The popularity of social media has grown exponentially in the last decade. Today, you will find people from all across the world and from all age groups on social media. Such a wide audience makes social networks the perfect platform for businesses to market themselves.
Social media advertisement has boomed in the last few years. Insights from Sprout Social show that 83% of marketers make use of social advertising with a fair bit of success. This shows how much potential there is for marketers on social media.
However, social advertising can be quite tricky, especially if you have never done it before. To help you out, we break down 3 effective ad strategies for Facebook and Instagram that you can use to get started with social advertising.
1. Improve your brand image with different kinds of visual content
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Social media is predominantly centered around visual content. A statistic from BuzzSumo shows that Facebook posts with images get 2.3x more engagement than posts with no visual content. This shows the importance of changing things up and posting compelling visual content on social networks such as Facebook and Instagram.
The next question is: how do you produce such compelling content? For starters, you need to know the different types of content you can post to talk to your audience. Here are a few ideas:
a. Behind the Scenes Posts:
Give followers an overview of your production process or an insider view of how it all happens in your office/studio/factory. For example, if you are marketing a restaurant, introduce your audience to the chefs and show them where all the food magic happens. Here is an example of a behind-the-scene post from Tortus Copenhagen that teaches pottery spinning:
b. Instructional posts:
Give some expert advice to your followers regarding a popular topic in your industry. For example, if your brand sells makeup, you can post makeup tutorials showing how to best use your product. This can be a single image or a series of images, depending on how long and complex the instructions are. To illustrate with an example, here is how @foodminimalist posts recipes and cooking instructions on Instagram.
c. Promotional posts:
A great way to get audiences engaged is to put up posts about promotions or discounts that you are offering. In such cases, the visual element matters a lot. Nothing beats the good old “50% OFF SALE!” banner that presents a clear call-to-action to anyone that sees your ad on social media. Here is an example from BestBuy on how you can do a promotional post with a clear call-to-action:
Now that you know about what you need to post, let’s move on to how you can go about creating such visual content. You need all your pictures and videos to be well-designed with emphasis on the call-to-action. However, if you don’t have a professional graphic designer, this can be tricky to learn and do on your own.
Fortunately, there is a great free online graphic design tool out there called PosterMyWall that can help you out. PosterMyWall comes with a huge variety of social media post templates that you can choose from. All these templates are made by professional designers so the output you get is of the same high quality you would expect from an actual graphic designer. The best part is that all templates are fully customizable so you can change and enhance them in any way you like using the tool’s built-in editor.
2. Put some thought into your captions
The voice that your brand speaks is as important (if not more) than the looks and visuals your brand uses. It matters because when your brand starts becoming popular, people listen very closely to what you have to say. Therefore, you need to put some thought into the captions and copy that you put up on social media.
Here are a few tips for writing captions on Facebook and Instagram:
- Decide on the tone that you want to use and try to stick with it. For example, you can use a formal tone if you are targeting professionals or experts in the industry, or you can use an informal and friendly tone if you are targeting the general public. This is important because the tone you use is how people will perceive your brand.
- Make sure that the first two lines of your caption are engaging. A majority of the people will not read captions thoroughly so all the important information should be in the first two lines. If you are about to write a detailed post on a topic, don’t go into the details right away. Make sure that you grab the audience’s attention first so that they feel obligated to tap on the “See more”.
- Use hashtags wisely and adequately. Hashtags can help you increase visibility and reach but you don’t want to overdo it. Being too generic or using too many hashtags can attract the wrong audience to the wrong post. Therefore, put some thought into the hashtags you will use and make sure that they are specific to your niche.
3. Optimize your ads for mobile
A common mistake that most advertisers make is not optimizing their ads for mobile. Keep in mind that 78% of social media users only use mobile phones to access social networks. Therefore, it is important that you do not run ads that are not optimized for mobile audiences.
But how do you optimize your ads for mobile? Here are some simple tips:
- Make sure that you use the graphics and content that is suitable for both desktop and mobile. For instance, on mobile, the graphics are usually smaller and may be hard to read so the caption and main text become more relevant. On the other hand, on desktop, you will want to have graphics with text and a compelling headline for the ad to increase chances of conversion.
- Ensure that the landing page for your ad is mobile-friendly. If you are redirecting leads to your website through the ad, make sure that they can easily navigate through the landing page. If there is a call-to-action on the landing page, make sure that it is accessible through mobile (e.g. no long forms, single-click purchases, etc.).
- Facebook allows you to run separate ads on mobile and desktop. This is really helpful when you want both mobile and desktop ads to serve different purposes. For instance, if you are a B2B SaaS solution that is looking for leads, desktop ads will be better suited for you. You can make use of mobile ads for raising awareness and building an online presence. But for conversions and lead generation, you will need to use desktop ads if you require users to fill out a form on your landing page.
Right now is the Best Time to Start
The most important takeaway from this blog post is that social advertising is in the now and you need to get on board before it is too late. When done right, Facebook and Instagram advertising can be one of the most effective places to market your business. With the strategies we have presented, we hope that you can get started on the right track for taking your business to new heights.