You asked: Social Media Ads, Where Do I Start?
Here are a few things to consider before hitting “Go” on your social media paid ad campaign:
- What is my budget?
- Who is my audience?
- What type of content sees the best results?
- Why is this the best platform?
- What is my goal?: What am I hoping to gain from these Ads? More followers? Prospects? Web visits?
Budget:
Twitter:
Be sure to look into Twitter’s “Promote Mode” which can can differ from simply running an ad.
Some say a Twitter add can cost about $30 a day between 4-5 ads. By running multiple ads you can track which has the best ROI or ROAS (return on ad spend).
Facebook:
AdEspresso’s research of 2016 Q4 results shows that the average CPC on Facebook is anywhere between $0.20-$0.80.
LinkedIn:
Budgeting on LinkedIn is very flexible.
You can choose a daily budget or a total budget. You can start and stop at any time. A third option allows you to place a bid for the amount you are willing to pay for clicks, impressions, or delivered InMails. You will never pay more than the price you bid.
Finally, you can pay according to CPC, Cost -per- 1,000- impressions or Cost per send for InMail.
Audience:
A general rule of thumb across all platforms is you don't want your target audience to be too small but you also need to monitor it and make sure it is attracting your buyer persona. Your perfect audience may take some trial and error efforts to don’t hesitate to tinker your reach along to way in order to find the best results.
LinkedIn has other tools in the platform like Lead Gen Forms and Audience Expansion that will help you get the most reach out of your ad. For more tips on LinkedIn, check out this resource.
Content:
Try including the following in your paid ad:
- Images and Video: Just like your regular social posts perform best when they include images and videos, so do your social ads!
- Advice and Education
- Strong CTA! Here are some tips for writing a great CTA.
- Aim to keep the headline under 60 characters. Start with a question or quote to hook the reader and use "You" to speak to your audience directly.
Finally, be sure to optimize for mobile because nearly 70% of users access social media via a mobile device.
70% of users access social media via a mobile device.
Then, run A/B tests for images, content, headlines. Change one variable at a time so you can clearly identify what works better and you can get the biggest bang for your buck.
Don’t forget, Mindmatrix can help you better track all of your data with various tools within the software.
- External tracking links help you gain effectiveness in your posts
- If you use Mindmatrix landing pages on your social ads, you will be able to track traffic and conversion right within the software.
- Our website tracking data allows us to track the leads that come through your ads!
- Finally, we can make smart lists according to ad origin. This gives you and your team a gauge of traffic, and ultimately allows you to do targeted marketing based on the audience and conversions from each ad.
For more info on Facebook Paid Ads:
- https://www.facebook.com/business/learn/facebook-tips-recommendations
- https://www.slideshare.net/LImarketingsolutions/gallery-of-great-linkedin-sponsored-updates
For more info on Twitter Paid Ads:
For more info on LinkedIn Paid Ads:
Here is a link to a great infographic that sums up a lot of this information in a succinct manner. Be sure to check it out and maybe even hang it in your office as a reminder before you begin your next paid ad campaign.