When you think about the fact that social media has been prominent for only just over a decade, it comes as no surprise why companies have been cautious in utilising platforms such as Facebook, YouTube and Instagram in their marketing strategies.
However, social media is evolving just as quickly as many of the other digital advertising tools out there – and with good reason too. By utilising the marketing features on social platforms, companies are reaching more people than ever before, and are getting a genuine return on investment (ROI) with high-quantity and high-quality leads.
The best part about it is that it’s a cost-effective method. For example, the average cost per click (CPC) across all industries on Facebook is around $1.70. When compared to a similar CPC for Google AdWords, which can go upwards of $10 for particular industries, social advertising has become just as appealing.
In addition, it is a great platform to promote a range of things; be it a product/service, an upcoming sale/event, push people to your website/app, get people to visit your brick-and-mortar stores or build up a loyal online community.
Whether a big or small, local or national organisation, social media can have a hugely positive effect on your marketing efforts, especially by utilising these five advertising tools (listed in no particular order):
#1 – Remarketing
As a method, remarketing is certainly not new. But the ability to remarket to people on Facebook has come leaps and bounds in its short existence. Similar to the way Google does remarketing, you can place a pixel on your website that’s linked to your Facebook account, and then you can target Facebook users who have been actively looking at your products and services.
What this means is that when they see your ads on Facebook, they are a warm lead having already shown interest in your business. By prompting them about a particular product, you’ll be surprised by how effective this method is at turning these leads into paying customers.
#2 – E-Commerce
These days, it has become that much easier for you to promote your product directly on social media platforms. Instagram and Facebook are leading the way with e-commerce strategies.
On Instagram, they have recently introduced Shoppable, which allows you to tag your posts with particular products that are featured in the photo. Once someone clicks on the product within your post, it links straight through to the particular webpage where they can buy it. With over 800 million monthly users and over 70% of businesses in the USA advertising on Instagram, you can why there is a huge opportunity to achieve a vast amount of leads.
On Facebook, there are a number of ways to drive people to particular products or web pages. Recently-added Canvas Ads allow you to create a full-page experience with videos, photos and tagged products where you can show off your business.
Two of the other most commonly used tools on Facebook are the Catalogue and Carousel features, which are very similar in regards to the layout and content positions available. With these tools, you can show off multiple products or highlight a range of features for one product with the use of several images users can scroll through. By testing a range of dynamic ads, which means various versions of the one ad type, you can nail down which ones get the best results and focus your attention on them.
#3 – Ad funnels
Like any marketing strategy, identifying your target audience and then seeing where they fit into your social media advertising tunnel will allow you to develop a successful strategy.
The idea behind this is you create a step-by-step plan in the aim to eventually convert your lead. You might start by targeting 1000 people on Facebook with a video or a catalogue; then you narrow your audience down to those who watched at least 25% of your video or viewed through your catalogue ad. Now that they are “stickier”, you can promote a particular product or service that you think they will be interested in and potentially purchase.
By having a couple of these multi-step ad funnels and executing them based on tangible data, you’re giving your business the best opportunity to get better ROI.
#4 – Facebook Live
Real-time and up-to-date information is crucial in today’s age. We often see news sites conduct live reports via Facebook to ensure the immediacy of the story is conveyed. Businesses can achieve the same thing with events, special promotions, product launches and other times that live video would appeal to consumers.
Typically, Facebook Live videos are one of the best performing pieces of content for brands compared to general posts and articles. This is mainly because there is generally something different and unique to present in Facebook Live streams.
Therefore, if you have any information that you want to get across to your audience, Facebook Live is a highly-effective way to achieve great engagement and get your customer to execute on your desired outcomes, whether it be to get in contact, buy a product or attend an event.
#5 – Google 360 degree virtual tours
While generally only used for Google My Business (GMB) pages, these virtual 360-degree tours are also a great advertising tool for Facebook, or even to put directly on your company website. What they do is provide customers with an opportunity to get a glimpse into your business when they search for you in Maps, or look for your company page on Facebook. Some of the more popular locations to show include showrooms, flagship or new stores, factory facilities and the front of your building/store so people know what to look for.
The idea is that you build engagement with your brand and create a sense of trust because people can actually see that you exist. In fact, people that see a virtual tour on a GMB page are 30% more likely to not only visit that business, but to also consider purchasing from them as well.
Of course, these are just a few of a wide variety of social media advertising tools, but we suggest if you want to get started and see genuine ROI quickly, then these tools would give you the best opportunity to achieve that.
Whether you’re looking to utilise these advertising tools or would like help with your organic social media strategy, Melbourne Media Consulting can handle all your social media needs. If you’d to speak to one of our Digital Strategists to get more information about how we can help you, get in contact with us today!
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