How to Promote on Facebook
We all know Facebook as basically the birthplace of social media marketing. Even though many other platforms have arisen since then, there is still an overwhelmingly large amount of people who use Facebook every day. As of right now, Facebook has more than 2 billion daily active users and potential customers for you. These users range from CEOs and students to stay-at-home moms, so no matter what target audience you have, chances are they are using Facebook. Because of the popularity of this platform, there is also lots of competition for the attention of these users by brands and their ads. Here are a few tips from top marketing agencies in Los Angeles on how to successfully promote on Facebook.
What does a good ad look like?
In order to learn how to promote on Facebook, you must start by making sure your ad content is ready to be promoted. If you promote with the right placements and formats, but your content isn’t captivating enough, then you won’t get anywhere.
“Brands that ignore social media…will die. It’s that simple.” -Jeff Ragovin
Visual
Your ad has to be very visual. In the Facebook algorithm, visual content is more popular and tends to be shared more. It also tends to be more memorable and sticks in the minds of customers. Most people scroll social their Facebook page when they have time to kill or want to take a break from something, so reading a long text on an ad is not something most people will do. No matter what you are promoting, marketing agencies in Los Angeles urge you to have ads that are visually appealing. Try to create something that engages the audience, to make them feel important, and that feeling will be associated with your brand long after they scroll past the ad.
Relevance
This point relates straight to your target audience. Your ads have to be relevant to your target audience. Even if your ads are very visually engaging but lack the content that your target audience wants to see, no one will click on your ad. In order to maintain relevance, you must have a thorough analysis of your target audience. Marketing agencies in Los Angeles recommend you create a few marketing personas that include age, gender, location, budget, hobbies, and other relevant information to help you promote effectively on Facebook. This is also going to come in handy when you decide to create your ad, and Facebook asks you who your ads are made for. You must create your audience, including their location, age, sex, spoken languages, interests, and their connection to other pages, and these will be the people whoa re going to see your ads. It is critical that you know your audience and who your products are targeted at, in order to promote successfully on Facebook. Keep in mind that each second your ad is on someone’s screen is a second you are paying for, so do your research to avoid wasting your money and effort. Facebook also has a feature that will rate your ads, and you will receive a relevance score. The more times your ad gets shared or clicked on, and the more relevant it is, the higher your score is. A higher score means more favorable treatment from Facebook, which means more customers and more revenue. This is also a handy tool for analysis, to understand if you’re on the right track or not.
Value Proposition
A value proposition is primarily the reason your ads must be clicked on by those who don’t know about your company. There should be something on your ad that will tell the customer why they should discover more about your product and how it is different from anything else. Try to ask yourself why your product stands out. Place yourself in the target audience members’ members’ mind space and try to understand what catches their attention enough to click on it. It is vital that your value proposition be believable. Saying your products is the best in the world will come off arrogant and repetitive, and you can’t expect anyone to believe it. But offering 30% off new customers’ first purchase is a great value proposition. Remember that customers are ordinary people like you, and they won’t fall for an ad that you didn’t put enough effort into.
“The most powerful element in advertising is the truth.” – Bill Bernbach.
Call-to-Action
Once a customer sees an ad they like, they want to be immediately led to the next step. Usually, most people don’t have the time or the attention span to remember the name of your brand, exit Facebook, open a new tab, and find your website by searching the name. Your ad should offer the opportunity to learn more about the product on the spot. Something like a “Buy now and save 15%” sign can also add a sense of urgency to your call to action. Marketing agencies in Los Angeles report that most clicks come straight from ads that lead to websites or Facebook pages of the brand.
Where should my Ad be?
Once you have your ad that matches all the points above, it is time to move on to the placement of the ad on the Facebook timeline.
Right Column
This is the type of ad you have probably already seen, as it is the most traditional and popular type of ad on Facebook. This is when the ad is placed horizontally on the right side of the news feed. Placing your ad will still get attention, but Los Angeles marketing agencies that research Facebook promotion have noticed that there are less expensive clicks and conversions on the right column. If you are planning to place your ad on these\, it has to be extra visually appealing to attract the user’s eye away from the feed itself and into the right section.
Desktop News Feed
The desktop ad shows up right in the customer’s timeline as they are scrolling on a computer, and it has a similar look to native advertising. Marketing agencies in Los Angeles specializing in social media marketing have reported that this type of ad usually has a much higher engagement rate when compared to the ads in the right column. But they are also more pricey. In order to avoid being scrolled past, your ads must be very compelling and captivating.
Mobile News Feed
This is a similar placement to the one mentioned above, but this shows up on the news feed of the user scrolling on their mobile phone. It shows up as a post from the users and pages they usually interact with, so it doesn’t stick out too much. According to top Los Angeles marketing agencies, this is the go-to ad placement for those with a younger target audience and is usually a very high engagement yielding placement.
What format should be used for ads?
Facebook offers a multitude of ad format types that you can choose from according to your target audience and brand personality.
Photo Ad: How to Promote on Facebook
A photo ad is an ad that includes an image, which is the main point of promotion for your product, event, or service. If you are hosting an event or a party, the dates and entry times on a photo of your venue will make a great center for your ad. Your ad can also consist of a photo of your product that will grab the user’s eye. Marketing agencies in Los Angeles recommend using an image resolution of at least 1080×1080 when using this ad format on Facebook.
Video Ad
The centerpiece of video ads is usually GIFS or videos. This type of ad should be used to demonstrate how to use your product or service. For event advertising, it can show clips of the venue or how to arrive there. Around 80% of all data consumption on Facebook is done through video, so using video will help you to create deeper connections with your viewers.
Stories Ad
Ads on Facebook Stories are one of the new features Facebook has put out, and it lets you post your ad as a temporary clip or image. Your story ad will be sized according to the mobile device dimension but will be displayed to desktop and mobile users. Users will see your ad in between viewing those of their friends. For this reason, Los Angeles marketing agencies suggest using ads that seem candid and less formal. Facebook stories can also be used as a looking glass into the personality and daily life of your brand, and shouldn’t be treated like traditional advertising.
Messenger Ad
This specific type of ad shows up as a message in the user’s Facebook Messenger inbox. These ads let you interact with your customers by showing them your new offers and answering their questions. You will have the opportunity to set up some auto-responses, which will apply to frequently asked questions and deals. Through this ad, you will also be able to listen to the responses of your audience, which will help you improve your marketing strategy. You can set the first question ““What product would you be interested in?”” and three vague responses, and then from whichever they pick, your ad will show them a more specific product.
Carousel Ad
Carousel ads are composed of a few images and videos that a member of your audience can rotate through, and all of this media will be describing a single product or service that the ad is for. Your Carousel Ad can be made of up to 10 images or videos and with a link to each of the websites. These ads contain a lot of media, so use this ad if you are planning on promoting multiple products or multiple features of one product. Los Angeles marketing agencies recommend using carousel ads to tell a story that will unfold in these images or videos, that will end up somehow explaining a process that has to do with your products.
Slideshow Ad
This ad format is very similar to the Carousel ad format, as it also divides your ad into individual images that your audience sees after one another. But, the slideshow format only previews images and not videos, but the images play after each other similar to a video. Slideshow ads use much less data on Facebook than similar Carousel ads, which is ideal for reaching those with slow internet connections. Facebook gives you the opportunity to choose from a whole bunch of pre-created music and images if that is what you desire. Los Angeles marketing agencies would recommend this type of ad to try to stimulate a video-like experience without breaking the bank and using it to make a complicated process simpler for your customers.
Collection Ad
With this ad, you will be able to bring your purchasing process right onto Facebook. This means your customers will be able to go from finding out about the product to immediately buying it at once. The collection ad will feature a main image or video that will promote a product, with a grouping of 4 smaller images under it that a user can click on. The instant storefront collection ad should be used to show a few products as part of one ad campaign. Another style called the Instant Lookbook is recommended to model the same product in a few contexts, such as outfits. If you want to tell more of a story as opposed to just product promotion, marketing agencies in Los Angeles would recommend using the Instant Storytelling collection ad type.
As a Conclusion | How to Promote on Facebook…
As you have seen, there are a few factors that go into effectively promoting on Facebook. For the ideal campaign, you must keep all of these in mind, and track your results. If you aren’t getting as much revenue as you predicted, maybe try a different placement or format and see how that works out. But, keep in mind that most times, promoting on Facebook only is not going to be enough, and you will need a wider social media marketing strategy, which will include other platforms your target audience uses. Facebook ads are the perfect place to start and will definitely get you going. So what are you waiting for, get started with your Facebook ad!
Social Media Marketing Budget
One in every two people in the entire world has at least one social media account, and this number is only growing. Social media marketing is vital for any company in today’s day and age. Many marketing agencies in Los Angeles would even tell you that it is nearly impossible to have a successful online marketing campaign without the social media aspect of it. Any company needs to allocate some part of their marketing budget for social media marketing.
But, it is important to conduct all the necessary research before deciding how much money should be spent on social media marketing. Create marketing personas and customize your target audience. Based on these personas, research their social media usage and social media habits, then decide how social media will help you in achieving your marketing goals. If most of your sales and revenue come from your website, or anything internet-related, then logically, you should spend more on social media marketing than other marketing channels such as print, broadcasting, or mail. There are specifics that apply, but the general rule of thumb is that 35%-45% of the total marketing budget should be allocated for digital marketing. Additionally, 15%-25% of the online marketing budget should be dedicated to social media marketing. Of course, this number is highly variable and may be different for each company.
Now, before you ask what really goes into that budget, here are the most important components of social media marketing, according to the top marketing agencies in Los Angeles.
1. Creation of content
Content is one of the key aspects of social media marketing. It should catch the eye of the customer without being too flashy and annoying. The line between being persuasive and being off-putting is very thin, so the content must be carefully planned and executed. Because of this, content should be a significant portion of your social media marketing budget. Many companies and marketing agencies allocate more than half of their whole social media marketing budget to content creation. Here are some of the moving parts which go into this section of the budget:
Graphics and photography
Your product or service might be very high-quality, but if your visuals aren’t up to par, your marketing will be unsuccessful. Graphics and photos are what naturally catch the eye of the customer first, so they must be very well done. Therefore, it is very important that you set aside appropriate funding for hiring professional photographers and illustrators, as you can’t do these things yourself. Many professionals will be able to make your idea come to life, adding to it their own tips from past experiences of what works and what doesn’t. If your budget is considerably small, you should consider using stock photos. They are high-quality but also affordable, so you won’t be breaking the bank.
Video
Depending on the type of content you hope to produce, videos may be a one-time cost. Once you have your high-quality clip or movie, then you can promote using that many times. Videos are more costly than photographs as you need to take into account, cameras and all other equipment, videographers, editors, and any costs of renting a space to shoot. If you desire to achieve a more high-production shoot, then you must also consider the costs of hiring a director, a producer, stylists, makeup and hair artists, and any other staff that you may require.Talent
Once again, depending on the type of production you are hoping to create, you might need people such as models, extras, and actors to take part that will need to be paid. If you are hoping to get a social media influencer or a celebrity to be a part of your campaign, you must take into account their costs too.
Production costs: Social Media Marketing Budget
There are a few factors that must be considered here, such as travel expenses, locations rentals, prop rentals, meal expenses, and so on. These are usually left out of the SMM budget, so don’t make the common mistake of forgetting them.
Copywriting and Translation
Keep in mind that you must pay copywrites either by the word or by the hour. Depending on the content, you may also require hiring a proofreader and a fact-checker. If your brand is global and aims to have customers who speak different languages, then you must also budget for a translator. Translators are also paid by the word or the hour.
2. Paid advertising
Spending a lot of money on producing high-quality content will be ineffective if you don’t have a way of getting it out there. Paid advertising should also form a significant section of your SMM budget. Each social media platform is unique and has its advantages and disadvantages. Each platform also has a specific user majority and age group. In order to understand which platform is the right one for your company, you must create marketing personas and do some research. Try to understand what age range you are trying to reach and research what platform they use the most. Remember, more is not always better. It is better to spend a significant amount of money on ads on a platform you know will reach your target audience and will boost sales, then on small amounts of ads on every platform available. All social media platforms have different offers for boosting posts and running campaigns, depending on your SMM budget. Here are some of the most popular platforms according to the experience of top marketing agencies in Los Angeles.
Facebook and Facebook Messenger ads
Facebook offers a whole range of options, such as slideshow ads and Instant Experience ads. The price for these ads changes according to visibility, how long you want to run the ads, and how often. Facebook is mostly used by people ages 18–44, with the biggest demographic group being men at ages 25–34. So, if you are aiming for a different demographic, then consider some other options. Facebook messenger is more global, as it is more of a communication app and is used by many more people. It is also more often used in a day than Facebook is, as people open the app every time they receive or want to send a message. Ads on the Messenger app are placed in the inbox feed and are easily noticed. You can also create a page that will automatically answer any questions a customer may have about what you offer. It is also an easy way for interested customers to get in contact with you immediately after they see the ad.
Instagram ads
Instagram a highly trendy social media platform right now and is used by more and more people every day. It is an image and video-based platform, so your content must be vibrant and dynamic in order to get the person to stop scrolling and check out your page. Instagram has around one billion monthly active users, so your ad will surely be seen by the people you want to reach.
Twitter ads
If your content and ads are more text-based, then Twitter may be the option for you. Twitter ads can be used to drive website clicks and increase engagement with the page’s Twitter page. It can also reach more people, once customers retweeted it and put it on their followers’ pages.
YouTube ads
Youtube is the biggest video streaming platform, which provides a variety of advertising options such as non-skippable ads that play before videos and putting your videos in the recommended section of users’ home pages.
LinkedIn ads
LinkedIn is where users come to build and engage their professional network and make important connections. There is a very specific crowd that uses LinkedIn, so if your target audience is older and more professional, then this is where your ads should be. If you want to reach younger people, then consider other options. LinkedIn also offers a wide variety of advertising options such as InMail, text ads, and others.
Snapchat and TikTok ads
These platforms have recently gained popularity and are almost exclusively used by teens and young adults. Snapchats offer ad options such as branded filters and story ads, which might be right for you, depending on your content. TikTok has many advertising options, such as full-screen ad placements, hashtags, challenges, and others.
3. Paid partnerships
This is a component that may or may not match your brand, depending on your SMM budget and strategy.
Influencer campaigns – Social Media Marketing Budget
Social media influencer marketing is a $6.5 billion industry, and a lot of work goes into it. Paid posts are high-quality and have a targeted message as a caption, and the money paid is worth it considering how big the audiences that can be reached by influencers are. Options include Instagram’s partner tag feature, YouTube influencer partnerships, and many other collaboration possibilities that your company should include in their social media marketing budget.
Co-branded campaigns
Co-branded campaigns may not always require more content funding than a typical campaign, but they still demand other efforts such as organization and planning time from the appropriate personnel, which must all be included in your social media marketing budget.
4. Tools and Software
Now that you have the human part down, here are some of the other tools you must include in your social media marketing budget.
Hosting
Of course, you know that you must have a website in order to have a successful online marketing campaign. Yet, almost everyone forgets to factor in the costs of hosting providers and domain names. Make sure to check if the domain name is included in the hosting price because sometimes it must be purchased separately.
Editing tools
You will surely receive touched-up and edited photos once you hire professional photographers, but sometimes you need a quick resize or background blur. In order to save money on hiring an editor, and to save time, you might need to purchase some editing software. It is a one-time purchase that is going to last and surely makes up for its price in usefulness.
SEO and keyword research
In order to find, research, and bid on relevant keywords, marketing agencies in Los Angeles suggest using resources such as Google AdWords. You can also use this to advertise ads in the “Sponsored Links” part that is next to the search results on Google. This will help you to boost sales and website traffic and is also affordable.
Analytics tools
A strategy must be planned but must also be monitored. Without tracking your social media campaigns, you will not understand whether you’re on the right track of boosting sales or if you’re just wasting money on pointless ads. It is vital that you track analytics in order to understand if you’re reaching your target audience or what type of audience you’re attracting, how high your bounce rate is, and how fast your website loads. When you start using a new social media marketing strategy, you must analyze the results every week in order to ensure optimal results and get rid of flaws quickly.
5. Training
Of course, there are many social media training resources out there that won’t cost you a thing, but it is a long term investment to get professional training for your team. It is something that is going to pay off in the end, and you will save money by not hiring extra staff as your current staff will be trained. Depending on how much your team already knows and your campaign needs, top marketing agencies in Los Angeles would recommend using LinkedIn Learning, Blueprint Live, or Hootsuite academy. These offer a variety of certificate courses, single courses, and workshops for all social media marketing needs.
6. Management
There are many tools to help with social media management, but it is a good investment to hire someone who will be at the office and will supervise social media marketing.
The tasks a social media manager or team must do include:
- Scheduling of posts, publishing, engagement
- Target audience research
- Strategy development and updates
- Tracking of analytics
- Creation of content
- Management of customer community
- Campaigns
- Promotions
Setting up a social media marketing budget may seem confusing, but as long as you include the key components, then you are on the right track. Keep this list of important factors from top marketing agencies in Los Angeles in mind, and start budgetin
Social Media Marketing – Step by Step Guide
Do you remember Barney’s 16-step elaborate plan for making a girl fall in love with him from the show “How I Met Your Mother”? Watching the show, this plan seemed ridiculous and unnecessarily long. Still, as I started interacting with marketing agencies in Los Angeles, I have come to realize that similar to Barney’s plan, social media marketing strategies require the same amount of effort and many steps. The crucial part of social media marketing is having a strategy. Posting something at a random time is never going to get you to where you want to go. Scrolling through a company’s Instagram, it may seem effortless and easy to do, but everything is very carefully set up and planned down to the tiniest details. Keep in mind that a strategy is where you’re headed and not how to get there. Here are some tips with you on how to start planning for social media marketing and what you should consider before starting.
1. Why do you want to use social media?
The first step to an effective social media marketing strategy is to establish your goals. It may seem simple and straightforward, but trust me when I say it is essential for all types of things such as social media marketing, website design and development in Los Angeles, where everyone is trying to achieve an online presence. Whenever setting a goal, you must make sure it is SMART.
- Specific
- Valuable
- Measurable
- Attainable
- Relevant
- Time-bound
Setting unrealistic goals is a common mistake in any area. It may seem motivating at first but can be very damaging. If your time frame is over and you haven’t reached your goal, you are likely to get demotivated and lose hope, leading to the ruin of everything you have achieved. It is better to appreciate even the smaller steps then go for something unattainable. Your goals must also have a deadline, or else they will seem ambiguous, and you won’t realize whether you’re moving forward or falling behind. This is a list of goals I find to be relevant to most people who are planning to use social media for marketing. Increase brand awareness
- Drive traffic to the website
- Create new leads
- Grow your revenue (by increasing sales or clicks)
- Boost brand engagement
- Build a community
- Provide social customer service
- Increase mentions in the press/media
- Be aware of the conversations about your brand/site
Your goals should concern a few areas. Of course, one of the reasons to do this is to increase revenue and sales of a product or a service you’re providing. But, social media marketing should also be somewhat customer based. It should be a space where people can interact with each other concerning your product/service, let others know what they appreciate about it, and help build a community of people who have one thing in common, usage of what you offer.
2. Who is your target audience?
Marketing Personas
Take some time to imagine what an average customer will look like, imagine their habits and their consumption patterns. A fun activity to do is build marketing personas. A marketing persona is a “sketch” of a critical segment of your audience or the audience you hope to attract with what you offer. For content marketing, you will need these personas to help you provide content that will be most relevant and attractive to your audience. The personas you create should include the basics such as age, gender, salary, location (rural/suburban/urban), and education. Then you should continue by adding their primary and secondary goals and what you will do to help achieve these goals, followed by common objections and challenges during the sales process and what values will get in the way. Some additional details should also be added depending on the type of product you are going to offer, such as hobbies, real quotes from interviews, what social media they use, what blogs they read, and so on. If you get stuck, try forming questions and answering them, such as what are they interested in that you can provide? (entertainment, educational content, news), why do they consume this content? (to get better at their job, to be healthy, to stay up to date).
Now comes the hard part, forming a small elevator pitch. This should be 1-3 sentences and should focus on selling your product or service to this specific person you have created, and must be based on what you have written down.
3. What will you share?
I know that once you see this question, you might be thinking about types of content you are going to share like photos or videos, but this is more about the bigger picture. Try to research and choose a “theme” for your page that will match the message you are trying to get across. Are you going to post HD photos of your products, or are you going to opt for posting customer submitted pictures? Maybe you think it’s better if you post memes or funny content or maybe reviews. This is where a great understanding of your target audience and your marketing personas will be helpful. Look at your research and try to understand what goals and challenges your consumers have and how you can help solve them. Now, this doesn’t mean you don’t have to limit yourself to one theme or content type. Lots of marketing agencies in Los Angeles find that using a handful of themes is actually more effective and engaging. But, all must be done in moderation, as not to seem messy or overwhelming. If there are too many types of content on your page, new customers will think it unprofessional and won’t check out your products. There are a few types of strategies for handling the types of content you put out.
Numbers in Social Media Marketing
For example, posting 50% of content that will drive traffic back to you, 25% of the content from other sources, 20% of content that will support enterprise goals, and 5% about HR and the culture of the company. If you are new into social media marketing and think this is too much or sounds complicated, you can try the easy 80-20 rule, which is 80 percent of informing, educating, or entertaining posts and 20 percent direct brand promotion. You can try these out and see which you find best. A great example of mixed content and effective social media marketing is the Instagram page of the makeup brand Fenty Beauty established by Rihanna. It includes HD photos of their cosmetic products and photos of celebrities wearing Fenty makeup. But, it also includes very frequent posts of customers using the products. This not only makes the average consumer feel involved in the process and appreciated, but it also encourages other consumers to post videos or photos of themselves using the products in the hopes of being featured on the official page, which indirectly further promotes the product.
Another vital aspect is choosing the personality of the face you will be using on social media. Will you be replying to comments in a sarcastic tone or a kind tone? You must choose a specific “persona” and keep it consistent. Everyone knows about the famous Wendy’s twitter account that interacts with customers asking for free food and even competing fast food social media accounts. In fact, their sarcastic and shady comments gained so much publicity that their sales multiplied.
4. Where will you share?
Now you are going to choose which social media platform you will be using. Remember, more is not always merrier. It is not important to be everywhere, all at once. A much better strategy is choosing one or two platforms and putting out consistent, high-quality content than posting everywhere to no avail. While you keep this in mind, you should also have a presence on the big 4 of social media, which is Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. You should post once in a while, and keep your information updated, as these are usually what will come up first if the name of your company is searched online. Try to use this to your advantage by making the consumer end up on the social media platform you are most active on.
Choosing your platform once again depends on your marketing personas and consumer profiles. Take some time to research your target audience and their social media usage. For example, most younger people I know prefer using Instagram. Other people usually use twitter for staying up to date with the recent news and would prefer seeing targeted content on Facebook. This is highly specific, and there is no general rule, so look-up studies and analytics by age groups, genders, incomes, and so on.
5. When will you share it?
This is a commonly overlooked step in website design and social media marketing in Los Angeles. Once again, it is essential that you know your target audience and their habits. Kids and teens tend to not go on social media during school and only go on after school, which is in the afternoon and the peak time of seeing your content. Sports fans will go online right before and during a sporting event to interact with other fans and find relevant information concerning the game. Mothers go on social media in the middle of the night when their child has awakened them, and they can’t go back to sleep, or they are feeding the child. Travel enthusiasts tend to go on social media during late evenings when their hotel has wifi, or on weekends when they are planning their next trip. As you can see, it is highly variable from person to person and should be researched. Once you figure this out, set up a calendar with reminders, and stick to it with no exceptions.
6. Who else is there?
Catch up with your competitors. Try to check out comments and reviews and figure out what they are doing wrong and what they are doing right. As Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.” There isn’t any point in starting from scratch and wasting time on obstacles that could have been non-existent if you had done a little more research. Many companies have been around for years and have mastered the art of social media marketing, and if you dig a little deep you can find all their downfalls and analysis on their mistakes if you spot any shortcomings, such as the absence of a feature that the audience demands, try to fill it. By doing this, you can also find out what to expect, so there will be no surprises once you start.
7. Are you doing social media marketing right?
This is a step that you should be doing after following this guide for a few months. Now, it is time that you take a step back and look at the bigger picture. Review all current analytics and reviews. Figure out what is working and what isn’t not. Which posts are getting higher engagement, and the reason behind it is the content or the time that it is posted at. Look at the engagements and if the comments are positive or negative. Is your target audience who you expected it to be, or do you need to tweak your settings for a new audience? Are you reaching your audience at all, or are you being met with a brick wall? These are only some of the observations you should be making, and if something isn’t working out, try looking at competitors’ sites, researching more, or redoing something to make your content ideal.
