In today’s business world, Social Media Marketing is a strategy that no company can afford to ignore. As we discussed last week there are distinct advantages to incorporate Social Media Advertising Campaigns into your overall marketing plan. However, with new Social Media platforms popping up every day, it is difficult to decide which networks your company should spend the energy and money on to maximize your marketing efforts.
Over the next few weeks we will take a look at each of the top 5 Social Media channels and the advantages each has to offer.
As the largest Social Media Platform in the world with over 1.6 billion monthly active users, Facebook is a network that cannot be ignored. 76% of American adults consider themselves regular Facebook visitors, and 56% visit the network multiple times a day. 30% of all Americans consider Facebook as their source for news, and 27% of drivers admit to checking their Newsfeed while operating their vehicle.
In case you had any lingering doubts, consider that every 60 seconds on Facebook:
- 3,125,000 items are liked
- 1,388,000 photos are uploaded
- 510,000 comments are made
- 293,000 statuses are updated
- 70,000 hours of videos are viewed
Although there are numerous Social Media Platforms available for businesses today, Facebook still reigns supreme as the most widely used, and most popular network. Consumers from all walks of life and every demographic group are active on Facebook. If you are wanting to start Social Media Advertising, or just want to focus on one network, Facebook should be your first choice.
Ad Objectives
If your idea of Facebook paid ads are boosted posts – THINK AGAIN!
Because of the enormous amount of new content added to Facebook, over 5 billion new pieces of content per day, it is impossible for all relevant content to be seen by users organically in their Newsfeed. Facebook devised Boosted Posts to assist businesses to get their message out to their Fans. At Internet 4 Jewelers we consider Boosted Posts as part of Page Management rather than actual Paid Advertising.
Facebook currently provides 14 different types of ads called Ad Objectives. Most of these Ad Objectives provide 2 or more varieties of ads to choose from. This provides businesses with nearly 40 different types of paid advertisements they can create. Knowing these different ad types and understanding their advantages and limitations are vital to your Facebook advertising success.
Some Ad Objectives, such as Promote Page, has limited if any marketing benefit. Others such as App Installs provide no purpose for local brick-n-mortar stores. While Website Link Ads (the most popular Ad Objective on Facebook) is designed for online businesses, local retail stores can make effective use of the ads with a well-designed landing page on their website announcing the promotion and directing customers to their store.
Local Awareness Ads were created by Facebook exclusively for local brick-n-mortar stores. These ads are currently the lowest cost of any Social Paid Advertising and are highly effective with the right images and ad copy. Lead Generation Ads, combined with a lead magnet, provide businesses a tool to produce a continual stream of new prospects and automatically gathers their contact information from their Facebook Profile. Video Ads, Carousel Ads, Offers Claims, and Event Ads, are other types of Ads that can also be used effectively by local stores for various promotions.
Ad Targeting
While the number of different Ad Objectives positions Facebook far above other Social Media Networks, it is their consumer data permitting businesses to target their ideal customer that makes Facebook the premier marketing platform. Facebook’s database contains more consumer demographic and psychographic information than any marketing company online or offline.
While the multitude of users on Facebook assures businesses that their unique customers can be found, it is foolish to use a shotgun approach trying to market to every user. First of all, it is a waste of money paying for Ads to be seen by people that will never be interested in your products and services. In addition, your Ad Costs are directly related to their performance. Showing your Ads to uninterested people reduces the response rate, which increases the cost to display them.
Marketers can create their ideal customer target group from basic demographics such as age, location, marital status, annual income and net worth. In addition, advanced demographics such as occupation, years of marriage, number of children, and anything else you can imagine can be used to create your targeted audience.
Demographics have defined the target consumer for more than half a century and most marketers today are familiar with their use. However, this alone has poorly identified potential customers. The year that someone was born will not tell you how likely they are to buy your product.
Today psychographics are the preferred data source to define your target market. Demographics explain “who” your buyer is, while psychographics explain “why” they buy. It includes such information as a person’s likes, beliefs, behaviors, habits, hobbies, and shopping preferences.
By compiling and analyzing every action a user makes on their network from what they post, like and comment on, to what they click on and read, Facebook is far above any other resource for this information.
Not sure how to implement psychographics into your ideal customer target group? Don’t worry! With Custom Audiences and Lookalike Audiences Facebook provides the tools to automatically scour their database and create your perfect target audience.
What You Need to Know
Ad Copy
- Ad headlines are limited to 25 characters (some ad objectives do not allow headlines).
- Ad descriptions are limited to 90 characters.
With all Social Media Paid Ads you are limited in the amount of text you can use in your ads. It is best to write out your ad copy in advance and use a sales copy thesaurus to perfect your message. Include a clear concise call to action in all your ad copy. Clarity trumps cleverness every time. For a list of sales thesauruses and other ad resources go to: FeetThruTheDoorMarketing.com/resource-list
Images
All Facebook Ad types require an image. You want an attention grabbing image that will stop the scroll! People scroll through their newsfeed quickly and only stop to read a post that seems interesting to them.
The image size needed is 1200 x 627 pixels. Facebook’s guidelines limit the amount of text in images to 20%. This is the number one reason ads are denied on Facebook. Images you use in print and other forms of advertising may need to be adjusted to fit this requirement.
Be cautious of copyrights! Google Image Search should never be used for images for your ads. If you are caught using copyrighted images that you do not have permission to use, Facebook can and will shut down your account. Use pictures you take, supplied by your vendors, or from a Royalty Free Image directory. Recommended Stock Photo sources can be found at: FeetThruTheDoorMarketing.com/resource-list
Split Testing
Test, test, and test some more. Facebook is one of the easiest platforms on which to split test your ads. They have built-in features to create different versions of the same ad to see which one proves most effective. This can help you test different combinations of headlines, descriptions, and images and monitor their performance. By eliminating the unproductive ads and boosting the ones with the best response rate you can maximize your advertising dollars and optimize the effectiveness of your ad campaign.
Next week we will continue our look at the top 5 Social Media Networks with a look at the newest member of the group and currently the second largest social network, Instagram. For more information on Paid Social Media Advertising Campaigns, step-by-step directions, and templates for your ads go to: FeetThruTheDoorMarketing.com.
Brad Simon is co-owner of Internet 4 Jewelers and Feet Thru The Door Marketing. They provide affordable full-service social media management and social/mobile ad campaign management exclusively for retail jewelry stores as well as online educational programs for local retail stores. For more information contact Brad at 864-680-4416 or Brad@Internet4Jewelers.com.
