Many companies give social media advertising a try by allocating a budget towards it and buying up as much ad space as possible on popular media channels. Unfortunately, this “throw everything at the wall and see what it sticks” strategy is not effective in this type of marketing. When it is done correctly with a clear strategy in place, this is an inexpensive and highly effective form of promotion for your company. Here are several tips to help you be successful at social media promotions.

Focus on Your Target Audience

Your strategy begins with identifying who your target audience is for your services or products. A great way to do this is by creating a couple of buyer personas on the demographics, wants and needs of the customers you want to reach. Having this information also helps you identify what social media channels you need to advertise on to reach your target audience. 

Publish Relevant Content

There are a lot of ads on social media, and you want yours to stand out and get read or listened to in order to bring in new customers for your product or service. To do this, you need to include relevant content that will get the attention of your desired audience. Have a look at the list of wants and needs you identified when creating your buyer personas and think through how your company meets them. Then create advertising that speaks to that audience on how your products and services are needed to solve their issues.

Hire a Consultant

There is an art and science to creating social media advertising that connects with consumers. If no one on your staff has experience in this area, you would be wise to hire an experienced consultant for help. His or her knowledge can help you avoid expensive mistakes like advertising to senior citizens on Snapchat and to teenagers on Facebook.

Be Authentic To Your Brand

Consumers love authenticity. That is why any promotions you do need to fit in and reflect your brand. Don’t fall into the trap of following whatever social media trend seems hot at the moment if it doesn’t jive with your brand.

Following these tips will help you create social media advertising spots that connect with your target audience and convert into sales and growth in your customer base. That is when the return on investment of your advertising budget will prove you were successful.