Why social media ads might be something to add to your mix
Marketing budgets have been slashed over the last few years and for many of us, the days of spending money on advertising went with those budgets. So how can we reach potential customers without breaking the bank? I’ve found that social advertising is a good option, at least worth a test as part of your overall marketing strategy to determine if it provides the leads you need.
Emerging platforms like Instagram and TikTok offer new opportunities for advertisers. With their large, young user bases, these platforms are ideal for reaching younger demographics. Instagram provides visual storytelling through images and videos.
TikTok’s short-form videos allow for creative expression in campaigns. Both platforms have developed advertising tools that enable precise audience targeting.
With social advertising, like Google AdWords, you set a bid amount and a budget and the network uses an algorithm to determine when your ads are shown. You also have the freedom to select the type of people you want to reach and customize your message to reach them. Both LinkedIn and Facebook provide a range of options for building product marketers looking to reach prospects.
LinkedIn Ads
LinkedIn ads give you access to 175 million people worldwide, including 40 million U.S.-based professionals. You can target a specific audience and with a controlled spend to ensure the investment is worth the return.
Target Audience Parameters
- Location
- Company>Industry: Including construction jobs, architecture and planning, building materials and more
- Job Title: Including Operations and Purchasing
- School
- Skills
- Groups: Including NAHB, NARI, AIA, Builder and others
- Gender
- Age
Another great thing about LinkedIn ads is that you can create up to 15 variable ads per campaign to test the response.
Optimizing ad performance is key for achieving great results. Employing A/B testing helps determine which ad variations work best. Analyzing engagement metrics ensures you refine your targeting criteria.
Adjusting messaging based on data insights can greatly enhance audience connection and increase response rates.
Facebook Ads
Although Facebook has over 900 million users, Facebook ads are great for targeting smaller, more specific groups of users with select campaigns. Much like LinkedIn, you can target a specific audience utilizing criteria that works for you.
Audience Options
- Location
- Age
- Gender
- Precise Interests: Including building, remodeling, design
- Broad categories/interests
- Connection and friends of connections (determines who all can see the ad – great for targeting like-minded people)
Facebook gives you the option to pay per click or pay per impression which gives you flexibility to choose what works best for your campaign.
Social media ads are often more cost-effective than traditional advertising. With adjustable budgets, you can control spending while maximizing results.
Platforms provide real-time data and analytics to track ad performance. This allows marketers to amend strategies quickly for better ROI and more effective campaigns.
Ads such as these have been a hotly-debated subject in the marketing world, especially after GM’s very public decision to pull their $10 million Facebook ad budget due to a lack of results. On the other hand, video game giant EA announced a major shift in dollars towards Facebook on August 20. While you may be skeptical, remember that social network ads are targeted, precise, allow for specific lead tracking and can be set so you pay only when the ads actually work (someone clicks). You’re taking very little risk in trying out a variety of tactics on these networks to test engagement from your targets.
Saying your building product target customers don’t engage in these networks is too easy; people everywhere are engaging, so take a small risk and consider testing these tactics as part of your long-term prospecting strategy. Combine them with the plans you should already have in place for utilizing your company’s Facebook page and other digital initiatives to achieve the maximum ROI from these networks. For more information visit www.facebook.com/ads or www.linkedin.com/ads.
