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The Dos and Don’ts of Social Media Advertisements

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Just over ten years ago, social media marketing quickly took over PR and branding strategies for companies. It immediately became clear that businesses had to learn how to create effective social media branding strategies or get left behind. Facebook and Instagram remain popular go-to investments for digital marketers.

Companies pour roughly 25% of all digital ad spending into creating social media advertisements for Facebook. Because of its large number of users, advertisers still see Facebook as a strong platform.

Instagram is the most popular destination for younger consumers and influencers. In 2022, Instagram receives as much as 83% of engagement, far outweighing Facebook.

Crafting the best strategy means using these platforms well. Keep reading for a comprehensive list of dos and don’ts for social media marketing.

Social Media Ads: Do’s

First, let’s dive into strategies that will help you create the best digital advertising campaigns. Social media might give off the impression of effortlessness, but it takes a lot of planning to get your stories out to the right audiences. The following sections include tips for what you should be doing when developing your social media campaign.

Think Carefully Before Posting

Especially when you manage the social media page for businesses or public figures, you want to make sure that the tone and messaging stay intentional. You don’t want to make a careless post that will mean having to do more work repairing damages done to reputations down the line.

And you certainly don’t want to have to make an apology post later. So think about it. Take your time in planning your brand’s story. Thinking about your strategy takes a couple of steps which will be highlighted in other “do’s” for this list.

Find Your Target Audience

Another common sense point, but it’s one worth noting. You want to prioritize your main audience when you think about what content to post on social media. First, think about the demographics of your target consumers that will be the best audience for your page.

This means considering how people identify in certain groups, which might include the following:

  • Age group (teens, 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, etc.)
  • Generation (Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, Gen-Z)
  • Nationality/Language
  • Special interest groups (fandoms, hobbies, etc.)
  • Gender/Sexuality
  • Race/Ethnicity/Diversity

Imagine your social media posts as part of a conversation. Who are you speaking to when you post? Who does your brand’s story resonate with most? That is the audience you want to create content for with social media ads.

Engage with Current and Prospective Followers

The hashtag remains a popular choice for encouraging engagement with your brand from consumers. While we may have left the era of the clever hashtag back in 2016, using targeted hashtags for your brand connects users all to one place, and you get to see how audiences talk about your brand.

Other ways to connect with your audiences involve posts that require direct responses from people. This includes polls that you post regularly. Sometimes they can be about your products but they can also be silly icebreaker questions.

Contests and giveaways also encourage interaction with followers. It can be a caption contest or a photo contest where they post using a specific hashtag. Another option is a drawing where people have to subscribe or tag their friends to be entered.

Be A Part of Trending Conversations

Having an online presence requires social listening, which is another type of engagement. Social media strategists should always stay active on different social media platforms to stay tuned into hot topics and their audience’s general interests.

Pay attention to what topics trend within your industry or niche. Sometimes, even commenting on world events will boost your social media presence, as long as you can do so genuinely.

This continues the theme of treating your social media strategy like a conversation with consumers. Use posts to talk about issues and topics that your audience cares about and that they post about.

Use Different Types of Posts and Add Visuals

Algorithms favour content that incorporates both images and strong captions. You also want to think carefully about the visuals you add to your posts. They should be representative of your brand identity.

Using visuals offers so many great ways to make exciting content. On the internet, audiences often engage with a common visual language, especially using memes. Adding visuals to your posts can create content universal to many different audiences of varying literacy or who speak different languages.

Visuals mean both photography and film content. Film content, especially, has become increasingly popular with audiences and gets the most engagement. These visuals can be used for regular, scheduled posts, as well as for Instagram stories, a very popular tool for influencers and younger audiences.

Don’t Do This for Social Media Advertisements

There are many things that your social media marketing strategy will get right when it comes to creating content. But, things can also go very wrong if done poorly, posted without thought, or created by someone who doesn’t understand the internet.

The following list includes major faux pas to avoid when building your social media ads:

  • DON”T spam your readers’ feeds with too many posts
  • DON’T use the same content on all your platforms
  • DON’T use someone else’s content or tag them without their permission
  • DON’T put too much information into a single post but instead spread out your message across multiple posts
  • DON’T post without proofreading
  • DON’T ignore constructive feedback from your audience
  • DON’T take social media personally

Social media platforms make up just one small part of a brand’s entire strategy. Make sure that the quality and style of your content reflect the image you want your brand to project. Don’t let social media be the weakest link in marketing campaigns.

Build Social Media Content That Gets the Highest Conversion Rates

These strategies will help you create consistently high quality social media advertisements. Marketing strategists who don’t think about implementing social media miss out on significant potential profits.

The best way to be successful is to be seen. Contact us to get started on building your strategy today.

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