Social media pay-per-click advertising is one of the best ways to raise awareness of your brand and drive conversions, but there are a lot of misconceptions about it!
First, let’s define what exactly social media PPC is. It includes:
- Facebook ads
- Instagram ads
- LinkedIn ads
- Twitter ads
- And so on…
Essentially any paid advertising that you do on social media platforms is social media PPC! Note, this does not include Google PPC or search engine marketing — that is a different marketing tactic all together.
Social media advertising can allow you to reach a broader audience, target your demographic, increase conversions, and more… But a lot of businesses aren’t using it to the best of its capabilities or aren’t using it at all!
Without further ado, here are the top myths about social media PPC that may be holding your company back:
Myth #1: Social Media Advertising Isn’t for B2B Marketing
The Myth: Some business-to-business (B2B) companies have the misconception that social media advertising is better for business-to-consumer (B2C) marketing. While it is good for B2C, it’s also a great tactic for B2B, too, when done strategically.
The Truth:
B2B businesses can have great success with social media PPC, even in non-traditional B2B channels. For instance, some B2B marketers think that their audience won’t be on Facebook, so Facebook ads wouldn’t work well for them. But that isn’t always the case.
Instead of thinking about your target audience as professionals, think about them as people — and research shows that many people, even business professionals, spend a lot of time on Facebook. You can target Facebook ads by demographic, employer, industry, job title, income, office type, and more. You can also target by interest — so if you think your target audience is interested in a particular topic, say Ontario politics, you could target your audience by that interest or keyword.
You might also consider different types of social media PPC. If you’re certain that your target audience isn’t on Facebook, what about LinkedIn PPC or Twitter PPC? There are many possibilities. The key is finding out where your audience is spending their time.
Myth #2: Social Media PPC is ‘Set It and Forget It’
The Myth: Once you set up your PPC ad, you can just let it run and it will do all the work for you.
The Truth:
Unfortunately, this isn’t the case. But fortunately, that’s a good thing — because it ensures that you are truly reaching the best audience for your business.
By checking your ad (or ads) regularly, you can see where it is getting the most traction and adjust your target audience to fit that. In Facebook in particular, you can also create “lookalike audiences.” So, if you have an audience that seems to be interacting the most, you can find similar prospects. This is also a great way to do A/B testing, where you create two ads and see which one does better. This can help you learn what types of headlines, images, descriptions, and more trend well with your chosen audience.
If you have an ad that is underperforming, you may be able to make a few small tweaks to give it a boost. Similarly, if you have an ad that is doing very well, you may want to put more dollars into that ad to reach even more people.
Myth #3: PPC is Too Expensive
The Myth: It can be hard to determine if PPC is profitable when you are just starting out and many businesses are reluctant to spend a lot if they won’t get a return. Some fear they will spending too much on PPC ads and seeing nothing back for it.
The Truth:
While it is possible to spend a lot on PPC ads, there are ways to increase your reach without increasing your spend. We mentioned A/B testing above, which can help you find the best audience for your ads.
You can also start with a lower click budget and test ads on a smaller scale to see what resonates, and then increase your spend as you learn more about your audience.
Finally, you can work with a social media PPC expert (like Pulsion Marketing!) to help you hone a budget-friendly strategy right from the start.
Myth #4: You Only Need One Ad
The Myth: Some marketers set up one ad on social media and try to reach their whole target audience at once.
The Truth:
While one ad can be effective, it’s often better to have an advertising strategy, guiding viewers to the next step to take — also known as a sales funnel (such as visiting your website or landing page, or downloading an eBook). You also may want to set up a conversion path for viewers, for instance if/then ads. If a person sees your initial ad and doesn’t take the action, you might show them another ad.
You might also tailor different ads by buyer persona.
Myth #5: Social Media PPC is All You Need
The Myth: If you have advertisements going out on social media, that is all you need to do for your social media marketing.
The Truth:
Social media advertising works best when part of an overall digital marketing strategy. When you can identify what purpose the ads serve, and what place they have in achieving your marketing goals, you can do more with them.
You’ll also want to make sure that your social media profiles are optimized and producing regular content. If someone sees your ad and goes to your account, they may become a follower — or take interest in a specific post.
Finally, you need to have an optimized website to identify ROI. For instance, if you are driving users towards a specific action – such as downloading an eBook — you will want to direct them to a landing page so that you can accurately calculate how many people are following your path.
Social media PPC advertising can be incredibly useful in your digital marketing strategy when done effectively.
Make the most of your ads with outside help. Pulsion Marketing offers a Social PPC Program. Learn more about it at https://www.gopulsion.io/solutions/ or call 1-888-701-4441.
See our marketing mythbusters series here: https://www.gopulsion.io/blog/category/marketing-mythbusters/