Don’t Advertise on Social Media Without Doing This First

To let you in on a little behind the scenes info, one question that comes up a lot with our clients is: should we advertise on social media? Now, we help a lot of B2B and government contractors. So, our answers trend towards ‘no’ most of the time. It’s just not the best place to spend their limited budget. If you’re wondering whether it’s a good idea for you and your business, however, the question we’d ask you first is ‘what’s your organic strategy like?’

Paid Social Media Marketing

If you think paying for advertising on your target social platforms will help you avoid having to deal with the messiness of algorithms, then think again. You’ll also want to think twice if you believe you can evaluate your social media ads the same way you can your search engine marketing. They serve different end goals, and should be measured accordingly.

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At ImageWorks, we are of the opinion that to advertise on social media is to invest in your online community. That is, you should be looking at Google Ads if you want to sell to users interested in buying right now. Social media advertising, meanwhile, is better used to increase the reach and intrigue of your social profile, to build up your organic audience.

That isn’t to say you can’t advertise your products or promote a post that leads users to your website to browse your services. With some nifty targeting, advertising on social media can serve you just as well as Google Ads. What we do mean by that, however, is that using your social ad campaigns effectively requires an understanding of your audience and your ideal buyer. Plus, if you’re paying for an ad and a user visits your profile to find lackluster organic content, it just ends up looking bad for you.

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Delving into the world of paid social media marketing can do wonders for your business. However, we caution against moving into it without first investing the time and effort needed to understand the platform and your audience on it.

Organic Social Media Marketing

On that note, we think every business should be on social media. We are not saying you need to be on every social media platform, though. In all likelihood, there are 1-2 platforms out there where your ideal customers already like to hang out. Find those places and spend some time hanging out there yourself. Get to know the locals, as it were.

Once you get the hang of how often to post and nail down a hashtag strategy, you can really do a lot with your socials. The number one thing is connecting with your audience. Buyers today want more than your product. That connection, that look at the people, values, and mission behind your business, fills their need for strong ties to where they spend their money.

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Paid advertising on social media offers unique opportunities to target your ideal customer. However, we think it’s not smart to invest in these opportunities without having an organic, non-paid social media strategy to support it. By viewing social media platforms as just another advertising channel, you ignore the biggest benefit social media has: the ability to establish a personal connection between users and your brand.

By Jordan Latham