target is key to making this work. To do this you need to analyse the goals and purposes of your advertisement and think about whether you want awareness, to educate, engage existing followers, or sell a product.

Using this information you can then customise the audience that your advertisement will be served to. Of course this differs depending on the platform, and you can either go heavily into targeting or keep it relatively broad depending on your goals.

Keep it simple

Simplicity can be your best friend when it comes to advertising. Exposing an extremely creative and conceptual piece of collateral to people who are unfamiliar with your brand can backfire. If the purpose of your advertisement isn’t immediately clear, you won’t be winning new customers or fans over quickly. Make sure the terminology you use and the key messages of your advert are clear to understand when the average person views it.

Make it measurable

Ensuring your campaign can be measured for success or failure is perhaps the most important of all these points. Ensure there is a way for you to track your campaign, whether that is through a number of email sign ups, sales, new followers, or any other objective you wish to complete.

If you want to set up a social media advertising campaign for your business, contact Emote Digital today to discuss how we can help.

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