3 Effective Ways to Manage Social Advertising Campaigns

Once you have developed top-level content to spread your brand message, it’s time to think about how you will manage marketing campaigns once they launch. This isn’t a “set it and forget it” kind of thing. Social media advertising must be nurtured and monitored every step of the way.

When it comes to social media marketing, there are three primary ways to manage a social media campaign:

1. Run and manage the social ads manually
2. Run your campaigns using automated software
3. Hire a managed service or professional to run your ad campaigns

There is no “right” answer here. Each of these methods has strengths and weaknesses you should research before making a decision. Let’s go over how each of these strategies operates:

#1) Run a Campaign Manually

The easiest and cheapest way to run your ad campaign (in terms of cost) is to do so manually. There are no special requirements to do so. Simply find the platform and get started.

Pros

Running a campaign manually means 100% of your budget can go to advertising. There is no cost for labor (unless you count yourself). Every dollar you make goes into marketing your brand.

In addition, running ads yourself means you pick up a new set of skills. This can help in the future to not only optimize content but fill in any gaps should you hire a marketing team. The more time you spend doing it yourself, the easier it will be when it does come time to hire someone. You’ll know exactly what you are looking for.

Cons

Expertise isn’t developed overnight and there is a sharp learning curve to social media advertising. Remember, you are putting money into it so if you perform a campaign wrong, say goodbye to that capital.

There is also a fairly large opportunity cost of your own time. If you’re a business owner, then every second counts. You might not be able to devote the required hours it takes to be an SMM master.

Best For

Running ads manually is the best practice for startups and small businesses. If you don’t have money to hire someone, it is what it is. Social advertising must still be performed and if you want to run ads, you’ll need to do it yourself.

#2) Run Campaigns via Automation

If you don’t have the time to run ads but you lack the budget for a service, another option is to use a software program. Over the years, some incredible software has been developed to assist companies of every size with their digital marketing efforts. These tools are typically used in-house by teams or solopreneurs looking to achieve advertising success.

Pros

Many tools use machine learning and artificial intelligence to gauge your social media marketing strategies. As more tools are developed in this area, they are becoming smarter. You spend less time manually running ads because the automation takes over. This frees up more time for the labor force to focus on business growth rather than remedial tasks.

Cons

Good tools always come with big price tags. By and large, most social management tools are subscription-based and affordable. However, they are still an additional expense that must be taken into consideration.

There is also no guarantee that any tool you choose will produce the results you want. It’s rarely a simple matter to identify where the tool is underperforming versus where manual efforts are falling short.

Best For

Businesses that don’t have the time to run manual campaigns but lack the budget to pay for a complete service. Automation software is a good way to meet your needs without breaking the bank.

#3) Hire a Managed Service

Your last option is to hire someone to do all of this for you. They may also purchase (or have ready to go) several SMM tools that you need not worry about. In this case, hiring a service is obviously the most expensive, but it also is where most goals are met. Think about it. They wouldn’t be an agency without proven results, so there’s much less risk going this route.

Pros

It takes all the stumbling blocks and guesswork out of doing it yourself. These are professionals that can hit the ground running. Hiring a service also allows you and your team to focus more on driving sales and increasing revenue. This can oftentimes offset the actual cost of the service itself.

Cons

If you don’t do your due diligence, you can get burned. There are no absolutes in this industry and a lot of brands will make many promises that they won’t keep. Do the research or you could end up losing a good deal of money.

Best For

Companies with the budget and resources to drive new sales and profitable campaigns from the very first day. If you need immediate results, this is the best way to go. If your campaigns aren’t performing, you know exactly who to blame.

Final Thoughts

Ultimately, it comes down to a few factors—mostly time and money. If you have the time but no money, then a manual process will work best. If you have the money, but no time, then you are probably looking at an agency.

Somewhere in between, software will best meet needs. Once you have a better understanding of how much you want to spend on each resource, the right method should become obvious.