Running your own business is rewarding and challenging and in order to be successful, you need a steady supply of clients. Running ads is one way to reach prospective clients and either introduce or remind them of your business. Ads carry an expense, but if they deliver quality leads and convert sales then that is money well spent. There is a lot riding on your ads, so you want to make the most of them. Here is what you need to know to craft quality ad content for use on social media that will convert sales.
Part of a Larger Strategy
Content marketing can take many forms. Examples range from placing ads and writing blog posts to maintain a presence on social media and more. You can use all available forms of content marketing or rely heavily on a few methods that have proven effective for your strategy. It’s all about finding what works for your business.
Advantages of Ads
Each form of content marketing offers different pros and cons. Ultimately, you need to do what’s right for your business and delivers the best results.
While social media posts can be leveraged to expand the reach of your business, there are limitations to what you can do simply posting to social media. Only users who already follow you will see those posts. Ads placed on social media platforms, however, can pop up in the feeds of people who may not currently follow you. That can be a game-changer.
Social media platforms know a lot about the people who use their platforms. When you place ads with a specific platform you can leverage this information to best position your ad in front of a very specific demographic. The ability to dial in who will see your ad increases the odds of that ad converting, or closing a sale.
Drawbacks of Ads
A disadvantage of ads is that they cost money. Spending money on ads is only worthwhile if they convert sales and you end up making a greater amount than what was invested in the ad. This can end up being a long game, so you may not see a return right away. Be patient, but still be reasonable in how long you give an ad to convert.
When figuring out the true cost of your ad you need to tally up the cost to place and run the ad as well as your time (or the time of any professionals who lent a hand) working on content, photography, graphic design and more. Spending money for an unknown return can be a hard decision. However, the only way to find out if you can make money off of ads is to place some.
Quality Ad Content Tips
Follow these simple tips to ensure your ad content is on-point. This will help ensure your ad speaks to your audience and helps move users through your sales funnel. These three tips are a basic starting point and can help make easy work of creating quality ad content.
1. Narrow the Focus
You likely have a lot of exciting things going on, but maintain a specific focus for your ad. Use this as an opportunity to promote a service or the launch of a new product or line or an upcoming sale. Readers may pass your ad over if it is too general because they won’t understand what value you are providing. Casting too wide of a net may cause you to miss your target.
For instance, I specialize in writing, which is a somewhat big area and covers a variety of facets. When I place ads for my business, I promote a very specific type of writing that I can do. While I can write blog posts, social media posts, website content, newsletters, whitepapers and more, I just focus on one thing in my ads. For example, writing blog content for businesses, instead of including all of the things. Which, by the way, if you need any of these services please get in touch!
A narrow focus also helps you speak to a specific audience, so your ad will be more likely to get results and convert sales.
2. Use Your Keywords
Those same keywords you plug into blog posts should also be used in your ads. This helps to clear things up when communicating with your audience, while also providing consistency across all of your outreach. For example, if you own a clothing boutique and you use the keyword ‘vintage clothing’ in your blog posts and on your website, carry that over into your ad copy.
3. Call Your Readers to Action
Call to action is marketing jargon for, ‘tell people what to do.’ A well-timed and -structured call to action informs readers about what they need to do next. People would likely figure out the next step after reading your ad without a call to action. However, this structure pushes them to take that next step and serves as a helpful reminder. A call to action eliminates any ambiguity and makes it clear what users need to do. Blog posts and social media posts should also include a call to action. Don’t forget about using this technique in your ads.
If you sell running shoes and you’re having a sale, then your call to action could be something like, ‘Check out our selection of priced-to-sell running shoes,’ or ‘Visit our site to find your next pair of running shoes!’ This way the user knows exactly what to do next.
Track the Data
Circle back after your ad has run for a while and review the metrics. Social media platforms and Google Analytics make it very easy to gauge the effectiveness of your ads. Reviewing data from an ad is an opportunity to learn more about your demographics, particularly what appeals to them and unfortunately, what does not appeal to them. Incorporate this information when planning future ads to increase the likelihood of connecting with your audience and closing sales.
Let’s Bring Your Ad to Life
A lot goes into creating and placing ads. Quality ad content is just one piece of a very large and involved puzzle. Outsourcing your content creation needs can provide more time for you to figure out where and when to place your ad and everything else that requires your attention as you run your business. Reach out if you need help writing your ad, blog, social media posts or just about anything else!
