How to Create Social Media Ads That Work
You know those annoying ads that randomly pop up on your timelines? Off the top of my head, I’d say I’ve only come across a handful that I’ve stopped scrolling for. When it comes to advertising, it’s important to be a part of that tiny handful that does it right. We’ve put together a quick rundown of how to create a social media ad that actually works. You ready?
Narrow Down Your Audience
Treating your followers like they’re a uniform blob is a no no. Your audience is filled with people who have different values, interests, incomes and so on. The key here is to look at what it is you’re advertising and who you would like the ad to connect with. What is your goal with your ad? Are you trying to drive awareness to your brand? Engagement? Sales? All three?
Once you’ve gotten your goal down, you can begin to narrow down your audience. Facebook and Instagram ads give you the option to specify the gender and ages of your target audience. You can also target consumers by location, from states to cities to neighborhoods. A detailed targeting option gives you the chance to choose between demographics, interests and behaviors as well. The ad will appear on users’ pages who sign onto Facebook and Instagram every day. These users will fall in line with the target audience you chose.
Grab The Audience’s Attention
Once you’ve figured out your target audience, the next step is to tackle content creation. Using striking images (photos and videos) are a quick way to get noticed. According to wyzowl, branded video content views have gone up by 258% on Facebook and 99% on Youtube between 2016 and 2017. A video tweet on Twitter does 6 times better than a tweet using a photo. Essentially, a video ad will be most beneficial. If you prefer to use photos, make them stand out from the crowd (like the one here.
If you’re creating a video ad be sure to make it concise, sweet and thoroughly engaging. You want to be able to visually attract your audience, and keep their attention long enough to let the purpose of your ad sink in. With captivating visual content in place, the next step is to form your caption or add writing to the video footage.
Drive Action
Focus on value here. If your goal is to sell a product or special, it’s time to dissect your plan of action and captions. The golden rule: DO NOT MAKE YOUR MESSAGE TOO SALESLY! Boring captions and videos that are solely pushing sales down audience’s throats are less likely to be shared and engaged with. Videos where you quickly begin with the product/special you’re promoting, veer off into entertainment and circle back around to promotion tend to do well. You can also get creative here and formulate a storyline. Comedy and witticism is always a plus. Throw some personality in your videos and verbiage. Make the experience feel less like a transaction and more like a personal connection. Have fun with it!
A quick tip to see if your video is engaging enough: watch it with the sound off. If it grabs your attention without the sound on and keeps you engaged, half of the battle is won. If you turn the sound on and it STILL keeps you engaged, then you’ve done it! The hard part’s over. The last thing to do is choose the right days/times of the week to run your ad! Seems easy right? If you’ve turned your Instagram into a business account then you have access to stats, which will make your life easier! You can find your accounts’ most engaging days and times right in your analytics. This is a great start when planning when to release the ad. Keep the contents of your ad and your target audience in mind here. Research when your target audience and the products/special you’re advertising perform well on social networks and incorporate that in your strategy. Do some A and B testing with your highest engaging days/times to see which day is best. With all of these steps and strategies in place, you should be well on your way to a successful social media ad.
