Despite the algorithm changes at Facebook, using this social platform continues to be a strong source of new customers for businesses we work with. It has required us to make minor changes to ensure our clients get the best possible return on their investment.
Here are some suggestions for what you can do to maximize your results using social media in 2018:
Use your ads as organic posts each week
Repurpose your ads by publishing them as organic posts to your page. We’re finding that taking time to create brand new organic posts from scratch is not always the best use of your time due to the algorithm changes. You typically need to pay to promote your posts anyway since organic reach for them is now dead. That’s why we’ve been using our best-performing ads as double duty to be a weekly post to the business page to reduce the creative energy needed to keep the business feed active and current.
Use micro-influencers, not celebrities
Although you’d naturally think that big celebrities are ideal to expand your brand, the reality is that their engagement is very weak at 4% compared to micro-influencers who have less than 250,000 followers/fans. Micro-influencers are more approachable and respond to comments. That is why their engagement is 30-40% in comparison.
If you have the time, it’s worthwhile to research and reach out to micro-influencers in your niche/industry that would be a good fit for your brand to get your message out in an authentic way. Once you’ve established a relationship with them, don’t rely on organic reach. Try promoting their post to get the most value for the arrangement.
Test using more copy in your ads
Typically, ads are a few lines of copy that encourage you to click on them to go to their website to get more information about the product/service. However, using long copy (a few paragraphs) in the ad copy instead of a few lines will pre-qualify your potential customers before you have to pay for their click over to your site.
By the time they get to your site, they will be more educated and prepared to make a decision. This means that you can take them to a product page or even a checkout page instead of a landing page. This is because they have already made a decision to buy your product/service before visiting your website, so you don’t have to educate them again once they’ve arrived.
Personalize your website, it’s a thing now
Keeping your ads congruent with your website copy is now possible using dynamic copy changes. There is new software available to marketers that enables us to match the ad headlines on the landing page with the ads so there is a sensible flow between the two.
The dynamic copy changes can also be swapped out based on who is visiting your site, so the message can be customized depending on demographics, their job title, their area of interest, etc. The options are endless to customize your marketing message instead of the “one size fits all” website approach that has been the norm up until now.
Closed captioning for viewership in silence
On social media, 85% of people watch the videos on mute, so it’s important to use the closed captioning feature in the ads manager to integrate this. Otherwise, your video results are going to fall on deaf ears, and social media users will continue to thumb through to other interesting content to consume instead of yours.
In summary
Even though the organic reach for businesses is now almost obsolete, it’s important to be aware that Facebook and Instagram are still among the most affordable advertising options on the market today. We continue to get a solid return on investment for our clients despite algorithm changes that have happened recently.
If you’d like help with your social media strategy, contact us for a free consultation.
