While it takes some time to build a steady stream of organic traffic, a paid social media campaign can jumpstart your company website’s traffic. If you are considering using paid social media to take your marketing to the next level, you may be wondering where to begin and how to know for certain that this is the right move for your company.
To know if a paid social campaign is the right next step for your marketing strategy, you’ll need to consider a number of factors. To help, the marketing experts of Forbes Agency Council shared 12 clear signs that starting a paid social campaign would be a good idea for your business.
Forbes Agency Council members discuss ways to tell if a paid social media campaign is the right marketing move.
Photos courtesy of the individual members.
1. You Have A Small Budget Available For Testing
The nice thing about paid social is that you can test it with a reasonably small budget. Many agencies and freelancers will say that there is always a reason for paid social, but that’s not the case; there are many brands, products and services that will lose a lot of money without any return. Test some campaigns. Make sure you know what success looks like before you start, then test and iterate. – Michael McFadden, eAccountable
2. You Want To Build Awareness And Engagement
Paid social is great for building awareness, leveraging social proof from high-performing influencer content, getting people to watch short explanatory videos and driving action, such as app downloads. Brands that want to expand their reach and engagement have the opportunity to do so in an incredibly targeted way, thanks to the granular audience options available within the paid space on social platforms. – Danielle Wiley, Sway Group
3. You Have The Resources To Run An Effective Paid Campaign
Make sure your business goals are clear: Is it awareness or engagement that you want to increase? If you currently have an organic presence, see which social platforms your audience engages with the most to get good indication of this. Each is different in terms of what’s needed to run a campaign, so it’s important to make sure you have the resources to drive an effective one, including budget, a creative team and time to manage it. – Russ Williams, Archer Malmo
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4. You’ve Exhausted Organic Marketing Efforts
If you’re at a point where you feel as though you’ve exhausted your organic and guerrilla paid marketing efforts and want to dip into paid advertising without a hefty budget, then a social campaign is the right fit because other vehicles tend to be more expensive. Another important thing to do is make sure you have high-quality photo and video assets ready to show potential customers. – Spencer Hadelman, Advantage Marketing
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5. You’ve Asked Yourself These Important Questions
Ask yourself these questions: Do I have an ample budget to back social campaigns and testing? Am I willing to spend money that I will not necessarily get back immediately? Do I have adequate inventory and the ability to fulfill an influx of orders? How is my post-click experience? What is my website conversion rate, and how does it compare to industry averages? Do I have set KPIs for a paid social campaign? – Ralph Burns, Tier 11
6. Your Brand Has Successful Products And Services
Companies and brands that are considering paid traffic should make sure that they have a proven offer, service or product first. Social proof and testimonials go a long way in generating brand awareness, leads and revenue. – Melissa Litchfield, Litchfield Media
7. You’ve Tested An Unpaid Social Campaign
Test the water with an unpaid social campaign first. That’s the best way to determine if a paid campaign is right. If your social metrics are looking good, with plenty of engagement, you can try to roll out something similar to your paid campaign to see how your audience takes it. If that goes well, it’s probably a good sign that you’re safe to capitalize on a higher-investment social campaign. – Dmitrii Kustov, Regex SEO
8. Your Organic Engagement On Social Is High
If your company doesn’t have an organic social media presence (such as a Facebook page, Instagram account or Twitter handle), then build social media accounts on the big platforms and observe the level of engagement they have with your target audience over a two- to four-month time period. If engagement is high, a paid social campaign could be a strategic investment. – Larry Gurreri, Sosemo LLC
9. You’ve Recently Launched Your Brand
Paid social campaigns help you grow your audience quickly and increase your number of qualified leads. They’re an excellent way to reach audiences who wouldn’t otherwise know about your product or service. If you’ve recently launched your brand or are hoping to grow your brand awareness among people who are interested in what you have to offer, it’s a great time to run a paid social campaign. – Gavin Baker, Baker Labs
10. You Can Afford To Work With A Paid Social Media Expert
Find a paid social media expert and allocate no less than $2,500 to having them put together one or more tests. The numbers will not lie. However, you need to give your campaigns time to perform, as Facebook, Snapchat and any of the other platforms will automatically optimize over time. In fact, the way it works is that you are likely to spend much more up front until the algorithms kick in to drive results. – Kristopher Jones, LSEO
11. You Know Where Your Audience Spends Time
Do research to find out where your audience spends time. If it’s social media, start with a two-week test. Put a small amount of budget toward the segment you’re trying to reach and create a message specifically for that audience. If it’s a positive ROI, increase the budget and segments and watch things closely. Social media users are fickle. Don’t have a set-it-and-forget-it mindset; protect your precious marketing dollars. – Megan Devine, d.trio marketing group
12. You’re Launching New Offerings Or Promoting Events
If your company is launching new products or services, promoting events or trying to increase brand awareness, a paid social campaign can be the right next step in your marketing strategy because it can help amplify your organic content. Having a combination of paid, earned and owned media will get you maximum exposure for your marketing campaigns. – Jonas Muthoni, Deviate Agency
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Author: Expert Panel®, Forbes Councils Member
