If you thought the internet had changed the world, then wait for you to see what social networks can do with it l. This simple idea that has unified the way we interact and therefore has also changed the way we do business.
One of the industries that has felt the most impact is that of advertising, giving birth to a new way of marketing; digital marketing For years, companies completely ignored it, but currently it is undeniable that its results can make a SME become a great brand without even having a physical office.
If you want to learn how to take advantage of this for your business, join us while we show you how to make a smart social media strategy . This way you can boost your business and sell more, as well as be more recognized.
Index:
What is social media advertising?
The advertising on social networks are all those advertising strategies that are executed through these, being Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter the most important currently. With this you can get a direct interaction with the target audience , creating greater empathy with it since it is not only about selling in the conventional way, but of offering content that attracts them to later offer a product .
As in search engines , there are two ways to perform this type of marketing; in an organic way or paying for it. The first one usually involves more work, but in the long run it becomes an excellent tool to generate income passively, such as SEO . The second is more efficient in the short term, but requires maintaining a constant investment by paying ads so that our message reaches the desired audience.
The importance of Digital Marketing in social networks for your company
The importance of digital marketing in social networks is that with this channel you can establish a closer connection than with conventional advertising . For example, a decade ago classical advertising was done on radio or television. These media were effective, but they didn’t always generate communication since an average person is not always in front of a screen or listening to the radio.
With social networks it is different, since it is currently difficult to imagine our day to day without a smart phone or a computer . Or rather, it is practically impossible to imagine a day without being connected to the internet.
In addition, social networks currently have billions of monthly active users, which is much more than the audience of any radio or television program. So with social networks you get people to constantly consume your content , which in turn makes them feel more attached to your brand and its message.
Advantages and benefits of social media advertising
Do you understand now why it is important to do social media marketing? Well, if you still don’t have it clear let us tell you the benefits that your business would be losing if you do without it.
- Broader and more accurate visibility : We already gave you figures on how many people use social networks monthly, which gives you an idea of how much visibility you can get with them, but this is not everything. The really beneficial thing about this strategy is that you can focus on attracting a certain audience that is really interested in consuming your content and your products.
- Better use of the investment : if you establish correctly your buyer person, you can focus your economic efforts on attracting only the users that perfectly fit that description. In this way you make sure that the money you invest is specifically to attract those who are more likely to consume what you sell.
- Greater empathy : retaking what was said above, being a channel to which people are tuned practically all day, you can create a deeper connection with them and make them really empathize with your brand.
- The investment is smaller and more effective : Currently, you can invest in social media advertising with a capital of up to 10 dollars in services such as Facebooks Ads or Adsense on YouTube, which will give you a range of approximately 10,000 people. In addition, you can configure your ads to show in a specific geographic location. On the other hand, to pay for an advertisement on an international television channel you need several thousand dollars and this will be seen worldwide randomly, which will make it reach people who cannot even consume what you sell because they are not in the country indicated to buy it.
- You can manage everything related to your campaigns : in any social media ad service you can manage each and every one of the most important aspects of your strategy; from the location of the screen where it is displayed, during when and where. In addition, you will have access to accurate metrics so you can see how your audience interacts with your ads which will allow you to plan future strategies in a smarter way .
These are just some of the most important benefits that your business achieves with social media advertising, but the reality is that there are many more. Also, the numbers speak for themselves.
Only see studies by Forbes and other recognized companies that indicate that those companies that use digital media advertising get twice the visibility and growth compared to those that do not. So the best thing you can do is start investing in Facebook Ads or Adsense .
How to devise a successful social media advertising campaign step by step ?
Devising an advertising campaign on social networks is not very different from doing it in any other media. The real differences are noticed when applying it and in the tools used, but basically you have to take into account the same factors.
Set your target audience
The first thing you should do is obviously establish your target audience , which in basic terms are all those people to whom you intend to sell your product. For this there are two basic aspects that you must take into account, which are:
- Segmentation: Segmentation consists in differentiating your target audience from the general audience of the medium in which you will advertise, for this you must ask questions related to your product such as Is it something for men, women or unisex ?, What age range would an interested person have ?, What do they do? And what purchasing power do they have? .
- Behavior: You must decipher the behavior of your audience to know for sure what is the best way to reach them, So you have to ask yourself: What social networks do they use? How much time do they spend on their networks? What are their purchase needs? What type of content do they consume? And what is the most used means to buy ?.
Once you ask yourself these questions, you can get a clear view of your target audience. Suppose you have a shoe store, u No simple example of this would be ; people between 20 and 30, with a purchasing power of between 1,000Eur and 5,000Eur, who use their social networks daily and are interested in sneakers.
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Know your buyer person
The next thing you have to do, and possibly the most important of all, is to establish your buyer person. This is nothing more than a representation of what your ideal customer is, that in which your greatest efforts will be focused since it is basically the one that is most likely to consume your product. For this you must take into account demographic statistics of your current clients , but you do not have to limit yourself to these, you can also devise one based on a new audience that you want to attract.
Do not confuse the buyer with the target audience , although they are related they are not the same thing. In fact, the first depends on the second, since it is a more specific representation of it. Continuing with the example of the shoe store that we set out in the previous point, a buyer person would be something like; Mario, 24, is a personal trainer in Madrid, uses Instagram 5 hours a day and is interested in Nike and Adidas sneakers .
Choose the social networks in which you will advertise
Once you know who to sell to, the next thing is to determine where you want to do it. This is simple but should be related to the data you already have. That is, if your buyer uses Instagram, as we stated in the previous case, you will not establish Facebook or Tiwtter as the main medium, because the campaign will be a failure .
However, if you want to attract a new audience and not be guided by your buyer person but your target audience , you can plan a strategy in which you attack multiple social networks.
Design a budget
Now it’s time to talk about money How much are we going to invest? Well, as we told you before, one of the advantages of this methodology is that you can start with low budgets, so If this is your first time, the ideal would be for you to consider a relatively low budget , so that you can gradually see the behavior of your audience and devise stronger strategies for the future, when you are really interested in investing 4 figures on it.
Select the type of ads you will share
This is the creative part of this whole process. This is when you must come up with the ads and the type of ad you are going to share . Of course, this is linked to the budget you want to establish for the entire strategy, since the content also represents an investment .
That is, creating a poster will not cost the same as making a video or a podcast . This is also directly subject to the information you have of your buyer person, since if it uses more than all YouTube, it would not be a good idea to attack it with posters, as if it would be if it moves more than everything on Instagram.
Mark your goals
What do you want to get from your target audience? This is a very serious question that will determine the success of the strategy. In general terms one always wants to get a conversion that results in a sale, but how many sales do you want to get with your first campaign?
This is something impossible to know since the results in this regard are appreciated in the long term, by having accurate metrics you can know how each person has reacted to it, which allows you to set specific objectives in relation to them.
Tips to design an effective and successful social media advertising strategy
If you have fallen in love with this way of advertising and want to put it into practice so that your company takes advantage of all the benefits it can bring, then follow these tips to develop a successful campaign .
Set realistic goals in relation to the budget you have
Yes, social media advertising is wonderful, but it’s not miraculous. So you have to set realistic goals based on the budget you are investing. That is, do not expect to increase your sales 200% by investing $ 200 in advertising on Instagram or YouTube . If you do this kind of thing, you will simply end up disappointed and possibly not in the mood to continue investing in digital marketing.
Don’t focus on just selling, add more value
If all your ads are like a megaphone that tells people “Come buy here” , chances are you’ll end up generating the opposite effect. You have to understand that a sale is a consequence of a series of factors that are related to empathy and the brand-consumer relationship . There is a saying among specialists that is “If you want to sell, do not intend to do it” Do you think this is ridiculous? Well, it isn’t.
Before telling a person to buy your product you must give them a reason to do so . Put yourself in the place of your target audience and understand that you would not like to be obfuscated, much less a brand you don’t even know. First you must make yourself known, generate empathy with them, raise a need and then teach you how your product can satisfy it .
If I don’t sell then what do I do? This is a question that may be hovering in your mind after reading the previous advice. The reality is that what you should do is focus on sharing quality content with your audience, you should educate them about their needs and teach them how to satisfy them correctly. This is the best way to generate empathy with her so that when you decide to sell , people are connected to your brand.
Less ads is more empathy
Following the objective of generating empathy with your users, it is important that you understand that it is not necessary to bomb them with ads throughout the day. In social networks less is more, so you must find the right time to show that ad that will catch and hook you.
This will bring economic benefits to you since you will not have to invest so much in advertising several ads but you will simply share just the necessary ones, which in turn will result in a more effective campaign.
The most important and used social networks in which to campaign for commercials
At this point you should already be very clear on how to plan your strategy but you still don’t know everything. As you know there are multiple social networks and each one works in a different way, which makes the way of advertising in each one of them different , as well as the tools and ads that you can promote . Therefore, we will explain the operation of each network and the formats that you can use in each of them.
YouTube Advertising
YouTube is one of the most powerful social networks in terms of digital advertising, as it is one of the most used in the world. In it everything revolves around video , but it also offers you different formats so you can implement more dynamic strategies. The main types of ads on this network are:
- TrueView in stream: These are video ads that belong to the Adsense display network that are played while the user is consuming the content of a channel. However, they do not always reproduce completely, since at five seconds they can be skipped, so you have to come up with something that hooks in that time so that people are encouraged to watch it completely. But, as an advertiser, you will only pay when a user views these for at least 30 seconds.
- Discovery or TrueView in-display ads : These are thumbnails accompanied by three lines of text that When people click they are directed to a video. They can appear as sponsored content in the search results or on the home page of the mobile or web version. These work under the pay per click format, so you will only pay when a user clicks on it.
- Bumper Ads : These are ads similar to the first ones but have a duration of only 5 seconds, so the user can see them complete. As they will always look at each other, it is sure that you will pay for it 100% of the time because your payment is per view.
YouTube advertising is quite demanding as it is a social network focused on entertainment, so you must create ads that follow the dynamics and entertain users so they can see and feel identified with them.
Instagram advertising
This is the social network of the visual, where images and video reign over any other content format. It has more than one billion active users per month and among its advantages is the high engagement, that far exceeds Facebook, Twitter or YouTube .
Another aspect you should consider is that it is consumed in 80% of cases by mobile devices, so that the dimensions of each image must fit these screens.
The types of ads you can promote here are:
- Sponsored post: This is a video or image that is displayed on the main page of the application and appears as users see new posts. Include a link that can be to your website, YouTube channel or advertiser profile. Videos can last a maximum of 60 seconds.
- Carousel: is a sponsored publication where you can display multiple images or videos (or both). It also appears on the home page and includes a link.
- Sponsored story : This is an image or video that appears among the stories of the day. It also includes a link to the Advertiser’s profile, website or YouTube channel.
A disadvantage of this type of advertising is that it is charged per view, so for each person who sees your ad you will have to pay, regardless of whether it plays (in case it is a video) in full or in part.
Advertising on Facebook
Facebook owns Instagram, but the tools it offers to manage your ads are superior. While you can show basically the same types of ads.
The really curious thing is the way you can segment your campaigns to decide who to show your ads and who doesn’t, which allows you to make them much more effective. In addition, another thing that you cannot ignore is the possibility of creating a store and selling for it.
Advertising on Twitter
Twitter is possibly the social network with the least users on the list with little more than 300 million per month, but it is still a reference in which people are guided to find out about things. You could say that their 140 character tweets are like the headlines of the TV news.