We know what you’re thinking: Why invest in paid social media when most social sites are essentially free? While this is true, organic posts and content may not always reach your desired target audience, as the digital space can get noisy. To prevent this, many marketers turn to paid social to reach custom audiences, helping them stand out in the competitive digital space.
The key to running an effective paid social campaign is crafting strategies that drive measurable results. With Bitly, this process becomes easier as you get a clear visual of how different strategies perform so you can continually refine your campaign.
Here, we look at how you can craft and execute a winning paid social strategy.
What does a paid social strategy entail?
A paid social strategy is a leg up in the digital space. It’s sponsored targeted advertising that puts your brand in front of potential customers. Think of it this way: If social advertising is a game of cards, paid social is the cheat code that’ll give you the winning set.
So, how does it work? The answer to this question varies depending on individual brands and their social media goals. So, don’t approach paid social advertising as a one-size-fits-all strategy.
Still, there are some commonalities across all paid social strategies, including:
- Needing audience data to ensure you’re positioning your brand in front of the right people.
- Needing to craft measurable goals to direct your campaign and gauge its effectiveness.
- Needing to pay for targeted ads.
10 tips for crafting your own paid social strategy
As mentioned above, a paid strategy isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach. So, you can’t copy another brand’s strategy and expect to register similar results. For success, you need to craft your own social strategy, informed by your ideal customer and unique brand requirements. Let’s explore how you can do that.
1. Define clear, measurable objectives
Ever tried to hike a new trail without a guide or at least a map? Winging it may appear fun at first, but it’s guaranteed to result in more than a few wrong turns.
Think of objectives as the map you need to get you to the end of the trail. Without them, your campaign will lack direction, and you’ll more than likely make some wrong decisions on the way. Further, without objectives, it’s impossible to gauge your campaign’s effectiveness.
Start all your paid social media campaigns with clear, measurable objectives that align with overall business goals to guide your entire campaign.
Say you want to increase brand awareness; one of your objectives could be “to increase page visits by 30% over the next three months.” This way, you know how to craft your messaging (focus on encouraging new customers to visit your website) and gauge your campaign’s success.
2. Understand your target audience
You need to understand your target audience to generate results from your campaign. After all, the effectiveness of paid social hinges on showing your social media ads to the right people. To find and understand your target audience, leverage tools like Bitly and Google Analytics for insights like your audience’s location, gender, age, online habits, and so on.
Collecting this information can help you create the right buyer personas, craft messaging that resonates with them, and, ultimately, boost engagement. Moreover, understanding your audience can help you better manage your social advertising budget. With 60% of marketers believing that their marketing spending is under more scrutiny now than ever, you can’t afford to not allocate your budget effectively.
3. Choose the right platforms
Choosing a platform is a crucial decision that determines whether the right people see your ads. Consider your target audience when making your choice. If your primary audience comprises Gen Zs and millennials, Instagram and Facebook ads are some of the most effective options—52% of Gen Zs use Instagram, and 77% of millennials check Facebook daily. Similarly, if your buyer personas are working professionals, LinkedIn ads may be a suitable option.
Also, consider the nature of your product or service and how it fits into different social networks. For example, if your product requires comprehensive tutorials, video ads on a platform like YouTube are ideal. If visuals are enough to sell your brand, image ads on platforms like Instagram and Facebook are a suitable choice.
4. Leverage creative content
Unfortunately, simply choosing a platform where your audience spends their time isn’t enough to help you meet your goals. Your content must be high-quality to capture their attention and spur action. It must also be engaging and tailored to your chosen platform’s preferences and ad formats to help you stand out and streamline your marketing efforts.
Say you’ve chosen Instagram as your preferred paid social media platform; high-quality images and short videos are ideal, as the platform is highly visual, and users expect short-form content. If you choose YouTube, you can post longer videos, as it’s a video-sharing platform.
Whatever your chosen marketing platform, opt for interesting rather than sales-like content to maintain your audience’s attention. Also, always include a call to action (CTA) to encourage viewers to complete your desired task (filling out a form, visiting your website, buying your product, and so on).
5. Use advanced targeting options
Audience targeting helps ensure your chosen platform displays your ads to the right people. Luckily, you don’t need to look for people who fit your persona descriptions manually—social networks do that for you.
Different platforms have varying targeting options. For example, Instagram lets you target audiences based on aspects like demographics, location, traits, and interests. On the other hand, TikTok allows you to target audiences based on hashtags, spending power, behaviors, and income. Choose targeting criteria based on your buyer personas for successful marketing efforts.
6. Implement A/B testing
Odds are, it’ll take some trial and error to create the best messaging, content, CTAs, and so on, especially if you’re new to paid social advertising. A/B testing (or split testing) will let you know which type of content best reaches your audience and encourages engagement.
To perform an A/B test, divide your target audience into two groups and show them different variations of the same ad. Ideally, the two ads should have a single varying factor at a time—different headlines, ad copies, images, CTAs, and the like. Display the ads long enough to register significant results and compare them to determine what works best for you.
Depending on your goals, you can compare various paid social metrics, like your engagement rate, audience growth rate, click-through rate (CTR), and conversion rate. Repeat your A/B test regularly, changing a single variable every time until you find a mix that yields the best results.
7. Focus on ad placement
In a space filled with a seemingly unlimited amount of content and hundreds of competitors displaying their ads, your placement could be a defining factor in the success of your marketing efforts. Strategic ad placement helps capture your audience’s attention and drive engagement.
However, choosing proper ad placement can be overwhelming, considering the many options platforms provide. Take Meta, for example; your Instagram or Facebook ads can be displayed on Facebook Marketplace, Facebook Stories, Instagram Feed, or Instagram Explore, among others.
To choose the best placement, consider your audience and where they spend most of their time. Do they view Instagram Stories more than they scroll through their Feed? In this case, Stories is your best option.
As with your ad copy, CTAs, and headlines, finding the best ad placement may take some trial and error. Conduct regular A/B tests focused on trying out different placements to identify the most effective one.
8. Optimize for mobile
How often do you use your mobile phone versus your computer? If you’re like most people, you primarily use your phone—U.S. adults spent roughly 3 hours and 26 minutes on their smartphones in 2023. This makes a mobile-first approach crucial to your campaign’s success.
Optimize all elements of your campaign for mobile users so you can reach a larger audience. Ensure your images and ad copy adjust to smaller screens, you have clickable CTAs, your messaging is concise, and your ad leads audiences to mobile-friendly landing pages.
9. Monitor and adjust in real time
The digital space is ever-evolving. What resonates now with your audience may not get you the same numbers in a few months.
To keep up with your audience’s changing preferences, use real-time analytics to monitor your campaign’s performance and adjust it as needed. For example, let’s say you determine that content on Instagram gets you more clicks than content on Facebook. You can then redirect more of your ad spend toward Instagram to maximize your campaign’s results.
10. Track and analyze with Bitly
You can use Bitly Analytics to identify the most popular type of content and platform (if you’re running multiple campaigns). To leverage the platform, create branded social media Bitly links, add them to paid social ads, and review their performance through your Bitly account. The platform offers click data, like the number of clicks received over time, allowing you to gauge audience engagement so you can see which types of campaigns resonate best with your customers.
With regular tracking and analysis, you can identify the most effective strategies and develop better marketing campaigns in the future.
How to execute and measure your paid social media advertising strategy
Now that you know how to craft a winning paid social campaign, how do you execute it and measure its performance? Read on for some tips.
Set up your campaigns correctly
This is a crucial first step because it determines your campaign’s direction and success. To set up your campaigns correctly, select objectives that align with your business goals. For example, if you want to expand your customer base, ensure your campaign objectives revolve around increasing brand awareness.
Beyond selecting the right objectives, you need to pick the right audience segments and define your budget. Ensure your audience aligns with your buyer personas to boost your likelihood of realizing positive results.
Your budget will depend on variables like your chosen platform’s CPC (cost per click), the duration of your campaign, the cost of ad creatives, and your industry. Consider each of these factors when making a budget to ensure you allocate enough to your marketing campaign.
Create engaging ad content
As with organic content, paid social content must be visually appealing, compelling, and engaging for desirable results. It must also be tailored to your chosen platform and audience, as well as include a clear CTA. If your audience prefers video ads, for example, invest in high-resolution, exciting videos with clear CTA phrases and post them on platforms that support this type of ad format—TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook for short videos and YouTube for long ones.
Consistently monitor campaign performance
Most ad platforms offer analytics to help clients assess their ads’ performance. Leverage these analytics to monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) like ad clicks and conversion rates. This way, you can adjust campaigns and ensure they are on track to meet set objectives.
Make decisions based on data
Data-driven decisions are the backbone of successful marketing campaigns. Use collected data and analytics to make informed decisions on campaign adjustments for optimization.
For example, if click data shows that video ads perform better than image ads, adjust your strategy to incorporate more video content. Don’t just make random decisions—this could result in significant ad spending with minimal return on investment (ROI).
Learn how to calculate ROI to evaluate success
The only way to determine if you’re getting value for your ad spend is by calculating your ROI. The ROI formula is:
(return – investment made) / investment made X 100
Your objectives for the marketing campaign will determine which values to input. For example, if your goal is to increase brand awareness, potential returns could be your sales, number of leads realized, number of followers gained, and your web traffic.
Also, consider qualitative metrics to gain more insights into your campaign’s effectiveness. For example, to determine the quality of your user experience before and after paid social campaigns, you can assess customers’ sentiments using sentiment analysis solutions or collect customer feedback through surveys.
Enhance your paid social media strategies with Bitly
Keeping your brand and customers at the center of your strategy helps build consistency, trust, and value. Execute a well-thought-out strategy and leverage data from your ad platforms and tracking tools like Bitly for continuous ad success.
With Bitly, you receive real-time click data on your ad performance, giving you the power to make immediate adjustments to your campaign. Through the Bitly Connections Platform, you get a visual of the total number of clicks your ads receive over time, as well as their locations, allowing you to refine ads and identify where your market is so you can be more specific in your ad placements.
Create a Bitly account today for in-depth insights into your paid social media strategy’s performance to facilitate continuous optimization.