April 26, 2020
It’s hard to grow against the competition on social media. It seems like everyone is clamoring to be heard and everything is drowned out. Unfortunately, many of the large social platforms have intentionally rigged the system. From their point of view, the platform is created for individual users, so if you’re a business, you gotta pay. It’s that simple.
Fortunately, many social platforms realize by enforcing this type of unspoken rule, they have to make it affordable for a business to advertise. Otherwise, it creates a monopoly and destroys the market. That’s called social advertising and before you put any money behind it, you should know why you need it.
On any given day there are over 300 million photos uploaded to Facebook. As mentioned, you need social advertising to stand out from the crowd. Although it sounds absolute, there really is no other way. If you are going to take the time to create and publish great content, you need to get it in front of people. Otherwise, what is the point?
Having a unique brand voice with captivating content is a start, but to take it to the next level, you need social advertising. Your branded content should act as a lighthouse and guide larger audiences to your page.
Start small with two campaigns that are slightly different. Make sure you continuously check the health of each and compare them. Then kill the one that’s not doing well. Advertise to audiences outside your comfort zone to see what works. This is an authentic way to build your community and convert social into sales.
The opportunities for targeting and reaching people are endless. That also includes brand monitoring, product launches, and customer feedback. While there are some opportunities available by traditional means, digital provides the type of scalability and responsiveness needed to compete.
30% of millennials purchase products directly from Facebook. Wouldn’t you consider these people a relevant audience? They are digital natives and thus are looking on social media platforms to purchase. Those who don’t, at least trust a friend’s endorsement. This just further highlights the importance of social advertising.
Social advertising greatly increases the number of people who see your content. You are wasting time and labor creating stellar content if no one sees it. Do not drop the ball on your creative team. It will ruin morale if people work hard on content that sits in an echo chamber.
For many years marketers have been discussing ways to increase the reach of organic content. This can be done through social advertising. Facebook has excellent audience segmentation controls that allow a brand to put their stuff in front of entirely brand new audiences.
That being said, this should never be a standalone strategy. You must continue to stream non-paid content on your page for your audience that’s already there. Do not cut off your nose to spite your face. That saying means don’t go after new audiences until everyone is happy at home.
You should also continue to post on other channels. Social media marketing is like piecing together a puzzle. There are many components to consider and social advertising is only one of them.
So many brands shy away from this method because they struggle to see the value in it. However, these same organizations are often people who have never tried.
Do not be afraid of social advertising. It will not break your bank. Facebook makes it very cheap to test the waters. After all, you are guaranteed to fail if you never try.
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