As a small business, it is tough competing against multi-million dollar companies. What does your potential client find when they search for your product or service? Does there seem to be an endless stream of options to choose from EXCEPT for your company? Large companies can have marketing budgets expanding to the millions. This hurdle can make getting seen online feel like a huge task.
Don’t fret yet! There are some strategies small businesses can employ to be seen and stand out in their market. The first part is going to be identifying the difference between organic and paid traffic. Organic traffic is people who find your website without having to pay. Corporations or more seasoned veterans may have a large part of the organic market. Building your organic search in these conditions can take years of hard work. The long time commitment is why it is a great idea to start investing in your pay per click campaigns for immediate results.
How Do I Start Advertising Digitally?
Within the digital world, there are tons of different outlets to spend your marketing budget. Pay per click campaigns should be at the top of your list of investments. These advertisements make you stand out above the organic competition. This placement is the opportunity to be seen and be above the larger organic pages, which may rank higher otherwise.
There are a variety of ways to decide where you invest your budget. Social media networks are vital components to pay per click advertising. They are the digital representation of your company that interacts with your clients. Depending on your niche, there are going to be different networks that are more beneficial than others.
If you are spending money on ads, and not paying attention to where your traffic is going, you could be losing crucial data. The most important part should be tracking conversions A conversion is the desired action you want your customer to take after they click your advertisement. For some companies, this might be a newsletter signup, page views, or even actual purchase.
The first step is going to be identifying the specific niche that you want to target. For more information, you can read my article “Blogging and Your Niche.” Primarily, you determine as specific a target audience as possible. This targetting will allow your business to have an accurate customer persona you can market and advertise. It is worth taking the time to create the best model possible for the best results.
What Social Media Network Will You Target?
Now that you know who is in your niche, it is time to decide what ad network is going to be most effective for your audience. This network means determining what social network you want to invest your capital. It is worth noting that having active social media accounts much helps your cause. For this article, we will skim over organic posts and focus primarily on paid advertising. Check out our article on how to run great social media accounts if you have additional questions. Now it is time to look at each social media and how it may impact various markets.
The networks we are featuring are all going to be self-service platforms. “Self-service” means that anyone can create an account and start advertising on these platforms. The budget, structure, and content are all at the user’s disposal. However, there are some guidelines to follow for all ad platforms. These guidelines can also change depending on the type of business you run. Now let’s dive into pay per click advertising through social media channels starting with Facebook.
Facebook Ads
Facebook is one of the first modern-day social media platforms. With its age comes a significant footprint in the digital marketing pay per click world. Facebook offers a variety of options for business owners to target their direct market. All in all, Facebook is still primarily business to the consumer world. Companies that sell the business to business products may find a harder time converting potential clients to paying customers.
The Facebook business dashboard offers a variety of tools used to target various audiences. My recommendation would be to use Facebook advertisements for their re-targeting purposes. This tactic can help directly target your niche, and people that have expressed interest in your product or services.
Facebook offers courses to help beginners get started with their advertising platform. Kallen Media also provides services for both setting up and managing paid Facebook ad campaigns. As we look towards the future of Facebook ads, I believe they will become more vital in the coming years. The reasoning behind this is the lowered rate of natural posts shown to people who like a page. As organic traffic lessens, Facebook encourages businesses to spend more on ads to make sure companies can reach their actual fan bases. This strategy goes back to how advertising done before free social media platforms.
Instagram Ads
Facebook, Instagram own the next social media giant. Instagram is the hub for photos and influencers galore. This avenue is going to be great for lifestyle brands and organizations that can easily visualize their concepts. Business to business brands will want to showcase their products and services cleanly.
Advertising on Instagram can start by making your account a business account. This type of account allows for additional viewing insights about your profile. These statistics are essential for finding your audience and creating content to appeal to them. Now it is time for advertising.
There are a few different ways to advertise on Instagram. The first is going to be through featured posts that will pop up on users’ timelines. These posts tailored towards specific markets depending on how much data you have on your audience. Another prevalent method is influencer marketing. This marketing channel is paying Instagram users with a broad audience to promote your product or service. When taking this approach, you will want to make sure it is someone famous in your niche. There is no reason to waste money on posts for influencers with the wrong audience.
LinkedIn Ads
Shifting from the previous platforms, LinkedIn is a fantastic option for a business to business marketing. LinkedIn’s purpose is to be a professional networking platform. Content’s purpose is to engage and educate business owners while helping to build each other’s networks.
LinkedIn holds its ad format in an auction-type form similar to Google Ads. You bid against competitors on specific audiences. Once this is complete, it is time to decide whether you are paying per click or per number of views. Since LinkedIn is self-service, budgeting decisions are entirely up to the business. I would recommend using LinkedIn to connect with people within your industry as well. This tool is a great way to keep an eye on your competition!
Twitter Ads
Next, we are going to take a look at advertising on Twitter. Twitter is excellent for targeting specific groups. There are large segments within the platform that create their communities. Integrating content that relates to them and following similar accounts is an excellent way to get noticed.
Overall, conversions through Twitter have seemed very low from the trials that we have done. I would recommend taking a look through advertising on Twitter if you already know the hyper segmented target you are targetting. Twitter also works with third-party advertising platforms allowing ads shown from re-targeting programs like Google’s.
Pinterest Ads
The final social media advertising platform I am going to cover is Pinterest. This platform may be unfamiliar to some, but it can be great for select markets. Think of Pinterest as a collection of ideas for specific topics. There are boards based on house decorations, projects, and recipes. There is a strong female audience presence making it worthwhile to look at for lifestyle and home good brands.
I would recommend that business to business companies do not spend their advertising budget here. However, the exception may be event hosting companies, as this would be a great place to make a board for each completed project. Pinterest provides a great 8 step guide to getting started with their ads that I would recommend if you are interested in learning more. We hope this guide gives you the knowledge you’ll need for pay per click advertising through social media channels.
