Should I run Social Media Ads?

Continuing with the blog series that helps you decide for or against the most popular online marketing channels. Today, it’s all about the question: “Social Media Ads – yes or no?” I’ll show you the arguments for and against advertising on social media. After reading the blog post, you’ll definitely find it easier to make a decision for yourself and your business.

 

Zunächst einmal: Eine allgemeingültige Antwort gibt es hier leider nicht. Wie jeder Marketing Kanal, hat auch Social Media Werbung Vor- und Nachteile. Ob ich dir Social Media Ads empfehlen würde, ist ganz individuell. Von Pauschalaussagen solltest du dich also lieber fernhalten, denn Marketer, die einen bestimmten Marketingkanal als den „heiligen Gral“ hinstellen, haben meist nur ihr eigenes Interesse im Sinn und sind wenig fokussiert auf die Eigenheiten und Besonderheiten deines Unternehmens. Doch genug gepredigt: Lass uns loslegen!

Here's why you should run Social Media Ads

Social media advertising is generally a good decision if you have a lot of budget but little time. With ads, you speed up the process of building your brand awareness and community. It doesn’t take as much time to reach the right people as, for example, with organic social media marketing. However, you have to accept significant costs for successful social media ad campaigns. If you have the financial means, these are well-invested. With social media ads, you can precisely target the right audience and build your image effectively. You can find even more reasons to start with social media in the blog post “Social Media Ads 101: The Complete Guide to Advertising.”

Targeted Targeting Options

With social media ads, you can reach your target audience more precisely than with almost any other online marketing channel. The platforms draw from an immense data pool and can accurately predict users’ interests as well as their buying and clicking behavior. You can access this data through ads. This way, you are directly addressing the people who are interested in your offer.

Greater Reach than Organic Social Media Marketing

Social media platforms thrive on advertisements. Therefore, they are increasingly restricting the organic reach for companies. So, businesses are left with little choice but to run ads to reach new prospects as well as existing fans. With ads, you buy yourself a much higher reach than you would otherwise get.

Optimal Evaluation and Testing Options

As you might already know, I love analytics. The advertising tools of social media platforms are a true paradise for this. With ads, you get deep insights into the minds of your target audience and, based on the evaluation options, you can gradually optimize not only your ads but your entire marketing strategy.

Here's why you should not run Social Media Ads

Of course, running social media ads doesn’t come without its disadvantages. The main drawbacks include the relatively high time investment and costs associated with social media ads. Some offers simply aren’t suitable for this medium.

High Time Investment for Learning and Creating Ads

Well-prepared social media ads take time. Naturally, you’ll get faster with practice and it will become easier to come up with catchy headlines and convey them effectively. However, you should budget a few days per social media campaign.

Unsuitable Products or Offers for Social Media Ads

Despite what some may believe, not every offer is suitable for social media ads. Products or services that require a lot of explanation or are high-priced are, for example, less suitable for ads. To understand this, you just need to observe your own scrolling behavior: usually, you’re not in the mood to engage deeply with content and are looking for entertainment, variety, and a break from everyday life. You’ve probably only bought low- to mid-priced products as a result of ads from unknown companies. The risk is lower when we don’t know the company and aren’t sure if we can trust the people behind it.

Mini products, freebies, and challenges are ideal for running ads and getting your business known. You can find more about this in the blog post “Psychological Tricks for Better Ads.”

No Writing Talent or Feel for Persuasive Graphics

Can’t write? Or just don’t feel like it? That’s okay! Not everyone enjoys writing or has the talent for it. This might be a reason against managing your own social media ads. Nonetheless, you can still have effective social media ads. For this, you should look for a freelancer who can handle topic discovery and writing for you.

 

How to start running Social media Ads?

You’ve decided to start with social media ads? Then it’s time to get to work. First, you should familiarize yourself with the theory and the ad managers of the respective platforms. After that, you can start planning your first social media ad campaign.

Converting Social Media Accounts to Business Profiles

To run ads on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc., you need a business profile. This will grant you access to the campaign managers or ad managers (these have different names depending on the platform). Your ads will be managed through these tools.

Familiarizing Yourself with Ad Managers

Now it’s time for the theory. Get to know the ad manager of each platform, but also understand the general theory behind ads, such as the do’s and don’ts of social media ads.

Preparing Ad Texts and Graphics

Once you’ve understood the functionality and basics of ads, you can plan your first ad campaign. Decide what you want to promote, which target audience you want to reach, and prepare the ads themselves. This includes writing the copy and designing the visuals. A copywriter, like me, can be very helpful in crafting your ad copy.

Setting Aside a Test Budget and Launching a Test Campaign

After deciding how much budget you want to invest in your first social media ad campaign, you should plan it carefully so that you don’t spend it elsewhere. Don’t expect miracles from your test campaign. Initially, it’s about testing your ideas from the planning phase and finding out what works for your business – and what doesn’t.

Continuously Analyzing Ads on Instagram and Other Platforms

To do this, you should understand the key online marketing metrics. Only then can you derive your next steps from the numbers and continuously improve your ads on Instagram and other social networks.

 

Having someone to manage Social Media Ads

You can’t write, don’t feel like dealing with the complicated ad managers, or simply don’t have time for your own social media ads? Or all of the above? No worries! You can still successfully start with social media ads. That’s exactly why there are freelancers like me 😉. Whether you need help with writing ad copy, want to completely outsource your social media ads, or just want to occasionally have a campaign run by someone else: I support you in social media marketing with my years of experience and friendly approach. Feel free to download my service guide for an overview.

Do you like the blog series for deciding on various online marketing channels? Then also read:

Own Newsletter – Yes or No?

Own Blog – Yes or No?

 

Hi, ich bin Sarah

Online Marketing Expertin für deinen erfolgreichen Unternehmensauftritt mit Strategie & Sympathie.

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