Social media ads are one of the best advertising outlets available today. But they can be a little intimidating and tricky to do well. The landscape is constantly changing, and it’s difficult to know what works – because what worked yesterday could flop tomorrow.
In fact, even though social media ads are by-and-large very successful, over 70% of small business owners don’t think that theirs are. And let’s be honest, small business owners are WAY too busy to be wasting time on things that aren’t going to be successful. So that’s why I get this question so often when it comes to small business marketing.
The short answer is MAYBE – if you’re trying to grow your business or increase sales and you have enough cash flow to divert to ad spend, then social media ads could be worth exploring. Here are my tips for small business owners who want to get started with social media ads:
Most small business owners – with good reason – are concerned about throwing away money doing ads. And I get it, ads are basically a glorified experiment, especially if you’re not going to pay an expert to do it for you (and even then, that expert still needs to figure out what works for your business).
My recommendation would be to set aside what seems like a comfortable amount for you and your business. Consider your profits, consider what you can afford to spend. You can almost think of it like your gambling budget in Vegas – if it works, awesome! But if it doesn’t, that was your entertainment budget that was gone anyway. Never spend more than you’re willing to lose.
Start by setting a small daily budget, maybe $5-10 a day, and see what’s working and what’s not. The general rule is to give an ad a week to see if it takes off, but if you notice that nobody is clicking after a couple days, go ahead and shut it down.
Adjust what you need to – whether it’s audience, image, or text – and then get it back up. Constantly be checking up to see if you get results. Ads will need constant adjusting, so don’t be afraid to do that – in fact, you should absolutely expect adjustments as part of your strategy and planning. And while adjustments to both your content and your budget should be expected, setting a firm limit will give you the peace of mind that you’re not overspending.
When you go to set up your ads, you actually have to choose what you want to accomplish with that ad, so I highly recommend giving it some thought upfront. For Meta (Facebook and Instagram), here are the 6 objectives you can choose from:
Is your priority to capture sales? To get people to sign up for a newsletter? To re-engage your current audience? To increase awareness of your brand? This should not only tell you what box to check when you’re setting it up, but it should majorly inform your ad content and strategy.
The other reason you should have a clearly defined goal is so you know what you’re measuring. You don’t know if something is working or not if you don’t define what “working” means for that particular ad! So get specific about what you want the ad to produce, and you’ll be able to track its effectiveness much more easily.
I say this a lot when it comes to social media in general, because it’s true. If you don’t have realistic expectations, you will be disappointed every time.
Social media ads have gotten a lot more expensive over the years, and you’re in competition with big box stores and businesses when you run them. If you’re going to get through all that noise, you’re going to have to spend a LOT of money. So especially if you’re setting a low daily budget, don’t expect to run a few ads and magically sell out of product. That’s just not realistic.
Another expectation that most people need to adjust is what their target audience looks like. Most people think that setting a wider audience will produce a lot more reach, but it can actually hurt you as you’re first getting started. You want to get as specific as possible to increase the chance of reaching someone who actually wants what you’re offering.
These reality checks when it comes to expectations aren’t meant to be a downer, they’re meant to encourage you to start small and celebrate small wins. As your presence and sales increase, you can start to spend more money and expect more results. The goal is for the ads to produce growth – but just like anything, it starts small and works its way up.
Were these tips helpful? I hope so! I’m going to take this month and dive into some different aspects of social media ads to hopefully demystify what they are and how to use them. The goal is to equip you as a small business owner to use them if (or when) you’re ready!
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With over 15 years of experience, I've worked with countless small businesses just like yours. I can provide you with the tools and resources that will help make marketing less overwhelming.