About Lesson
How to boost awareness with ads and promoted posts
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– [Instructor] The days of viral organic posts from brands are long gone. In its place are paid opportunities that social media platforms offer brands as a way for them to monetize their business, which means you need to build paid media into your social media plans. Let’s delve into some of the options and how to develop a strategy that works for your brand. One of the simplest ways to get noticed on social is by boosting or promoting your post. That is, by putting some money behind your top-performing content to increase its reach. Boosted posts are generally easy to set up and most of the platforms offer various options that you can consider. Just remember, you may need to switch from a personal to a business account in order to take advantage of business posts or social media ads. Other paid options include video or photo ads that can run between stories. You could try pre-roll ads that are shown at the start of a video or a mid-roll ad that happens once a user started watching. Carousel ads include a selection of your product. And if you want to really get noticed, brand takeovers appear at the top of a feed so they’re hard for your customers to miss. You can sponsor hashtags or trending topics. And if your budget is big enough, you can work directly with platforms to create custom assets like augmented reality lenses. A company like H+ Sport might be interested in building awareness for their new Marathon line of stylish and innovative products that connect your smart watch to monitor your breathing and pulse. They also know they’re trying to reach a young tech-savvy audience in cities where marathons are held. They might create story ads that appear next to a marathon training hashtag on Instagram or TikTok, or they could encourage their customers to tag them when they complete a run and then boost those posts. The key is finding the right blend of paid and organic posts for your business. That begins with your goals, and whether you’re looking to build awareness, spark consideration, or encourage customers to purchase. Then you’ll need to select your budget and determine your audience and other considerations like length of campaign, geography, and whether you’re using video, photos, or some combination. And most platforms offer AI or algorithmic optimization where you upload your visuals and copy and they’re automatically updated based on what’s getting the most attention. But just because you’ve automated your paid social post doesn’t mean you can set and forget. You’ll need to establish a process to monitor performance on a regular basis and ensure your ads are meeting your objectives. And if they aren’t, you’ll want to tweak and adjust. The platforms all offer free training courses to help marketers understand how to manage and maximize the efficiency of your ads, and they’re well worth your time.
