“Pay to Play” Podcast & Transcript

I said it once before and I will say it again. If you're going to be on social media and use it for business, you need to have an ad budget. But what does that exactly mean and how do I go about evaluating the best way to approach advertising on social?

Well, you are in for a treat today because I not only have a video, but a full transcript of a recent Authentically Social podcast episode I did with Jessica Perlman on this very subject. You’ll find the full transcript of our conversation below and for those TL;DR (too long didn’t read) folks, I’ve included the link to my YouTube page to view the video ?? Enjoy!

Jessica:Well, we're going to dive right into our Authentically Social principle of the day. So, we've got the Authentically Social principle of, you have to pay to play. And like always, we have a mantra we want you to keep in mind as you are thinking through this principle. And that is, if you're going to be on social media and use it for business, you need to have an ad budget. So, let's dive right in, Corey.

Corey:Yeah. So, in the olden days, there was a lot you could do on social without an ad budget. And I've been saying for many years now, that has gone away, ever since really Facebook went public and their shareholders cared less about how many users they had and more about how much revenue's being generated. And so, for a lot of us who had business pages that we could go actively engage with all of our members of our fan club, so to speak, the rug got pulled out right from under us. And so, instead a 100% or 80% of those people hearing our messages, it went down to single digits. 5%, 8% overnight, it seemed like. And so, basically, what I tell businesses now or people who are looking to market on social media is, you have to have an ad budget of some kind in order to see results. Are there exceptions to that? Sure. But generally speaking, you have to have an ad budget in order to actually see real business results with your social media.

Jessica:Yeah, it is an interesting turn of events, isn't it, from just a general advertising perspective? I mean, you think back to radio ads when that was very popular, TV ads, and now we're really looking at ads that you see every day on social media. Some may look like ads and you recognize it right away, and some may not. They've gotten pretty creative on how they can present themselves.

Corey:That's a big difference. You bring up a good point of where I think social media is different than traditional advertising is, yes, you can traditionally advertise on social, but you can also not, and make it more a part of the everyday content that people see. Whereas, if you flip that around, to some degree, I guess you can see that in a traditional world, but we all know when a commercial comes on that we're being advertised to. Sometimes there's product placements and stuff and TV shows and movies, but generally speaking, there's this clear cutoff. In the world of social, that's not necessarily the case. We can have content that shows up right next to the main feed, so to speak, or inside the main feed or the show, if you will, that is our products and pay to be there, which is really cool.

Corey:But I think what it really comes down to, and that's the common theme throughout all of these podcasts, is how to do it authentically. There's a difference between serving up an ad of some kind to someone who doesn't want to see it, or it's not the right time, or it's not the right content. And then the reverse, where somebody is interested in that type of product. And if they hit it right at the right time, they get them. A great example to give you just right off the top of my head is, right now, we're heading into spring. And those t-shirt companies, and short sleeve polos, that know that I'm thinking about that are hitting me right at the right time. I am navigating my social, trying to stay productive, and then along comes this sweet looking short-sleeve henley of some kind, and bam, I am off and running, buying a shirt that probably won't fit me.

Jessica:And that they like hook line and sinker.

Corey:Every time.

Jessica:We got him every time. And it's also something to be said for whenever you're putting together some of those advertisements. So, you talked about how to keep it authentic and maybe not feel super shady or super salesy with that content, what are some ways that we can do that?

Corey:So, I think the first thing to think about is what your goal is and your strategy. That's probably one of the biggest mistake businesses make is that we jump out and start advertising without having a clear goal. So, the big difference, and most of you have heard this, if you've read my first book or have been on social and doing advertising for a while, you know clearly that there's two very distinct paths. There's boosted posts, where you're amplifying your existing content to a larger audience, or you're creating more of a traditional ad, where you're serving up an ad to potentially new members, So, whole different side. And we'll talk a little bit about each of those.

Corey:But I think that knowing what your goal is, for example, if your goal is engagement. Look, you come into a room with a group of people and you say, "Hey, look, we are falling on deaf ears right now. We are posting content and just do not feel like it's moving the needle. We feel like it's good content. We've really worked on the quality, but for whatever reason, we are not seeing the likes, comments, shares, and all that, that we want." Perfect opportunity for some budget around boosted posts, engagement. The same token, if you're looking to build your email list, to drive more traffic to your website, to sell a certain product in a season, like I talked about, that probably makes more sense for a traditional ad. So, knowing your goal prior to deciding which direction you're going to go is extremely important right off the bat.

Jessica:Would you say my goals, if I were thinking of my goals as a business, one way to go is like, I'm looking for more likes, more engagement, more followers. Another way is, I'm looking to get them to click the button, come to my website, and make a purchase. Is that what you're talking about when you are talking about specific goals, whenever you really narrow it down?

Corey:Yeah. You made a good separation. Those first three you mentioned, generally probably lend themselves a little bit more toward boost. And the other ones you talked about, taking people off of the social sites are probably a little bit more toward traditional ads. And by the way, are going to be more expensive. One little minor thing to think about is, of course, the social sites want people to stay within the walls of their sites. So, when we use our call to action, you'll hear me say that a little bit in this podcast, CTA is call to action, the call to action is off the social platform, that right off the bat is going to make it more of an expensive cost per click or per acquisition from the social site, because they don't want them to leave their social media site.

Jessica:Yeah, they want to keep you in that spot. And it is nice though, I think that through Facebook and Instagram specifically, you can really dive down and find the demographic of the people that you're looking to target. It almost provides a narrow look at exactly the audience that you want, more than anything that we've seen in a while, because in a lot of ways, those sites are collecting a lot of information about us, like it or not.

Corey:A 100%, absolutely. I mean the power, I mean, those of you who are listening or watching this and just think spending money, I mean there is certainly a downside. First of all, obviously it's money, it's resources, it's time. It can feel like an endless black hole of whether or not it's working or not. Totally get that, we've been there. But I will tell you that, what should get you excited is just the ability to really be able to serve up your content to people who actually want to see it. You think about traditional billboards and commercials. I think about when you and I are watching, or when I'm watching a UFC fight event and there's clearly a product or something that's being served to an audience so opposite of me, it's not even funny. I think to myself, "Man, they really missed the boat on this." So, there's clearly a distinction between that.

Corey:And to me, it also falls right in line to being authentic. It's like, you don't want people to be like, "Oh, God, I didn't want to see that." You don't want them to have that face when they see your content or your ad, you want them to want to see it. And the first step to that is serving it up to people who have an interest in your product or service. Just a couple quick examples, we have periodontists as some of our clients, clear. If we serve up their content to people who do not have tooth pain or gum disease, or a challenge with their mouth, what a waste of time. So, we've got to figure out a way to only serve those ads to those people who are having those issues. And we, that's our job, have to figure out how to get that to them.

Corey:The other thing to think about with when it comes to being authentic in the ad world is, what is a realistic expectation for the call to action within that ad? We talk a lot and this just came to mind. I apologize if I'm going off a little bit of a tangent, but with the periodontists, it's unrealistic to think that a traditional ad is going to get somebody from there to the chair, as we like to call it. It's a long sale. It's a big sale. It's a huge decision. Someone's not going to see an ad and go sit in the chair. So, we have to explain that to our clients. And if you're thinking about your strategy, you have to think about that too. What type of sale are you trying to make? Are you trying to make a small inexpensive sale, cup of coffee, whatever? Is it a trip around the world? Is it a new car? Is it a serious procedure with your mouth that's going to change your life? You know what I mean?

Corey:So, that matters as to what we ask them to do. So, in that example, I would say that the periodontists, we need to get them to get more information, maybe to get on your email list, maybe to create a first conversation with you or someone on your team that can lead them toward that way. So, when we find out is it a long sale or a short sale, then it determines what type of call to action is going to make most sense for that person seeing the ad. Does that make sense?

Jessica:Yeah, I think so. I guess what I hear you saying is it depends on where the buyer is in the cycle, correct?

Corey:Right.

Jessica:The cycle of where is that buyer? Are they ready to pull the trigger or are they like, "Yeah, I just want to find out more information, I'm on research mode, I'm trying to figure out exactly what I'm even looking for?"

Corey:And, and to know generally that the longer the sale, the more touches you're going to need. Like I said, a cover for your phone is a fairly inexpensive purchase that I probably don't need to see six or seven types of ads or context before I make a decision. A procedure on my teeth or my gums, yeah, I'm going to need to maybe see a video. I'm going to maybe need to hear a podcast and hear how smart this particular periodontist is or whatnot, but I'm going to need to see a little bit and be a little bit more on that journey prior to making a decision.

Jessica:Yeah. Can you talk a little bit about these experiences that we have, where you just talked about UFC. And personally, I'm not the biggest UFC fan, but having mentioned it, I will probably get lots of advertisements and information about UFC, maybe a class in the area. So, I mean, is there a specific term that what they're doing to you then when that's happening, when you have talked about before, like you look into a spatula and the spatula follows you around for the next couple weeks?

Corey:Well, there's definitely a whole category of advertising, social listening, and I think first, that was super. People were like, "Is this happening or not?" And now, of course, I think the general consensus obviously is that it is, because you can almost play with it now and talk about multicolored socks. And the next thing you know, your serving adds up to socks or whatever. It's amazing how sophisticated these advertisements have gotten. I don't think necessarily, of course, you can go there, but a lot of times our audience, our clients, and probably a lot of people that are listening, or small businesses, we're not spending a half a million dollars or months upon months, upon months focused purely on social advertising. And it's more just to amplify our content. So, I think, although that is very powerful, it's not something that we delve into too much.

Corey:I would say that some of the thing that we like to do to your point when it comes to social advertising, and again, this fits right into authenticity, is we try to get to the right people. So, one way we do that and you can do this as well, is a very common term in the ad industry called lookalike audiences. What's so cool about that is, again, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, all of them, TikTok, all of them have much information, like you said, on us. They know our demographics, they know our ages, our likes, our interests, our everything. And so, what they do is we give them a population that we've already served ads to. And then again, that might be through email or just going to our website or whatever. And they create an audience that looks like them or that has like demographics to them.

Corey:So, again, we are trying to get our ad to people who want to see it. The point there is, is that if I'm a restaurant, if I'm a local service provider and I already have an audience of people that are in Roswell, that are mid-40s, that have a certain income level, blah, blah, blah, then it makes sense that an audience that I haven't sent that ad to that has similar demographics might also be interested in that. So, that's one. Another one that you mentioned is remarketing, which again, I think is an authentic strategy, which someone has already expressed interest. They've come to your website, they've watched a video, they've done something with you, again, using the periodontist as an example, they clearly, why are they going to watch or go to a website, to a periodontist website if they're not interested in getting their mouth looked at or worked on?

Corey:So, we know we've got a hot prospect, but life gets busy. Maybe it doesn't hurt so bad today as it did two days ago, but we still know they got to get that tooth fixed or that gum disease looked at. So, they go back to their social, life gets busy, remarketing serves reminders to them on an ongoing basis until we can get them to do what we want them to do. So, that's that spatula I talk about when going to Amazon and you search for a spatula that it follows you around, we can all do that as well. The key is, is doing it to people who have visited your website or done something with you already so that they want to see your ad. No one wants to be followed around by product or service that we don't want, right?

Jessica:Yeah, yeah. It's almost like it gets annoying.

Corey:It gets annoying and frustrating. You don't have to do that.

Jessica:And then you're not interested at all or you lose interest all together.

Corey:Or you get frustrated and you get the opposite effect.

Jessica:Right, absolutely. Well, I think those are all really good angles to think about whenever you're thinking about your social media and your ad budget. I'm sure people are thinking in their minds, "Okay, Corey, so is there a specific budget that you recommend?" And I think we talked about this a little bit before. Your response to that would be a little bit more. I think it's a little bit more based on each business in particular. Everybody has their own budget that comes down with marketing, but how else would you address that question?

Corey:Yeah. Definitely, if my team were sitting here right now, they'd say, before any words come out of your mouth, or you really have to know what their objective is. Are they selling a $40,000 procedure or are they selling a $6 item? And you have to know that and what the return looks like to know what your budget is. So, anyone who just spits out a budget to use. But people often ask me about averages, and that's when I'll answer that question, that typically small businesses tend to spend in the 100s, 200, 800, 400, somewhere in that, under a $1,000 per month on social advertising to get started, and see if you can find some results, see if you can find some churn that's making sense for your business. I think that that's helpful.

Corey:One best practice around that, that I'm sure you're going to ask, but just in case, is again, going to that Authentically Social point, where to spend that money is the same best practice that I would say on creating compelling content, whereas, you have to have compelling content first. So, using boosts as an example, the question often asked is, "Well, what should I boost? Should I boost this? Should I boost that?" So, it goes back to what has been the most valuable post over the last few weeks. That's a great example of what to boost. So, I look at it like you've created a little bit of a FLA. I don't like our fire pit outside. So, you've got the kindling and you got a nice little fire going. Okay, so that's a couple likes, a comment here, share there, the boost, the money is the lighter fluid. You press it, boom, it goes. But it tends to not go if there's just the smoke.

Jessica:There's crickets.

Corey:It's just cricket. There's no flame. So, you put the lighter fluid on it, you just wasted lighter fluid. It basically doused it because there's nothing there. So, I don't know if that's a good example or a bad example of how I think using boosts are good. And then with the traditional ads, the same fundamentals come to mind. When you're serving up an ad, really think about that content. What's a question that would intrigue somebody to want to learn more? What's a value that you can offer for free that somebody would stop and truly want to download. Don't just be like, "Hey, Corey in Impact Social, and we're going to give you 500 bucks for an ad budget. And here's a something we never even thought twice about as a freebie." You're setting us up for failure. We need to be thinking about, what is most compelling to our audience that we can give away? And then let's go use an ad budget to get that to as many people. That's the way we want to be thinking authentically to make advertising work for our business.

Jessica:Yeah. And I think realistically, you have to know that, that first thing you think of might not be a home run. You're going to have to try a couple free giveaways, downloads, pre-printables, whatever that thing is that you're going to draw the audience in with. You may have to try a couple different ones and see which one really resonates with the group.

Corey:Yeah. I mean, that's, again, a great thing about social advertising, is that you could do A/B testing. You can try different call to action buttons, maybe it's download this or a free report as the button, and you figure out which one moves the needle for people to want to use it. And so, your advertising team, or you can do that and play around very easily and decide which one's working better for you.

Jessica:Yeah. So, I think as far as some actionable takeaways for today, something that you can do today to help with your business and some of your advertising goals. I hear you saying, the first thing is, figure out what your goals are, right?

Corey:Yes.

Jessica:Figure out the objectives of why you want to pay to play in the advertising game. And the second thing would be maybe evaluating what are your strongest call to actions. What are some important ways that you can drive people wherever you want them to go? If you want them to click and go to your website, if you want them to call you, establishing some of those. So, what would be that third action that maybe we could take away today?

Corey:Yeah. No, you nailed it right on the head. And that second one you mentioned, which is creating a clear call to action, making it easy for the person to take the next step is absolutely number two, besides strategy, which was number one. Number three is really thinking about what that compelling piece of content is that is sort of the lead magnet, as you might have heard people say in the marketing and advertising world. Really pay attention to that. That can dictate whether or not you're successful or not when it comes to social advertising is, what is that piece of content? Is it a free webinar? Is it a video? Is it a download? Is it a one on one conversation? Whatever it is, make it as valuable as you possibly can, that will inevitably determine whether or not your ad campaign is successful or not. So, the action I want people to take is to know what that lead magnet is and make it as absolutely valuable as possible.

Jessica:All right, well, there you have it. If you're looking to pay to play in the social media game, this is the Authentically principle for you. And keep this mantra in mind, if you are and have a business in social media, you need to have an ad budget.

Corey:You definitely do.

Jessica:Thanks for joining us today on the Authentically Social podcast. We will see you guys next time.