Social Media Advertising Platforms
If you are an e-commerce business, social media advertising should be your best friend. While SEO and Google Ads are great, Social Media can help to offset their high cost per click, while still seeing you achieve direct conversion results.
However, before you dive in head first, there are a few things you need to know about each of the social media channels. We have put together a summary to help you get your head around this rather technical part of social media management.
Not surprisingly, our numero uno social media channel to best promote your business on is… Facebook as it is THE universal social media network.
With more than 2.7 billion monthly users, Facebook hosts over a quarter of the world’s population, providing advertisers with an unparalleled opportunity to reach virtually anyone and everyone. And when it comes to e-commerce, Facebook excels at driving direct conversions. We have seen results as low as $1 per conversion for our clients.
Facebook also offers more advanced targeting than any other advertising platform on earth. Advertisers can target by location (down to a 1km radius), interests, behaviours such as online shopper past activity, and many other incredibly valuable criteria. This allows you to take your knowledge of your customer, and target them with your content like you can on no other platform.
Want to know what ads you should be using? Read Here.
FACEBOOK ADVERTISING DO’S & DON’TS:
Do
Use consideration ads to build brand awareness and teach people about your product, and then use retargeting ads to seal the deal with users who have already shown interest in what you have to offer. Retargeting ads are ideal for making those all-important sales!
Change up your creative regularly! Ad fatigue is an ever-present challenge on Facebook, and it’s best to rotate in and test new ads every 4 weeks.
Use compelling CTAs (Call To Actions). Some of the ones that work best include mentions of Afterpay (or other Buy Now Pay Later services), Fast-track delivery timeframes, and Last Chance.
Don’t
Don’t run the same exact ad(s) to all of your audiences. Facebook will penalise you for ‘hammering’ one audience with your content.
Be afraid to ‘kill’ an ad if it isn’t working. If you have tested the ad, and it is still proving to provide a high CPC and low ROI… it is time to bite the bullet, cut it and try something new!
While Facebook’s mind-boggling user numbers make it the undisputed king of social media, the company’s hottest acquisition is beginning to look like the king of social advertising, especially for e-commerce.
Instagram now boasts more than 1 billion active monthly users, and is, of course, very image and video heavy. This means it is ideal for sellers of products that are visually appealing!
As Instagram is owned by Facebook, you are able to set up campaigns through Facebook Ads Manager, as well as ‘boost’ direct from the platform itself.
INSTAGRAM ADVERTISING DO’S & DON’TS:
Do
One of the placement areas that we have achieved some pretty exceptional results on is Instagram Stories. Some 500 million people use Instagram Stories every single day. We have found that it has one of the lowest cost per click AND cost per conversion for our clients. People seem to love the simple ‘swipe up to shop’ functionality. While it can contribute to some higher bounce rates, ultimately, the click-throughs are doing a world of good, as you can then retarget these curious shoppers with other ad types. DON’T
Don’t
Use text-heavy images. As with Facebook, you need to keep text in our images to under 20% or the algorithm will not show your ad to as many people.
Use low-quality images or videos. As Instagram is driven by visual content, ensure you are showcasing your brand to the best of your ability with high quality, on-brand visuals that tell your unique story! People want to follow you because you go further than ‘buy this’.
Excuse me what?! Yes, Pinterest is kind of the unsung hero of social media advertising. It’s visual like Instagram, but unlike Instagram, it is highly targeted toward women with an 81% female user base. And with 300 million monthly users, it’s also an incredible platform for social media marketers because:
Engagement is high.
Images are often built around custom product creation.
Users intentionally use the platform to find and purchase creative products.
One of the reasons that it works so well is that the ads don’t present like ads in people’s feeds. Promoted pins blend into Pinterest boards and don’t put off would-be purchasers like some other platforms.
PINTEREST ADVERTISING DO’S & DON’TS
Do
Be Creative. Users are looking through hundreds of pins in rapid succession. If you want to get noticed, you need to stand out, either through pure creativity or creative attention-grabbing visuals and graphics.
Try Video. It’s an excellent way to grab people’s attention and demonstrate the benefits of your product.
Your research. What are your competitors posting? What searches are trending? What products are hot? Use this information to chose your promoted products.
Don’t
Forget tags. Pinterest is essentially a search engine, more than a social media platform. Ensure you include long, detailed descriptions with keywords and hashtags to help your content get discovered.
We are here to help!
Social Media Advertising can be a pretty overwhelming world if you’re unfamiliar with the platforms and how they work. It’s pretty technical!
If you don’t know where to start, drop us a line! We are passionate about helping small businesses to realise their fullest potential. Get in touch through the form below!