How does a business use social media?

• To promote a new business or new products by using adverts.
• To show the website of the business so the target audience can see what products your business has and what their prices are.
• To show the Range of the prices of the products
• To show what Discounts the business will have. The special offers the business will have eg (Black Friday)
• Research of the competitors eg (prices, products they sell, target audience or location of their competitors.)
• Link to all their different social media accounts, address of the business or phone number of the business.
• Celebrity endorsement so if a famous person wears certain clothes on an advert to promote the business it will get people to buy the clothes if they like that celebrity who is wearing the clothes.
• Business ideas or design by using the business colours to maybe create a logo or design the business.
• Find their target audience that includes the target audience for certain products and the different categories can include age range, gender or interest by possibly doing a questionnaire.

Why use social media?

As traditional methods of marketing to customers like advertising or direct mail become less and less effective, businesses are turning to social mediums to connect in positive ways with consumers and the people who influence them. We need to be acutely aware just how social media has fundamentally changed the way we are connecting, communicating and collaborating as individuals, and therefore society as a whole.

• The key to social media success is not to get hung up on the tools and technology, but to focus on how you can use them more effectively to:
• increase the visibility of your personal brand and that of your business
• build and cultivate your personal and professional networks
• develop and grow relationships with customers and influences
• engage in real-time two-way interaction with people, including answering queries
• publish and distribute original content that demonstrates your expertise
• share curated links to relevant information that adds value to the lives of your customers
• communicate with your community of followers, advocates and supporters
• ultimately generate new leads and boost sales for your business.

Understanding the social media equation?

Think of social media in two parts.

Firstly, there is social media participation – this is where you’re present on social channels and are constantly delivering value to the online community in the form of:

• sharing other people’s content (User Generated Content or USG) on Facebook or LinkedIn, retweeting them if you’re on Twitter or reg ramming on Instagram.
• answering people’s questions if you’re in a position to help – whether they’re directly related to your business or not
• joining the conversation on a particular topic – this could be a group on Twitter talking about a certain issue that’s sprung up through the media, or joining a LinkedIn Group
• leaving genuinely interesting and relevant comments on selective blogs you read and podcasts you listen to
• promoting other people’s businesses and causes, for example, your municipal council may be running a street festival that could be good for you to be promote via your networks.

Before jumping into conversations on social networks, it’s critical that you:

• listen first
• sit back and take note of the ‘lay of the land’
• try and get acquainted with the nuances of the particular network on which you intend to become active.

Secondly, there is the creation and distribution of original content that informs, empowers, educates and/or entertains – content that will attract the right people to your brand, potential customers as well as the people who influence them.

To be effective however, content published and promoted via social media needs to be created with the audience in mind, which is why it’s important you first understand who you’re trying to communicate with and where they hang out online.

Creating content with the customer in mind

• More often than not your content should provide utility. In other words, it needs to be useful, relevant and add value to people’s lives. It could simply be information that answers people’s questions or satisfies a need they have relevant to your business, or it may be more around providing ‘thought leadership’ and demonstrating your knowledge and expertise.
• For example, this might mean an accountancy practice that publishes a blog post outlining its top tips on how to approach end-of-financial-year tax issues.
• Once you create your content, it’s then simply a matter of publishing it to one or more of the myriad of platforms available which is best suited to your business needs, and sharing the links with your followers on social networks.
• Building your presence on social networks is important – not only because they make for excellent content distributors, search engines such as Google use social media shares to determine the usefulness of content to an audience, so social media presence can also positively affect search rankings.

What Are The Benefits Of Advertising On Social Media Channels?

• Why is social media advertising your best advertising bet for quick ROI? Because…
• Most channels require significant lead time to yield an ROI. For example, content marketing works best over time after it has been able to yield back links and SEO traction.
• Some channels yield quick results but not day in and day out. For example, influencer marketing can earn you quick results in terms of sales for low effort (though high cost). But those results don’t continue occurring over time. Instead, you earn sales on a per post basis, and often less each time it is posted.
• Some channels are consistent but time consuming to dial in. For example, Ad Words can produce consistent results for your brand, but it takes a while to master and earn specific placement.
• With social media advertising, you can have consistent sales coming in from the first day your website is live.
• For modern ecommerce sites, the ability to immediately and consistently bring in new customers is a HUGE deal. Even if you can’t achieve net positive revenue on the initial sale, referrals, email marketing and customer retention can pay off extensively with every marginal customer.
• This is why global social ad spending doubled from $16 billion in 2014 to $31 billion in 2016 and is projected to increase another 26% in 2017.
• In this guide, we’re going to explore how YOU can drive consistent sales for your website through social media advertising.
• We’ll look at some of the most popular social platforms, provide some advanced tactics and tips for dialing in your campaigns, and teach you how to efficiently manage multi-channel advertising without losing your mind.

The Different Types Of Social Media Platforms To Serve Ads:

Social networking (Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+).

• Micro blogging (Twitter, Tumblr).
• Photo sharing (Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest).
• Video sharing (YouTube, Facebook Live, Periscope, Vimeo).

The 6 Best Social Networks for E commerce Advertising

New social media networks  come out every week, most of which will never gain any sort of traction.In our opinion, it’s best to start with the most popular platforms, then once you have profitable systems running, you can look at allocating a percentage of your budget toward more experimental campaigns.

In 2018, there are 6 different social media channels where you can follow proven ad strategies and generate consistent ROI.

These are the best places to invest your ad money right now.

• Facebook
• Instagram
• pinerest
• twitter
• linkedin
• snapchat

Benefits Of Advertising Through Social Media Include:

• Grow your sales and your fan base.
• Use customer generated content for ads (which perform better, too!).
• Better target net new and returning customers (so you waste less money).
• A/B test on the fly, using platform analytics to determine winners.
• One of the fascinating things about social advertising is that there is virtually no limit to your ability to scale.
• You don’t have to wait for someone to search for your targeted keywords. You don’t have to wait for someone to run your promotion or read your blog. If you want to reach 50,000 people in one day, you can.
• Which social media network you choose will depend on 3 VERY important factors:
• Where your target customers are most concentrated (usage, groups, etc.)
• Where your target customers are most accessible (preferred media, ad targeting, etc.)
• Where your target customers most actively engage with ads (testing required)
• Finding success on social media requires you to thread a number of needles together somewhat seamlessly.
• You have to present a compelling offer via a compelling medium to people who will actually find it compelling, in a place those people will actually see it.
• When you add the advertising element on top of that, you also need to a find a platform where users will actively engage with paid ads.
• Let’s take a closer look at what each of these 6 platforms offer to help you decide where it’s worth your time and money to invest.
• Big Commerce customers using Ecommerce Insights can quickly export a list of their highest AOV and highest LTV customer cohorts and then use those to find lookalikes on Facebook.

Snapchat Advertising

• Snapchat is one of the newer platforms to emerge on the scene as a competitive force with301 million monthly active users.
• While it remains to be seen if the company will succumb to Instagram’s social video push, as of now, it’s a viable advertising platform with a highly active user base.
• Where Snapchat Advertising Shines
• There’s really only one stat you need to know to understand the value of Snapchat. On any given day, Snapchat reaches 41% of all 18-34 year-olds in the United States.
• … let’s repeat that.
• 41% of ALL 18-34 year olds in the U.S. will interact with Snapchat today.
• That’s where Snapchat shines. But things get tricky when it comes to pricing…
• How Snapchat Advertising is Priced + See It In Action
• Snapchat has a number of advertising options, most of which are quite expensive. Wallaroo Media provides us with the full breakdown:

1. Snap Ads

• Snap ads are mobile, interactive video ads with 5X higher swipe-up rate than the average click-through rate for other comparable social platforms. These cost between $1,000 – $3,000 per month to run.

2. Sponsored Lenses

Twitter Advertising

• Twitter has revolutionized breaking news and provided unparalleled access for users to connect with both niche and mainstream influencers.
• With 328 million monthly active users, it remains one of the most popular social media platforms.
• Where Twitter Advertising Shines
• Well, it isn’t really Twitter advertising that shines…
• Unlike Facebook, Twitter is still a viable network for organic engagement. Brands don’t need to pay in order to reach their followers, which enhances the platform’s value even when running paid ads.
• On average, Twitter users shop online 6.9x a month, while non-users shop online just 4.3x a month. And there’s particularly good news for smaller businesses: Twitter reports that 60% of users purchase from an SMB.
• Ecommerce stores today use Twitter ads primarily to drive brand awareness and promote specific products for direct conversions. The most common model is Twitter website cards hosting under 100 characters and displaying some variety of rich media.
• How Twitter Advertising is Priced
• On average, a thousand ad impressions (CPM) on Twitter ads cost between $9 and $11 while clicks cost roughly 25-30 cents each. Both optimized campaigns bring about similar levels of engagement for a minuscule price difference.
• Twitter ad cost has been steadily increasing over the last 2 years due to more marketers slowly taking advantage of the platform, but overall, the platform is considered to be relatively underutilized for advertising.
• Twitter is considered to be relatively underutilized for advertising.

How To Set Up a Twitter Advertising Campaign

• There are a number of different campaign types you can set up in Twitter:
• Promoted Accounts
• Promoted Tweets
• Promoted Trends
• Website Cards

Twitter Advertising Advanced Tactics

• Use a relevant, compelling image that gives context to the viewer, fits your brand and draws attention. Rich media is a non-negotiable on Twitter.
• Be very targeted with the products or lead magnets you choose to promote. Twitter requires a more focused approach than other channels.Facebook Advertising

1. Facebook Advertising

Facebook is THE universal social media network.

With more than 2 billion monthly users, Facebook hosts over a quarter of the world’s population, providing advertisers with an unparalleled opportunity to reach virtually anyone and everyone.

Where Facebook Advertising Shines

When it comes to ecommerce, Facebook excels at lead generation.

If you want email addresses, Facebook is the place to go, with many advertisers reporting costs below $1 per lead.

The most common model used is to run a Facebook ad directly into a high-converting landing page offering some variety of a free lead magnet or bundle product.

Common examples of content for social media advertising campaigns include:

• Whitepapers.
• E Books.
• Product coupons.
• Site wide disco

 The 6 Most Effective Types of Social Media Advertising in 2018.

• Limited-time offers.
• Giveaways.
• Free shipping.

These leads can then be nurtured with a targeted auto responder that introduces them to your brand and products.

Expression Fiber Arts does a really great job of this –– offering free products, download-ables and predictable discounts and coupons for her audience. Doing so has earned her more than $1,000,000 in annual sales in just 2 years.

Many ecommerce brands also use bundled product offerings to drive home perceived value and earn immediate conversion.

Facebook allows more advanced targeting than any other advertising platform on earth. Advertisers can target by location (within a 5-mile radius), job description, interests, past activity, and many other incredibly valuable criteria.

 

How Facebook Advertising is Priced

Pricing varies widely based on several factors, including the audience you’re trying to target and the budget you set for your ads.

As a general rule, the more money you spend, the more efficient Facebook’s algorithm becomes at spending your money, increasing your ad performance over time.

According to an extensive study done by AdEspresso, the average cost per click (CPC) of Facebook ads as of 2016 was roughly .28 cents and the cost per 1,000 impressions (CPM) was $7.19.

The study went on to break it down by age and gender as well. The 65+ age grouped showed the most continuous trend of lower CPC costs over time. Females cost on average 4 cents greater CPC than targeting males.

How To Set Up Facebook Advertising Campaigns

 

There are 3 core parts to setting up and running successful Facebook ad campaigns:

• Setting up your ad
• Setting up targeting
• Setting up re targeting

How Instagram Advertising is Priced

On average, Instagram advertising costs are in the same ballpark as Facebook ads at a cost of $5 per thousand impressions (CPM). While the price may be similar, most current statistics show that Instagram gets much more engagement on their posts and ads than Facebook does.

For instance, Victoria’s Secret saw an average of 2,078 likes per post on Facebook versus 283,030 on Instagram. Similar variances have been found with brands like Mercedes Benz, McDonalds and Playstation.

How To Set Up An Instagram Advertising Campaign

With Instagram being owned by Facebook, setting up Instagram ads is very similar to setting up Facebook ads. Here’s a visual, step-by-step guide to launching a campaign.

Instagram Advertising Advanced Tactics

Focus first on custom audiences. This could be audiences created through pixel tracking, an email list, a followers list or some other method. Lists of users who have engaged with you in the past perform best.

When you are ready to expand past custom audiences, lookalike audiences should be your next stop. Facebook/Instagram’s algorithm is very good at finding similar audiences that will respond well to your ads.

Use custom images of real people. Stock photos do NOT work on Instagram.

Make your offers irresistible. Instagram’s visual nature takes impulse buying to the next level, but you won’t tap into that if you aren’t offering something compelling.

Take hashtags seriously. They are kind of a joke everywhere else, but Instagram is driven by hashtags, and they are a great way to connect with niche audiences.

How Pinterest Advertising is Priced

• Advertising data is a bit more difficult to find with Pinterest. Not too long ago, ads were very expensive at $30-40 per 1,000 impressions and only available to big brands.
• More recent reports indicate that users are experiencing more affordable rates, with one user citing a CPM of $5.30 and a CPC of $1.52, which would put Pinterest in a similar ballpark to other platforms.

How To Set Up A Pinterest Advertising Campaign

When you talk about Pinterest advertising, you are really just talking about promoted pins. For a step-by-step guide to setting up your own promoted pins, check out this guide from Social Media Examiner.

Pinterest Advertising Advanced Tactics

• Creativity sells. Users are looking through hundreds of pins in rapid succession. If you want to get noticed, you need to stand out, either through pure creativity or creative attention grabbing.
• Focus on trends. What are competitors posting? What searches are trending? What products are hot?
• Engage with your followers. Repin your fans and use curated repins to expand your audience and tap into larger audiences.
• Be detailed. Pinterest is essentially a search engine. Include long, detailed descriptions with keywords and hashtags.
• Be very intentional about where your pins are linking. The click-through destination will determine whether or not you waste the click or turn it into a lead or sale.

See Pinterest Advertising in Action

A great example of Pinterest ads in action comes from Native Union, a popular cell phone accessory brand.

The company reposts its high-class lifestyle pictures using its products to highly organize any modern home. The posts have helped Native Union earn wholesale placement in brick-and-mortars like Paper Source –– due to their popularity with 18-30 yr old women.

 

Who It’s Ideal For

If you don’t have money in hand to hire an outside service… you don’t have money in hand to hire an outside service. That’s just your reality, and it means that if you want to run social ads, you’ll need to do it yourself.

If you are ready, willing and able to devote a significant amount of time to mastering advertising on a given social media channel, this can be a great option for you. If you succeed, you will have the means to bring in income for your business indefinitely.

If you don’t have the money and don’t have the time, there is another option that might be right for you…

2. Run Your Ad Campaigns Via Automated Software

Social media advertising is a multi-billion dollar industry, and what does that mean?

It means 3rd party tools – 3rd party tools everywhere.

Over the years, some pretty fantastic software has been developed to aid in the process of running campaigns. These tools are used by in-house teams, agencies and soloprenuers alike to achieve advertising success.

The Pros

• On-site ad managers aren’t always the most user friendly. Tools like Ad espresso, for example, make optimizing Facebook campaigns and analyzing results significantly easier than attempting to do so via Facebook’s Ads Manager.
• Other tools like Adext use artificial intelligence to automate the entire process, allowing you to simply keep tabs on performance without needing to do much else.
• There are hundreds of tools that help you in hundreds of different ways, many of which perform at a high level and limit the time you have to spend manually mastering ad channels.
• The Cons

Great tools nearly always come with noticeable price tags. By and large, social ad management tools tend to be relatively affordable, but they are still an additional expense that must be taken into consideration.

And like investing time in manual mastery, there is no guarantee that any given tool will improve your results or even get results at all. Worse, it’s rarely a simple matter to identify where the tool is underperforming versus where the manual inputs are falling short. In other words, if your ads aren’t succeeding, you might be left clueless at how to troubleshoot the problem.

 

Facebook Advertising Advanced Tactics

Don’t run the same exact ad(s) to all of your audiences. Your prospecting and retargeting ads should be unique, and your ads for each audience “interest” segment should be tailored to that audience.

Use prospecting ads to build brand awareness and teach people about your product, and then use retargeting ads to seal the deal with users who have already signaled interest. Retargeting ads are ideal for an aggressive pitch and close.

The use of emojis in ads has been spreading like wildfire, even among larger, more established brands. They can be very effective at driving higher CTRs, but as with all strategies, you should A/B test for yourself to be sure.

Always be testing! Ad fatigue is an ever-present challenge on Facebook, and it’s best to rotate in and test new ads every 2 weeks.

Lookalike audiences are a staple for many advertisers… and rightly so. They tend to work very well for prospecting. That said, you should take care not to layer additional targeting on top of the lookalikes if you can avoid it. You run the risk of shrinking your potential reach and missing out on valuable customers.

Better Facebook Advertising Results in 5 Minutes

Big Commerce customers using Ecommerce Insights can quickly export a list of their highest AOV and highest LTV customer cohorts and then use those to find lookalikes on Facebook.

Takes 5 minutes.

See Facebook Advertising in Action

A great example of Facebook ads in action comes from Spearmint LOVE, a baby clothing brand out of Arizona.

Since integrating the pixel, Spearmint LOVE has seen a 33.8X return on ad spend on Instagram alone and a 47% decrease in the cost per purchase.

3 Ways To Manage Social Advertising Campaigns

Now that we’ve taken a look at our top social ad platforms (and perhaps selected 1 or 2 to pursue) it’s time to decide how to manage our campaigns.

There are three primary ways to manage social media campaigns.

Run your ad campaigns manually

Run your ad campaigns via automated software

Hire a managed service to run your ad campaigns

Frankly, there is no “right” answer here. Each of these have strengths and weaknesses and can work for different businesses.

1. Run Your Ad Campaigns Manually
2. Engagement.Conversions.
   3. Hire A Managed Service To Run Your Ad Campaigns

   The third option is the simplest, the most expensive and in many cases, the most successful. By hiring a managed service, you can expedite the guesswork and stumbling blocks that come with DIY advertising and simply let proven experts handle it for you.

   The Pros

   If you hire a team that is very good at advertising, you will very likely get really good results… without any work on your part. You get to keep focusing on running your business or marketing team and doing what you do best, while a team of experts takes care of the entire advertising process for you.

   Assuming the fee plus direct ad spend is low enough to keep you net positive, you get the primary benefit of advertising – consistent sales and new customers – almost like you are getting it for free.

   The Cons

   There is only one real downside to hiring an agency: if you don’t do your due diligence (and sometimes even if you do), you can get burned. There are thousands of self-proclaimed experts whose only skill is convincing clients to waste money on them. If you hire a bad agency, you can end up losing a lot of money.

   Who It’s Ideal For

   Managed ad services are ideal for any business with the desire and resources to start driving new sales and profitable ad campaigns from day one. If you have a social media marketing budget and need immediate results, paid social advertising run by proven experts is THE way to go.

   Social advertising is incredibly measurable. You never need to be in question about how your campaigns are performing and the exact ROI you are getting from them. If your campaigns aren’t performing, you know exactly who to blame and can fire the agency running your ads for a new, better agency.

   How Much Does Social Media Advertising Cost To Outsource?

   Social media advertising management cost will vary depending on who you hire. Agencies and freelancers often charge fees based on 5%-20% of your total monthly ad spend and will often include a management fee.