Is paying for Social Media Advertising right for my company?

I think a potential stumbling block for companies and organizations which have not engaged or had much success in reaching their target market through this channel could be over emphasizing and fixating on the term “social” media as a noun. Perhaps thinking too deeply about the connotations of the title of the medium and perhaps blinding them to the potential revenue stream.

Look past the “social” aspect and think demographic profiling. Don’t be fooled into thinking because it is a “social” environment that people do not want to see what you have to offer. This may not look like traditional advertising; it needs to speak directly to the profiled demographic. Unlike the traditional PPC shotgun approach, this should be laser focused and the ads split tested over the course of several weeks until it is right.

Over the past years of dealing with social media advertising campaigns, of all shapes and sizes, I can say that it does not work for every sector to achieve an apparent ROI. But for some, we have had phenomenal results. Within the Health and Well-being sector, we have seen our clients increase their spend by 500% thus far in 2016. In most, if not all, of these cases they are carving this extra spend out of other PPC channels like Bing and AdWords where is it is impossible to profile potential clients as deeply as say Facebook, not to mention affording a healthier ROI.

What should you be doing on Social? Well if you are offering loft-conversions in Southampton you may not wish to invest in Facebook paid ads or engage an agency for content and posting. High localized trades and the like will not see this as a profitable marketing investment for them BUT you should not neglect keeping your followers up to date with your company and promoting likes. This is sweat-equity in branding and awareness and will be worth you spending a few hours per week keeping your profiles updated. If you are selling vegetarian shoes this may well be your best step in building a great client base.

What should you be spending on social media advertising? Well, how long is a piece of string and is your website responsive. If your website does not have a good mobile experience, then rethink this as over 90% of people on social channels are using their mobile device and user experience is a must for success. We usually see the minimum of £15 per day as a good bench mark to start your test campaigns and hone your focus and segmentation. We have clients that range from a £15 per day investment to £500 per day for multiple campaigns. My advice is talk to someone in-the-know to see if it is viable to run a month or two of test campaigns. Yes, I said test campaigns and no, you are not chucking your money away. You have the data to optimize and tweak the campaign and like any other PPC stream it needs to be run correctly, by a competent individual or agency. Otherwise then yes, you will be chucking your marketing spend away.

We have seen such great success with our clients in social and you can do the same. Get out of the mindset that this is how your daughter communicates with her friends. 65% of Facebook users are between 18 and 34 at almost an even split between men and women, the next 28% is aged between 35 and 54.  This, out of 1.7 billion — an average of 12 new accounts being created every second. No doubt that there is a bit of padding with these number but nonetheless they are big. And they are all entering their personal info, interests and associates.