Thinking of using social media advertising to grow your business? Whether you’re looking to generate more leads or increase your revenue, it allows you to get results quickly.

You don’t need to wait for backlinks or SEO to boost your site on search engines. You’re not at the mercy of social platforms’ algorithm that determines how many people get to see your content. And you can even start without any social following.

By investing in social media advertising, you’re tapping into over 2.38 billion monthly active users on Facebook. And over 500 million daily Instagram users.

In this article, you’ll discover how to start with social media advertising to tap into this large pool of consumers.

Begin With a Reasonable Budget

Choosing a budget can be a daunting task. It can be difficult to spend without knowing if it will work or not. On the other hand, if the budget is too small, you won’t see any significant results.

The good news is social media platforms work with any size of budget. Regardless if it’s thousands of dollars a day or just 5 dollars a day, they will use up the budget to give you visibility.

When starting out, it’s advisable to use a smaller test budget. After the campaign is working and optimized, you can increase the budget to show the ad to more people.

There are 2 main ways that platforms charge for each campaign – daily budget and lifetime budget.

There are nuances between the two options, which vary from platform to platform. Make sure you have a clear understanding and plan your budget according to your marketing objectives.

Choose The Right Social Media Advertising Platform

Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, SnapChat, LinkedIn, allow businesses to put up ads. That’s how social media sites make money for their shareholders.

For starters, Facebook is an excellent place to start. It’s known as the king of social media advertising. As mentioned earlier, there are 2.38 billion active monthly users. Your ideal prospects are likely to be on Facebook.

When you’re ready to take on a second platform, Instagram is a natural progression. They use the same advertising platform as Facebook. You can reach more people without going through another learning curve.

However, there are differences between the platforms that you need to be aware of.

For example, Instagram appeals to a younger crowd. It’s more visual-based with lots of images and videos. On the other hand, if you’re looking for B2B prospects, you may consider LinkedIn, which has a more professional appeal.

Laser Target Your Ideal Buyers

Regardless of the platform of choice, you have plenty of ways to target your ideal buyers. You can narrow down to show your ads only to those prospects who are likely to be interested.

Make sure that your targeting matches closely to your buyer persona. This helps you spend your advertising budget wisely and maximize your results.

The exact mechanism of the targeting differs from platform to platform. It’s essential to understand what’s at your disposal so you can achieve the best results.

For example, Facebook allows you to target based on interests, demographics and behaviors.

Show Relevant Ad to Your Target Audience

Your ad needs to appeal to your buyers. It’s a good idea to revisit your buyer persona and understand their interests and needs. Craft the advertisement in a way that will appeal to their self-interest.

Social media platforms want to provide their users with a good experience. That’s why every ad is given a relevance score. The more people respond positively to your ad, the higher the score. And the platform rewards you with cheaper ad costs.

Grab The Buyer’s Attention With Eye-Catching Ad

On social media, you’re not only competing with other competitors in the same space. You’re competing with all businesses across all industries who are targeting the same audience.

For example, on Facebook, you’re competing with clothing apparel ads, cute and dog videos, and real estate photos. To stand out, the images need to be beautifully designed and eye-catching.

The goal is to have them stop scrolling. Then, they will read what you’ve posted or watch the video.

Write Compelling Copy That Converts

Once you’ve gotten their attention, your ad copy needs to convert them. Keep in mind that the attention span of humans is only 7 seconds.

The first few lines need to give them a reason why they should keep reading. Make it easy for your readers by being direct and using short sentences. And finally, conclude with a clear call to action. Tell them exactly what you want them to do.

It can be to submit lead information. Or it can be to book a call. Or you may be asking them to read an article on your website.

Measure Your Ad Success

There are many metrics made available to advertisers. But don’t be overwhelmed. Focus on the key metrics that matter to your business and that particular campaign you’re running.

Here are some common ones:

• Click Through Rate (CTR). It provides feedback on how relevant the ad is to your target audience and the quality of the traffic.
• Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) or sometimes referred to as cost per conversion. It lets you know how much you’ve spent to get that lead, download or purchase.
• Return on Ad Spend (ROAS). It’s a good indication of the profitability of the ad campaign.

Summary

To recap, here’s what you need to get started with social media advertising:

• Setting a Reasonable Budget
• Choose The Right Social Media Advertising Platform
• Laser Target Your Ideal Buyers
• Show Relevant Ad to Your Target Audience
• Grab The Buyer’s Attention With Eye-Catching Ad
• Write Compelling Copy That Converts
• Measure Your Ad Success

You may find there’s a lot that goes into launching a successful campaign. Rather than going through trial and error to learn on your own, you may want to consider hiring a professional agency. It saves you time and gets you results faster.