Remember the good ol’ days when brands could post things on social and receive thousands of likes and hundreds of comments (looks around nervously) organically? Oh, and not to mention, there were only two or three major social media platforms available. We had it so easy back then and never fully appreciated it until now.
As we begin planning for the new year, a new strategic focus has come to the table. This new seat belongs to social media advertising. Yes, it’s true, organic social is dead (R.I.P., in lieu of flowers please send cash to Mark Zuckerberg, we hear he is hard up for cash right now). While a native strategy is still important, if you want your content to be seen, you need to be prepared to pay.
We know, adding an additional strategy to your current strategy sounds like a pain. But with the proper approach, it’s achievable and can prove to be extremely powerful. First things first, we need to know what social media platforms is your brand currently active on – in any form.
Have your list? Great. Let’s get started.
First: Determine your objectives. The stage you are at in development of your brand and the campaigns should assist with this. Some questions to ask: Are you trying to get more video views? Do you need national brand awareness? Are you simply focused on clicks-to-site and driving eCommerce sales?
Second: Once your goals are established, consider your audience. This is not just age and gender but the key psychographics that defines who they are and their digital footprint. In order to truly know what content and creative you need, the audience needs to have clearly defined traits and characteristics in which you can use to determine the appropriate social platform, creative and caption.
Third: Let’s choose creative. We HIGHLY suggest video in this field. Video (even short form) tells a better story and captures the viewer’s attention more than static. Once the creative has been selected, it must be partnered with copy. Write some copy that entertaining and informative (hint: end it with a call to action for some added engagement).
Fourth: Results. Thanks to social, you will have results rather instantly. You can adjust copy, creative, audiences on the fly and deliver the results you need. Be sure to test your ads to optimize performance. We recommend testing several ads with slightly different copy, creative and audiences. Once you discover your winning formula, you are free to run with it. Be sure to keep your eye on your post, social changes every minute. Seriously, it’s annoying.
Finally: Last step (we’re almost done, promise), measure your results and report on them. Use this data to determine your strategy for your next campaign and repeat all above steps again (and again and again and again).
And that’s it! Just kidding There’s A LOT more that won’t fit in a single blog post.
Kirsten and Chris will be more than happy to go into more detail over coffee. Send us a DM.
