Social Media Marketing 101
Between the overwhelming amount of competition online and the plethora of social platforms, no wonder small businesses are confused about finding the best way to stand out online. No matter what size business you have, social media is the most expedient way to gain exposure, drive traffic to your website, and create more leads and sales.
Ready to get started? Save this post so you have a handy reference with links to all the social media advertising platforms
The Stats
Here are some stats to inspire you to figure it out (or hire someone who already has the experience): In 2020, over $40 billion was spent on social media ads resulting in 75% of Gen Zers and almost half of all millennials make purchases because of social media ads.
DIY
For many businesses, this decision to do it themselves comes down the budget. It is possible to do it yourself but there are several steps that should be taken to ensure your success:
Create a dynamic Google Business account (it’s free) and include all of the information you can. Contact email, website address, product or service details, service locations, etc and be sure to update with clear, quality photos or posts often.
Ensure you have a professional website that accurately reflects your business and branding. If you do not have a website, social media viewers may compare your business to another with a great website and determine that the other one is has more credibility.
Identify the social platform that will work best for you.
Targeting those younger than 40 and have a product or service that photographs well? Go with Instagram.
Looking for a specific interest group or location? Facebook might be better.
Selling a B2B product or service? Look at LinkedIn
Have a visual product that people may want to comparison shop? Try Pinterest.
Offer sales or last minute deals? Twitter excels at this.
Are you an expert at making catchy short videos or want to appeal to a younger crowd? Go with TikTok.
Create a professional looking business page on your chosen social media platform. Ensure your images are crisp, your branding is evident and consistent, and it is clear how to reach you.
Pick your focus. If you have several products or services, choose which ones would respond best to online marketing.
Create your ad. Look at your local competitors and see what they are doing, or even better, look at similar businesses in other states to get more inspiration. Then invest in a good graphics software that allows you to create a professional-looking ad. Remember that you have only about 1.7 seconds to capture a viewer’s attention so don’t make it wordy. And the most important advice? Make sure it looks great on mobile. Nearly 95% of all social media viewers are on their phones.
Start with only one social media platform (see the options below) and find out as much as possible about it. Decide if you are going to try organic or paid advertising. Run some smaller test ads to see what resonates. Try different demographics, timelines, and budgets. Try single images, slideshow, and videos.
Check your analytics after every attempt to determine what is working and what is not.
Once you are comfortable with one platform, consider another. Facebook ads can be connected to Instagram. Once you have several platforms in play you may want to consider a scheduling software like Hootsuite or Later.
Watch your quality score and user engagement for SEO. The quality score is a search engine ranking metric which evaluates your keywords and pay-for-click ads in order to rank it. The higher the score the more impressions you should get at a lower cost per engagement. Besides keywords, watch for ad loading speeding, mobile friendliness, click-through rate, bounce rate and conversion rate - all core factors for search engine rankings.
The downside of DIY? Social media platforms change their rules and algorithms constantly so unless you are working with them on a daily basis, you may not be optimizing your time and money.
Hire An Advertising Firm
If you are like most businesses, you are probably far too busy actually running the business to find the time to learn everything there is to know about social media advertising - and do it effectively. Yes, there are fees to be paid for these services, but in the long run, you may actually save money by having a professional with experience run the ads for you.
The downside? Not all ad agencies are created equal. Check their references and reviews carefully. Anyone can say they are an expert but a reliable firm will be able to show you the actual results.
Facebook is the largest social media platform in the world and offers several ways to advertise ranging from free organic ads to paid ads. While it is the most used platform for the 50+ crowd, younger generations are still attracted to its various interest groups.
Paid Ads - Setting up paid Facebook ads using Meta Business Suite is not complicated but you do need to have a good grasp of marketing concepts, your demographics, and the ability to create a compelling post. Pricing is flexible and you can advertise within a set amount to ensure you do not go over-budget. Just know that the higher your budget, the better the Facebook algorithm works. One of the best features of paid Facebook ads is the ability to cross your post over to Instagram at the same time.
Organic Ads - I am a huge fan of organic Facebook advertising. Simply stated, organic ads cost nothing to post and can be shared anywhere that business advertising is allowed. Many businesses think that placing a post on their business page will bring good results. This is only true if you have thousands of followers already on your page. To reach out to as many as possible, you must research groups in your selected demographic, determine which ones allow business posts, note when they are allowed and how often, and fill out an application to belong to that group. It is a lengthy process but worth it when you are ready to post an ad and share it to all your new groups. If you are short on time, this is a service that Charlotte’s Web Designs, LLC provides.
Downsides to Facebook: The perception that it is an older population’s social media and the amount of junk ads.
Who doesn’t love Instagram’s ability to display beautiful images and videos. It is the best platform for any business with a photogenic service or product. The numbers are equally impressive as well with engagement 58% higher than Facebook and 2000% higher than Twitter.
You can use Instagram organically through posts and stories (especially if you have the time to build up your viewer base) or use paid Instagram ads that link directly to your product page.
Downsides to Instagram: The competition to stand out is fierce and it takes time to build a following organically.
Promoted as the world’s largest professional network, LinkedIn excels at promoting B2B products and services. With a customer base where users earn $50k or more per year, LinkedIn offers some of the highest average disposable income. LinkedIn offers four types of ads:
Sponsored Content - ads (with photos, videos, or slideshows) that are displayed in the newsfeed
Sponsored Messaging - LinkedIn’s version of email marketing where a message goes directly to a user’s inbox
Text and Dynamic Ads - Only visible on a desktop or laptop, text ads appear at the top of the newsfeed
Led Gen Forms - Pre-filled forms placed within your LinkedIn ads
Downsides to LinkedIn: higher costs, lower click-through rates and slower audience growth.
X (previously Twitter)
If you offer breaking news or last minute deals, X might be the right vehicle for you. There are two ad options:
If you have a promotable tweet in your timeline, you can use Quick Promote, choose your target audience, and off it goes.
Twitter Ads is a bit more complicated and instructs you to choose your business objective first. Then you only get billed for actions that align with your goal.
Downsides to X: There is a better risk of negative publicity as comments and posts spread quickly.
TikTok
TikTok is no joke for reaching a massive audience, especially a younger one. Besides in-feed ads, other ad options on TikTok include Brand Takeovers, which means that your ad will be displayed as soon as a user opens the app.
Downsides to Tiktok: Besides the knowledge that TikTok may be taken away or altered, TikTok advertising costs are higher than others and it is difficult to narrow the target market.
Largely geared towards women (over 70% of users are female), Pinterest is great at displaying products and allowing others to share them. Promoted pins blend much more smoothly into Pinterest boards than paid ads in other platforms with highly targeted search engine capabilities.
Downsides to Pinterest: Besides being perceived to have mostly a female audience, Pinterest posts are hard to stand out from the crowd.
Summary
If you own a business, social media advertising is one of the most efficient and effective ways to reach potential clients or customers. Even before the pandemic, online visibility is crucial in order to compete with the countless other businesses already using social media consistently.
If you do decide to go with an advertising firm, be sure to ask for references and examples, check their ratings, and find out exactly what their plan is for your business. You have a right to know exactly what is going on, how it works, and how you will be informed on the progress.
For complete transparency and a solid 5-star Google rating, please schedule a free consultation with me at Charlotte’s Web Designs, LLCs. I can provide a solid foundation (a website with error-free on-page SEO) and provide more information about social media and other marketing options.