Blog- Marketing

In the constantly-evolving world of social media, companies need to be smart in how they use their marketing dollars. Trends change quickly, so you’ll want to make sure you’re optimizing your strategies to get the most eyes on your social media ads as possible.

The members of Ad Age Collective are familiar with the ins and outs of social media marketing. That’s why we asked them to each share one way a business can get the most out of their social media advertising budget. Read on for their best responses.

1. Use demand signals like intent keywords.

Too often, we guess what prospects care about and then start writing, tweeting and posting away. What if you could flip the script and actually know what they care about? The reality is, you can. By updating your strategy to always start with intent keywords, you know what your ideal customer profile (ICP) really cares about so all of your content, social and ads are driven by these insights. – Latane Conant, 6sense

2. Target your audience carefully.

Social media advertising offers one of the best means to target a core audience. By focusing your strategy, you can reach the right people at the right time and the right place for a budget that feels right. Taking advantage of the services for some of the big ad channels allows even small brands to find their audience quickly and effectively. – Maggie O’Neill, Peppercomm

3. Promote your earned media on social media.

One of the biggest problems with social media ads is that people don’t trust them. One of the biggest problems with positive PR coverage is that not enough people see it. On the other hand, you can control your social media with great precision, and people trust editorial content way more than ads. Combine the persuasion of earned media with the precision of social media for a big win. – Dan Beltramo, Onclusive (formerly AirPR)

4. Produce customized content for very specific clients.

Too often, businesses try to speak to everyone with their ads, but this leads to them speaking to “no one” and spending an exorbitant amount on ads with limited ROI. Instead, hone in your content on very specific target clients (exactly down to an individual person is best). Not only will your content convert better, but you will also spend less per ad as you aren’t trying to go after the entire country. – Patrick Ward, Rootstrap

5. Publish less content and participate more.

Limit the amount of content you produce. We call that “participate and not publish.” Only say something when you have something of value to say. You can solve specific problems and then make sure you’re super efficient with your spend by targeting the content to audiences at their moment of need. The end goal is to create real value by producing content that has meaning, resonance and relevance. – Marc Landsberg, SOCIALDEVIANT

6. Be engaging and authentic.

Having a social media campaign that engages consumers or influencers and entices them to share and repost across all their platforms is the best way to stretch the budget. This is the most authentic as it is something that people truly want to share with their personal audiences because they found it valuable themselves. – Jessica Hawthorne-Castro, Hawthorne Advertising

7. Follow the data.

Social media advertising should follow the same rules as other advertising or marketing campaigns: It should be data-driven. If you leverage your organization’s existing data (from a CRM platform, for example) and combine with a platform’s recommended audience, you will be more successful getting your message in front of your most valuable customer. Also, it does not require any additional budget! – Brad Wensel, Healthgrades

Attempting to get noticed online is like looking for a needle in a haystack. The vastness of the internet can quickly make things disappear, which is why marketing is an essential tool for any business. Marketing can be quite expensive and time-consuming, and because of this, it can be quite challenging to put yourself in front of the desired audience, especially for smaller businesses with tighter budgets.

According to Statista, it’s projected that around $680 billion will be spent on advertising in 2019. Quite a high figure to digest.

However, even without a massive wallet, there are different ways that companies can thrive online.

One of the primary factors to consider when marketing is to determine who your audience is.

Brands like Coca-Cola invest in ads placed directly in front of their audience up on the screens in Piccadilly Circus and 5th avenue, right in front of their audience. Luckily for them, their target audience is pretty much everyone who walks by the massive billboard on 5th avenue.

Advertising through these traditional mediums is healthy for their brand as it is sufficient for their operational profit.

For others, identifying and targeting an audience could come about slightly more complicated. First, you need to determine how will your audience use the product or service you’re offering?

Once you have identified the behaviour of your audience, you can better understand their needs and wants. An inexpensive way of doing this is through the use of content marketing and social media.

It’s about time brands begin to realise the importance and power of content marketing and the influence their social media can have on the audience. We already know that social media is an influential medium which has given birth to YouTube stars and Instagram influencers. With a healthy number of followers, brands are eager for these popular individuals to endorse their products. This provides us with enough leverage to understand how beneficial social media and its content can be and how it can positively affect your audience to buy into your product or services.

If we look at the basics, what is content marketing? Well, content marketing is the process of developing information for your audience which is valuable, relevant and engaging to them.

The goal of content marketing is to acquire new customers and grow your business by informing and educating your potential customers. Successful content marketing with high-quality content can improve your brand’s positioning by making you the go-to place for information in your particular niche. The more your audience interacts with your content, the wider your reach becomes, which, in turn, attracts more people to your brand. Content is also used to improve your brand’s organic positioning in search engines, drive traffic and increase the quality and quantity of leads.

In order to use both content marketing and social media together, it is worthwhile understanding how each works, their similarities and main differences. There are four elements that apply to both.

First and foremost, you will need to be able to align the objectives of both mediums into one main strategy. Content and social media have similar functions when looking at your overall marketing strategy, and so they should serve some of the same purposes such as helping your audience understand the subject matter and message that your brand is trying to convey.

Your objective should be aimed at educating your audience while simultaneously entertaining them. The end goal of any strategy is to get your audience convinced in investing in your brand, be it a product or service.

It’s also vital that your content and social strategies don’t just coordinate with each other, they should also align with your overall business objective by aiding to build brand equity, retain and create new customers.

Once you have figured out the objectives, it is time to begin putting together the content for your marketing. Regardless of if you are writing it by yourself or if you are paying someone to produce the content for you, it has to be of value to your audience.

Content is excellent because the cost associated with it is very low. After your content is created, you will need to be able to identify how to market it. There are a number of strategies to promote your content.

However, promoting content and driving people to the website is only a part of the job. Making sure that visitors stick around and do not bounce back is no less important than actually persuading them to visit the website in the first place. Ensure that your website is fully functional, mobile-friendly and well optimised for performance.

Website load time plays an integral role. For instance, 53% of mobile visitors exit the website if it takes more than 3 seconds to load. Walmart saw an uplift of 2% in conversions when their website speed dropped by only 1 second.

When looking at social media content, anything that is posted on social media can help with marketing and current projects, goals and objectives in the business. You can use social media along with other content marketing strategies simultaneously, and you can create strategies which are specifically designed to undergo only on social media channels. Content marketing without social media may not be as effective as you would like it to be.

Depending on your niche and audience, it should be your main objective to determine which social media channel is worth pursuing for your business.

Although it may seem like an effective strategy to jump onto the most popular channel like Facebook, you may find it ineffective for your specific niche.

If your audience is a group of professionals looking to switch a job, LinkedIn could be the most appropriate channel, despite the fact of being 1/7 of the size of Facebook.

To sum up, content marketing mixed with social media marketing can be highly effective when implemented properly. It allows valuable information to reach your target audience either through organic search and social media – bringing consistency to whatever your business is trying to achieve.  Author: Dmytro Spilka

“What we’ve got here is failure to communicate.”  Cool Hand Luke, 1967

81% of businesses use video as a marketing tool — up from 63% over the last year. (Hubspot)

Video for your business is a must have. Think of video as the way to tell your story. If you would like to show people how you are a subject matter expert or offer educational tips on how to do your favorite thing a video is a great way to show it.

• Plan
• Record
• Edit

Plan– ask yourself what are the events this week you could video so you can create content that is applicable to your audience.

Will you be giving a speech, attending a conference, planning a lunch? All these events are video worthy.

If you can control any of the topics, you will be able to edit each segment based on the topic and from one video you will be able to create many videos from one event.

By 2022, online videos will make up more than 82% of all consumer internet traffic — 15 times higher than it was in 2017. (Cisco)

Types of videos you can consider

• Tutorials
• Webinars
• Ads
• Customer testimonials
• Interviews
• Live streams
• Product videos
• Live video

Record it. Of course check lighting and most of all  the background. Most common mistake in video is that people don’t check their backgrounds and lighting.  Consider how you want the video to look and if a polished look is your goal don’t record without a  planned environment. Also know that most video is consumed on mobile.

Edit-75% of all video plays are on mobile devices. (eMarketer) When you post your blog on your website check it out on your phone. It’s the way people will find your business.

A website is 53 times more likely to reach the front page of Google if it includes video. (Insivia) Including a video on your landing page can boost your conversion rate by up to 80%. (Unbounce)

Best practices for video on social.

1. Videos under two minutes long get the most engagement. (Wistia)
2. 85% of Facebook videos are watched without sound, while 60% of Instagram Stories are watched with the sound on. (Instagram) A website is 53 times more likely to reach the front page of Google if it includes video. (Insivia)
3. Including a video on your landing page can boost your conversion rate by up to 80%. (Unbounce)

Now, you are ready. Just do it. Make your plan, set your background and record. Edit for your audience and post with gusto! “Here’s looking at you, kid.” Casablanca, 1942