Back in 2017, Starbucks hopped on a small unicorn trend and created one of the most successful social media ad campaigns ever. It launched an exclusive Unicorn Frappuccino for a limited period and no one wanted to miss it. Despite having divisive reviews, the beverage was sold out almost immediately. The campaign saw over 155k Instagram posts and became the mobile campaign of the year. Having such a successful ad campaign must sound like a dream for emerging brands. The following article explores how brands can turn that dream into reality.
8 Ways to Create Successful Social Media Ads
Listed below are some of the most effective ways to run successful social media ads.
Be Clear with Your Objectives
Establishing well-defined goals is the first step in creating successful social media ads. Having a clear set of targets sets a focused approach to creating ads. Whether it’s increasing brand awareness, improving sales, or driving traffic to the websites, the content of the ads will vary accordingly. In addition, it will also help you to check if your ads are fulfilling their purpose. Measuring the least and highest-performing ads and changing strategies becomes easier.
Market Research and Understand Target Audience
Everything you do has already been done before. The key here is to do it better. That’s where market research helps. A proper analysis of the ads put forward by competitor brands can show what works and what does not. One can also note the shortcomings in their advertising strategies and execute plans to fill the gap.
Above all, making successful social media ads is impossible without the correct audience. Every company must prepare a report on the customer profiles and their needs. The implemented ads should meet their preferences, address their concerns, and add value.
Select the Right Platforms
The number of active users, engagements, age groups, and content vary greatly among the social media platforms. So, one needs to focus on platforms where their target audience is most active. If you are a B2B brand and want to target professionals, LinkedIn would be the best-suited platform for your ads. Instagram would be a much better choice for someone running a visual brand.
However, just selecting the right platform isn’t enough. One should monitor the trending topics and the media types that get maximum engagement in the desired platform. Aligning your content with ongoing trends is an efficient way to create successful social media ads.
Measure Social Media Metrics
Analyzing KPIs(Key Performance Indicators) is necessary to understand how well the ads are faring. Measuring Cost-per-click (CPC) and Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) helps in determining the budget for an ad run. CPC is the amount paid by the advertiser to the ad platform for each click by a user. Meanwhile, ROAS lets you know the revenue you receive from every $1 spent on your ads. Good CPC and positive ROAS are the most important indicators of successful social media ads.
Audience engagements, conversion rates, and follower growth are other important metrics for analyzing ad efficiency. Calculating such metrics can help you repurpose your ads to boost them further.
Also Read: Role of Research in Content Writing
A/B Testing
The preferences of the audience you have in one platform might not align with the ones in another. Additionally, there’s no guarantee that the entire target demographic on one platform will click with your ads. This is where A/B testing comes into play.
A/B Testing, or split testing, is the method of comparing two sets of content to understand what works the best. It involves two small groups of audience and each group is shown a different form of the same ad. The set with a higher success rate leads the ad campaign.
Ad Retargeting
Not every lead converts into a customer. More than often, people visit your website but change their minds before making a purchase or subscribing to your service. Ad retargeting identifies such visitors and shows them ads related to their search. Social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter offer tools for retargeting.
Retargeting is a very cost-effective strategy for achieving successful social media ads. It’s an automated process and works on third-party cookies. Once a visitor leaves your website, ads are displayed to them. Moreover, it targets people who have already shown interest in your products. Thus, they have a bigger chance of conversion.
Focusing on User-Generated Content
User-generated content (UGC) refers to the content sourced from reviews and testimonials of customers. The constant barrage of advertising emails and messages becomes tiring for people. In such cases, they get disconnected from the ads and focus more on the reviews and experiences of other users. UGC ads build a sense of authenticity for the brands, foster trust among the users, and attract new customers.
Social media platforms are perfect for UGC ads as users interact with and influence each other. A smart hashtag campaign is a very cost-effective way of creating successful social media ads. UGC ads bring great engagement and brands can easily track how well their ads are doing.
Giving Exclusive Discounts and Promotional Deals
Who doesn’t love a great discount on products? Products having good deals sell like hotcakes. Ads with promotional deals or offers like BOGO capture users’ attention and they are much more likely to visit your online store. Limited-period offers also create a sense of urgency- urging buyers to try out a product immediately.
Conclusion
Running successful social media ads needs proper planning and implementation of various marketing strategies. User engagement in social media has seen tremendous growth in the last few years. As a result, the platforms are saturated with ads running from thousands of brands. One needs to be creative with their ads to stand out and have a dream run like Starbucks’ unicorn drink.
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