If there ever was an easy way to lose money, it’s by advertising on social media.
Conversely, if there ever was an easy way to make a fortune, it’s also by advertising on social media.
That’s why before launching your first social media campaign, it might be wise to review the basics of how to get the most out of your social media advertising campaign.
1: Figure out what you want.
Determine your advertising objectives: Do you want to increase reach? Boost traffic? Create awareness? Build a list of interested people? Build a buyer’s list? Get them into your sales funnel?
Determine exactly where you want your new prospects to go and exactly what you want them to do.
2: Choose your social media platforms.
If you had all the time and all the money in the world, you could advertise on all the social media platforms. Of course, if you already had all the money, then you wouldn’t need to advertise anything to anybody unless it was to brag about your good fortune.
For the rest of us, we need to pick just one or two platforms and then get really, really good at advertising on those platforms.
Find out where your ideal prospects are hanging out. If your advertising can reach them where they already are then you’re halfway home to getting your ad seen by your future customers.
3: Define your message.
You know your audience, you know where they hang out and you know what you want them to do. Now decide what you’re going to say to influence them to take the action you seek.
Create multiple variations of your message and test to find the one that converts the best.
Note: When talking about conversions, it’s not just the percentage of people who click your link that you want to monitor. You also want to keep track of the percentage of those people who take the action you seek, as well as how much those people spend with you over the course of 2 to 6 months.
4: Decide which options you will use on your ads.
All of the social media platforms give you multiple options for how to reach your audience. Initially you’ll want to choose the method most likely to engage with your target audience. And later you might want to test other options as well, just in case they out convert your first choice.
5: Set a budget.
It’s easier to spend more than you intend to when you start advertising. Instead, set aside a budget for your paid social media marketing. You can always increase it later if the results merit it.
5.5: Leverage organic posts. Take note of the analytics on the content you post to see what’s getting the most traction. Do more of what’s working. And use this information to improve your paid ads, too.