Getting Started Social Media Advertising on Facebook, YouTube & LinkedIn
As consumer use of and time spent on social media sites increases, the opportunities for effective publicity become more attractive to companies in search of customers to connect with. We’ve agreed the advice that to grow a social network, a company should participate and engage with communities of interest.
That’s still fantastic advice, just as it is to consider uncommon publicity options within relevant social channels to make awareness, keep a brand top of mind or to suggest timely and relevant offers. Publicity tools made available by social platforms are also useful research tools when collecting demographic information used with personas in organic social media marketing.
For marketers just getting started with publicity on social media sites, here’s a quick tumbledown on programs available through Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Groupon and Foursquare. As with organic social media marketing, each is appropriate according to your own goals, the customers you’re trying to reach, resources, timeline and ability to measure.
Facebook: We all know there are over 500 million active users on Facebook, but fascinatingly, 50% of active users log on in any agreed day. Each average user has 130 friends and is connected to 80 community pages, groups and events. More than 30 billion pieces of content (web links, news tales, blog posts, notes, photo albums, etc.) are mutual each month.
Facebook ad costs are pretty reasonable which allows companies of just about any size or budget to test them out. Facebook publishes a pretty thorough Guide to Facebook Ads and their Help Center answers most questions you might have. Ads grow on the right side of the page.
The best practices for Facebook ads are consistent with those you might find with PPC programs on the major search engines:
- Set goals
- Butt your consultation
- Make the product/service stand out
- Keep the ad simple
- Have a strong call to action
- Make sure ads point to relevant landing pages
Of course, in the case of Facebook, many era the landing page isn’t a page on the pusher’s website selling a product, but a Fan page within Facebook. You might also want to check out @briancarter’s small, but effective presentation on Slideshare about Facebook Ad Tips and Dennis Yu’s article, “The Most Powerful Secret in Facebook Ads“.
You can get started making Facebook Ads here.
YouTube: As the second most well loved search engine after Google and with online video publicity expected to hit 5.7 billion by 2014, YouTube presents a tremendous opportunity for exposure and engagement in a social context. Ads grow within videos or alongside them.
YouTube demographics: 18-55, with an equal mix of males and females. 51% of YouTube users visit weekly or more often, and 52% of 18-34 year-olds share videos often with friends and colleagues.
Marketers that come to grips with the reality that “make me a viral video” isn’t something you can count on, but publicity and impressions are, may choose to leverage YouTube publicity as part of the mix for promoting video content. In fact, with YouTube you can promote your own video or advertise next to others’ videos. Direct publicity on YouTube is pretty spendy, but you can also advertise on YouTube by Google AdWords.
YouTube provides a robust array of video publicity resources for marketers including best practices, how to’s, specifications, analytics, tools, a Brand Channel How-To Guide and of course, if you spend sufficient you get an Ad Rep to take care of things.
- Keep it small - The longer the message, the higher the possibility users will tune out. 60 seconds is a excellent benchmark.
- Keep it engaging - Entertain, inform and be relevant. Users will view the majority of a video if they are interested and engaged.
- Inspire, don’t just educate - Avoid focusing solely on being educational; two minutes of talking heads doesn’t work well.
- Deliver key messages ahead of schedule - Plot for user tune-out near the end of the video and deliver your message ahead of schedule.
- Include a call to action
In case you reckon online video is just for consumer marketing, you’re dead incorrect. Check out this handy YouTube Guide on Best Practices for the B2B Pusher (ironic it’s a PDF and not video). Also check out Christa Toole’s Ten Tips for Those Who Still Aren’t By YouTube.
Get started with YouTube Publicity here.
LinkedIn: This is “the” B2B social network and with nearly 90 million members in over 200 countries, presents new territory for social network publicity. A new member joins LinkedIn approximately every second, and Executives from all Fortune 500 companies are members according to the LinkedIn Facts page.
LinkedIn launched its own self-service ad network a few years ago, called DirectAds. There are also options for Show Ads and Sponsorships. Get the FAQ on DirectAds to know how it facility as well as the Best Practices. For beginners, there’s a step by step list of instructions on making a DirectAd here.
DirectAds Best Practices Include:
- Make effective ads (relevant, call to action, specific)
- Make multiple ads for each campaign
- Butt the right consultation
- Set an appropriate daily budget (ad rates vary during the day according to site usage)
- Know how bidding facility (Choose CPM or CPC)
- Increase performance – watch click through rates and experiment, refine
For a fantastic beginner’s guide to LinkedIn DirectAds, check out this presentation on Slideshare and also check out this B2B Test on LinkedIn DirectAds conducted by Econsultancy.
To get started with LinkedIn DirectAds, click here. (You’ll need to be logged in to LinkedIn)
Be sure to watch for our next post on social media publicity which will cover ad & promotion options for opportunities on Twitter, Foursquare and Groupon.
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