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Social MediaAdvertising and Practice

1)


As Facebook for Business suggests, before you start, you need to choose the right objective;


“Before you create an ad, first consider what your business goals are. It's important to know what you want to achieve in order to choose the right objective. Your advertising objective is what you want people to do when they see your ads”


This explanation underpins the whole objective of Social Media Advertising. Having a clear message, knowing what your goals are and what you’d like people to do when they see it. So, for example, if you’re selling coffee from a coffee van, you might want to create an ad to let people nearby know where you are and reach as many people as possible who might be interested in getting coffee.

There are three broader categories to explore regarding this according to Facebook for Business, these are;


Awareness: Essentially making people aware of what you are trying to promote. Creating a campaign is an ideal way of making people aware of your brand, what makes you unique and that will help you stand apart from the competition.


Consideration: This is where you leave an impression on someone and they think about your business and then seek information afterward. It can be an ideal way to drive traffic to your website when people want to know more about you and your service, it helps to have a story that can create interest.


Conversions: This is where you have the end result in mind. Where the whole cycle is completed from someone seeing your initial ad to purchasing something that creates revenue for your site.


It is interesting to note that Hootsuite;


“Like it or not, organic reach is harder and harder to achieve. The days of going viral without a little boost might be gone forever.”


This means now more than ever being more proactive in this field is becoming important, it includes giving your ads a little boost.

When you’ve decided to go down the Social Media Advertising route and invest money in it. It’ll help if you understand your audience and what they’re interested in.


In Khoros.com they have an article ‘10 social media best practices for 2021’, they state that today 49% of the world's population are using some form of social media.

TheBestMedia.com reiterates this by stating “A survey from SurveyMonkey found that 48 percent of social media users made a purchase after seeing an ad.”

The statistics and data do back up the reasoning that if you’re serious about moving your business forward, social media advertising can not be ignored.

Recently a case study by Brian Carter from connectio.io showed that investing only $1 a day on ads for Facebook during a period of 30 days resulted in a reach of 120 000 people, which's an impressive 4000 a day.

Moreover, TheBestMedia.com states on the same study another interesting statistic: “The study also includes an infographic that shows how much it costs to reach 1,000 people using various forms of advertising.”. It makes an interesting comparison when it comes to the value for money spent on ads, Facebook is a clear winner; “While a newspaper would charge you $32 and a radio station would charge $8, the cost on LinkedIn would be just 75 cents, and on Facebook, you could reach the same number of people for only 25 cents.”

This is remarkable and shows that the ever-changing landscape of marketing is moving online as technology and society change.



2)


1. What key objectives can be satisfied with Facebook Advertising?


Brand Awareness.

This as mentioned earlier, is an important first step, being aware of what your brand is and trying to achieve, knowing what your end goal is and what impression you want to leave. It helps to generate interest in your product or service. Letting people know what makes your business valuable and sets you apart from the rest.


Local Awareness.

It helps to have a story to tell, as Facebook for Business suggests “The key is to tell the story to the right people at the right time, and Facebook local awareness ads are helping businesses do just that.”

For local awareness its advantageous to encourage people to shop local and to shop in-store. The end result is to have better conversion rates and drive up sales.

Local awareness ads can increase impressions dramatically, Facebook for Business demonstrates this here ‘In just 30 days, The EI School generated almost two million local impressions at a cost of just $0.002 per impression.

“We see a 100 percent increase in local leads when we run local awareness ads,” says Chris Gauthier, consultant at EI. “We’re spending $40,000 less per month and getting a 50% increase in sales.”’ Localised ads work well because it relates more closely to the specific target audience and speaks more directly because it’s more relatable because it’s localised allowing you to demographically and geographically target which helps your business invest in the correct target audience. This creates meaningful impressions which in turn is value for money.




Reach.

This is where you try and reach as many people as possible.


Traffic.

This can be sending people from Facebook to your chosen destination website.


Engagement

When you’re reaching out to people you’re most likely to engage with, this can be through likes, comments, and shares



2. What are the main Facebook advertising formats available?


There are a few ways to help your audience find out about your business. The various formats that are available can help mold your campaign and get your message across. These are;


Image ads

High-quality ads help to engage and tell a story which can be particularly effective when coupled with an inspiring and captivating copy. It’s a good way to create an instant impression. It helps to create high interest in a topic or campaign with hashtags and levels of engagements that include likes, shares, and comments. If followers' interest remains how it will eventually equate to higher conversions.


Video ads

The website ppchero.com has a convincing argument when they say people who watch Facebook videos are high and present an ideal opportunity to reach a big audience; “The numbers of people who watch videos on Facebook is really high. We are speaking about more than 140 million people a day”. They go on to point out that videos increase engagement and it can help measure shares, comments, and likes. The advantage here is that it benefits both physical stores and online businesses that purely exist online. There are also good opportunities for retargeting your audience, it enhances your brand recognition cycle and keeps your brand fresh in the minds of potential buyers.


3. How can you target audiences when creating a Facebook advertisement?

Facebook for Business explains that it will automatically show ads to people it deems relevant to the right audience. You can if you wish to go into further depth by selecting additional categories, which are;


Core audience:

Here you can be more specific with your audience, this can be age, interests, geography, behaviors, and connections.

Under these categories it can be even more defined such as demographic for example - you can specify details such as education, job title, and so on. You can even keep track of the types of people your advertisements are landing upon.


Custom audiences:

This will help you get back into touch with those potential customers or clients who have previously been engaged with your business in the part, online or off.


Interests:

Things like hobbies and more specific interests such as sport or art hobby, it helps to keep the ad relevant.


Connections:

Allows you to choose people who are already related to your Facebook page or an event.


Location:

Can be important if setting p a localised event,


4. Explain the key elements that make up a great Facebook advertisement.



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(Fig. 1) datasine.com - demonstrating an interesting infographic highlighting the importance of creativity in ads


As Fig. 1 suggests, the ads that hit the mark most are those that have been through the creative process, in terms of research, brainstorming ideas, working on a workable pitch, for example, a one-sentence line that underpins the contempt of the campaign, and also having all ideas explored and developed with various outcomes and best ad decided upon.

There has been a development over recent years that has led to a decline in the creative. This is what's known as the ‘Data Boom’, as Datasine describes;

“The ‘data boom’ that has swept through the industry over the last decade is, in large, responsible for the declining focus on the ad creative. With data top-of-mind for marketers, the spotlight has shone on results, instead.”

This means the relationship between data and creativity is the key to a successful campaign. Now there is so much information available to use regarding a target audience it is a perfect foil to create a concept around them. This also includes good copy material, layout, and typography skills that match the concept and target audience.





References:


Newberry, C (2020) “Social Media Advertising 101: How to Get the Most Out of Your Ad Budget” in Hootsuite [Online] Available at:

[Accessed 13 June 2021]


Khoros [2020] “10 social media best practices for 2021” [Online] Available at:

[Accessed 13 June 2021]


Pacinelli, R. [2020] “5 Reasons Why You Should Be Advertising on Social Media” in The Best Media [Online] Available at:

[Accessed 13 June 2021]


Hero Conf [2021] “Guide to Facebook Advertising: Beginner Edition” [Online] Available at:

[Accessed 13 June 2021]


Datasine [2019] “What’s the most important part of Facebook Ads? The creative.” [Online] Available at:

[Accessed 13 June 2021]






 
 
 

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