Like a great number of us, I spend a -slightly embarrassingly – large amount of my free time on social media. You name it, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, TikTok, I’ve tried it all, however, its only been in the past 2 years during my time in media that I grew to understand how advertising and marketing tied in with this. If you’re like me and you like to get ahead, this article is for you as I cover the essential best practices when creating paid social media advertisements.
The Do’s
Keep it native
It’s no secret to digital marketers that the general consumer view towards advertisements isn’t favorable. The reason being because they are often felt as annoying and intrusive as the interrupt the content the user is looking at. To avoid causing negative feelings towards your ad, ensure the creative content and the format is personalised to the platform. This will avoid your creative ‘feeling’ like an advert and is likely to improve dwell time.
Make it Share-able
Social media thrives on the ability to share content far and wide. The best way of generating word-of-mouth marketing is to have a creative that people want to share with their friends and family. Comedy / humour is the most common and brand safe way of doing this with users having previously responded well to a light heart-ed approach.
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Monitor Performance Frequently
With paid social media, campaign performance can change rapidly based on consumer behaviour. It’s crucial to monitor the performance of your ads so that you can make changes and optimisations. Most platforms have algorithms to help you with this but it never hurts to keep a human eye on this and make any further developments.
Keep Branding Upfront
No matter the type or format, all adverts on social media are somewhat skippable. For this reasons it’s important to keep your branding clear and upfront. In video formats, have this in the first 1-2 seconds (before you risk losing concentration) and for static creatives ensure branding is obvious and clear.
Target a specific audience
One of the great benefits with social media advertisements is the vast targeting abilities that digital marketing offers. Even if your aim is towards a broad audience, narrow this down by interests / age / behaviours / demographics where you can. This will help the overall consumer intent of the audience you serve to and help reduce wasted impressions / spend thus improving ROI in the long term.
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The Don’ts
Avoid using politics to ‘promote’ your product
Social media is becoming the fastest way of spreading global movements and news. Brands are often pressured to speak up on these and take a stand which is often a great idea to align yourself with your consumers. On doing this, however, its crucial your response be as brand safe as possible. The best way of avoiding this steer clear of associating your product or encouraging users to buy from you.
This isn’t a movie
Short and simple. Social media is a fast moving reel with the average scroll rate currently at 1.7 seconds per piece of content. For this reason, the best creatives have one clear message that delivered upfront and in the first moments of the ad.
For more digital marketing advice and information for apprentices, click here.
#Don’t #Hashtag #Everything
Hashtags are a wonderful way of connecting your post with other relevant ones and highlighting key words in your caption. That being said, overusing Hashtags can result in looking desperate for reach or unprofessional. Like many things, these are best used in moderation.
Don’t obsess over the numbers
Its important to monitor performance and the larger social platforms have created specific tools for you to track users engagement and interaction with your ad. Despite this remember to consider all the valuable qualitative you gain from user responses and comments. This can be a great way of understanding consumer attitudes and building brand relations.