For most of us, social media marketing has become a core part of any successful marketing strategy. It’s easy and affordable and can be highly targeted if you want to go big with it. However, there’s one element to social media marketing that many business owners still need to figure out: actually reaching their audience (without breaking the bank).
Many business owners have difficulty reaching the people who matter to them through social media without spending too much on ads. Even if you have thousands of followers on Twitter or Facebook, reaching the people you want can still be extremely difficult, especially when they’re not following you or engaging with your posts.
Luckily, there are ways to target your ideal customer base and other demographics to increase your reach and engagement on social media, even if you don’t have many followers.
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Consider the Result You Want from Your Campaign.
You need to start thinking about your social media ad specs. For example, what are the image dimensions? How long should the video be? What call-to-action should you include? These are important questions to answer because they will determine the success of your campaign.
If someone doesn’t follow your account, they won’t see any ads. That’s why you’ll want to ensure that your ads’ images are attractive and relevant.
Remember, people want what others have and may find themselves following someone simply for their content or products. A study from Content Marketing Institute found that 78% of consumers find influencer marketing credible when it is authentic and relatable.
Additionally, creating eye-catching images for your ads allows you to engage with potential customers more easily through this medium.
For example, adding an enticing call-to-action to a photo can lead to higher click rates. Make sure that your posts contain an image and captivating text (either a tweet or caption) so followers feel like they are getting something out of following you. And remember: if you don’t post regularly, the ads will have no audience!
The key here is balance: create compelling posts and provide value not to disappoint followers who might feel like you’re only posting ads.
Segment Your Audience
You can segment your audience by interest, demographics, and even behavior when you run ads. This allows you to laser-focus your ad campaigns so that you’re only reaching the people who are most likely to convert.
As a result, you’ll get more bang for your buck with ads than you would with organic reach alone. One great way to test out this strategy is by running an A/B test: send half of your content to one audience, and send the other half of your content to another similar but different audience. Once you see which posts perform better for each target group, focus your time there!
Remember, the goal is to get as many eyeballs on your post as possible—organic or paid. It just depends on what your budget looks like at the moment. Don’t be afraid to experiment and see what works best for you!
Where Should You Spend Your Money?
You should spend your money on ads. Advertising allows you to reach a larger audience than you would organically, and it also allows you to target specific demographics. Additionally, ads give you the ability to track your results so that you can see how effective your campaigns are.
Finally, ads allow you to share multiple posts at once without exhausting your content stream.
A study by Pew Research Center found that 44% of online adults use Facebook as their primary social media platform. In comparison, only 7% of Americans do not use any form of social media.
Other studies have shown different numbers for Facebook usage (27% in the US). Still, no matter what the statistic is, most people are using Facebook more than any other platform when it comes to social media.
With such a high percentage of the population using this site, advertisers need to take advantage of this opportunity to get their products out there.
Choose the Right Type of Campaign for Your Goals.
If you want to increase brand awareness or reach a larger audience:
- Consider running a brand awareness campaign.
- If you want to generate leads or sales, consider running a conversion campaign.
- If you want to drive traffic to your website, consider running a traffic campaign.
- And if you want to increase app installs or engagement, consider running an app install or engagement campaign.
These types of campaigns have the potential to run longer than others and can be easier to manage, too. For example, you could run ads for a specific keyword like red shoes or car insurance rates with the right advertising campaign.
In this case, you will only pay when someone clicks on your ad – no matter how many people see it. With these campaigns, you don’t need as many likes or followers because they depend solely on clicks instead of impressions.
Measure ROI for Each Ad Campaign
You can’t just create an ad and hope for the best. You need to measure the ROI for each ad campaign to see if it’s worth your time and money. To do this, you need to track your leads and sales. There are several ways to do this, but one of the easiest we recommend is to use Google Analytics.
Don’t Be Afraid to Fail at First; Keep Trying!
Many people give up on social media advertising before they’ve even really given it a chance. It can be frustrating when you feel like you’re doing everything right but not getting the desired results. But don’t give up!
Just like with anything else, it takes time and practice to get good at social media ads. And even then, there will be times when your campaigns don’t perform as well as you’d like. These are called dry spells.
Dry spells happen when Facebook changes its algorithm, which is how Facebook decides what posts to show in each person’s News Feed. Facebook’s algorithm is changing so often that marketers have come up with their term for this: Facebook Fatigue.
So if you find yourself going through a dry spell or experiencing Facebook Fatigue, don’t give up! Instead, keep trying and experimenting until you find the right strategy for your business.