Using Social Ads: A Concise Strategy Guide

Social media often feels like a vast, foreign land where you don’t know where to go. That’s a common experience for basic users. It's an even more intense feeling for those who want to use it to promote their work. They can journey alone or hold hands with a social ads agency.

This quick guide walks you through using social ads for your business. We’ll cover the following:

1. What social media is
2. Identifying target audience
3. Setting goals
4. Establishing social presence

Whether you work on your social ads alone or with an agency, we’ll cover the basic strategies.

Let’s begin!

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What Is Social Media?

Social media is a general term that describes a variety of online platforms that allow users to connect. They do so by creating and sharing content. Although anyone could use them for any reason, each platform tends to lean towards a different purpose and a specific demographic:

• Facebook is the largest and most popular social media platform focused on connecting people worldwide. It has over two billion active users, spanning all ages. With a wide variety of business features, this platform is a must for any advertising venture.
• Popular among youth and young adults, Twitter is a mini-blogging platform. It’s perfect for starting discussions and forming connections with its text-focused interface. Because of this, it is the best environment to build a loyal community for any brand.
• From a photo-sharing platform, Instagram evolved into a well-known e-commerce venue. Thanks to its highly visual interface, it is home to the strongest market for influencers. It is popular among young and middle-aged adults.

And there are more to choose from! Although these platforms are for self-expression, their capacity for rapid information sharing makes them the perfect landscape for advertising, ripe with marketing opportunities. We only have to select the most suitable one and cultivate it. A social ads agency can help with that.

What Goals Should You Strive For?

Go for clearly-stated goals when determining how to use social media for advertising your product or service. A social ads agency can help you use the SMART tool to achieve goals.

• Specific
• Measurable
• Attainable
• Relevant
• Time-Bound.

Although setting goals involves some research, doing so is crucial. Goals give you direction, guidance, and concrete measures of success throughout your social ads process. A goal must contain all these five qualities.

Throughout the goal-setting process, you can confirm the feasibility of your goals, outline precise measures of your success, and pave your path towards it.

Below is an example of a S.M.A.R.T. goal for social media advertising:

“After a month, the page will have a 20% increase in engagement once we post content five times a week instead of three.” 

This example is specific, measurable, and time-bound. It is also attainable since it’s only a few posts more than the previous frequency. Finally, it is relevant as it will boost brand awareness.

Once a goal is ready, it is time to define your target audience. Consult with a social ads agency if setting achievable goals and defining your target audience are tasks you cannot accomplish yourself.

Who Is Your Target Audience?

Your target audience would be the one who needs your product or service most or who you would like to reach out to the most. Defining your target audience is critical. Doing so helps you decide the social media platform you'll use and the kind of content you'll post.

You can use the following as a guide.

1. Begin by studying your current audience and your target audience. Research and find common threads in gender, age, interests, needs, and more.
2. Consider the benefits of your service or product and the kind of needs they fulfill.
3. Compare your identified benefits with the needs of your current and target audience.
4. Evaluate if your audience is enough for your business.

Remember to make your target audience specific. Doing so does not mean excluding a group. Rather, focus on a group of people that is more likely to convert. Targeting a defined audience is a better and more efficient use of your money and time.

But it is also important not to be too specific. You could end up getting closed off from other groups.

With these steps, you’ll be able to define your target audience. Once you know who they are, you’ll figure out which social media they use. That’s where you advertise. Curate your posts and reach out to the audience that responds the most to you.

How Do You Establish Your Social Media Presence?

The answer is simple: post content.

Posting content is the only way to reach your target audience, build a stronger social media presence, and reach your advertising goals. It is perhaps both the most effortless but also the most challenging part of the process.

Now that you have your goal and a target audience, you must know what kind of content to post.  Translating your brand into your posts is a good way to strengthen your social media presence. Ask yourself the following:

• What fits my brand more: videos or graphics?
• What kind of language is more appropriate for my page: casual, Gen Z slang, or technical and educated?
• What kind of content suits my business: memes or SEO articles?

While these details set you apart from your competitors, they also help build your brand and presence on the platform. It will reach your target audience faster, increasing your brand awareness.

However, posting won’t be effective if not monitored. Make sure to keep an eye on your posts' performance and make small adjustments. This journey, after all, involves a lot of trial and error.

Summing Up

As is true for all journeys, it is important to have a direction. Although social media may feel like an overwhelming and otherworldly land, navigating it will be effortless once you have a strategy.

Equipped with the platform you’d like to use, the goals you aim for, the target audience you hope to reach, and the kind of content you create, you can build an advertising strategy that will never lead you astray.

If there is a point when you feel lost, though, consult with a social ads agency. It is always good to have an expert by your side.