Content marketing strategy

What to think about - paid social media

June 2022

We all want good value for money. Paid social is no different.

When it comes to paid social media campaigns, as the age-old saying goes: “failing to prepare is preparing to fail”. But, with the right planning in place, you can get maximum bang for your buck.

Here are our top tips on what to consider before running any paid social media campaign.

1. Start S.M.A.R.T.

That may seem obvious, but to be able to demonstrate ROI you need to be clear on what you are trying to achieve.

It will also help you decide which social media platform, ad formats, type of content and calls to action to use.

Try using a goal-setting framework such as S.M.A.R.T:

Specific: Rather than 'increased brand awareness', how about - '100 new followers on Twitter'

Measurable: Can your goal be quantified? 'Better engagement' could become '500 likes and 200 comments'

Attainable: Reaching for the stars is one thing, but would you be happy with the moon? Make your objectives stretch, but still doable

Relevant: How does your goal relate to the overall business objectives. Will 500 ‘likes’ support growth? Or would 500 whitepaper downloads be more effective?

Timely: Put a timeframe in place and schedule check-ins along the way. Social campaigns can be ‘trial and error’ in the beginning, requiring tweaks in ad copy or audience targeting to get the most from them. And you need an end date assess the campaign’s success

2. Attract the right crowd

Creating your hit list can be time consuming. But there are lots of tools to help you.

For instance, don't forget to go beyond job titles on LinkedIn and search by:

Industry
Job seniority
Company & size
Location

For instance, if your objective is to increase showroom appointment bookings, then geo-targeting is a good place to start.

This might be teamed with selecting only those with “specification manager” in their job title, in companies with between 20 and 50 employees.

Another great hack is to use your existing customer base to build audience profiles quickly.

3. Prepare to respond

Regardless of your objective, your goal will always be to increase interest in your business.

So, before ‘putting yourself out there’, are you prepared to respond to incoming enquiries?

Employees on hand to answer questions, armed with all the details they need (i.e. product information, price lists and opening times etc)
An up-to-date FAQs webpage
Website chatbots for high traffic volumes
A CRM (customer relationship management) system to capture leads

Make sure you’ve got the basics in place before you part with your money.

It’ll be worth it in the end and – the best bit – you’ll have a repeatable model for future paid media campaigns.

Want to know how to put all of this into practice? Get in touch!