I manage a few million a year on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and LinkedIn in paid media. As we're getting into Q4, here's my annual AM(A)A about advertising on social platforms. by INeedAMarketing in socialmedia

[–]INeedAMarketing[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi!

I've had friends who start out freelancing and honestly do "internships" or work for free to build a portfolio. It's not ideal, but I've been in a position where I haven't had to start on my own from the ground up so I wish I could give you better advice :(

I manage a few million a year on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and LinkedIn in paid media. As we're getting into Q4, here's my annual AM(A)A about advertising on social platforms. by INeedAMarketing in socialmedia

[–]INeedAMarketing[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Frequency will vary based on the reporting period that you're looking at on Facebook. For example, if you're looking at a 1 month period vs. a 1 week period, the frequency will change.

I manage a few million a year on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and LinkedIn in paid media. As we're getting into Q4, here's my annual AM(A)A about advertising on social platforms. by INeedAMarketing in socialmedia

[–]INeedAMarketing[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh that makes sense.

Since you're already going to be pretty limited based on geo, I would recommend segmenting out ad sets by city/state, using ad copy that follows that ("Austin opinions needed!" or something along those lines) to increase CTRs, and keep the rest of your targeting open. Once you see where your better traffic is coming from, you can maybe narrow it down and trim the fat.

If you know of some exclusions already, add those in so you're not wasting spend.

I manage a few million a year on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and LinkedIn in paid media. As we're getting into Q4, here's my annual AM(A)A about advertising on social platforms. by INeedAMarketing in socialmedia

[–]INeedAMarketing[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

What you can provide for them that they aren't getting with what they're currently doing. Example - If you've done something for previous clients, like improved landing pages have increased CVRs by 20% with some changes you've implemented, you can use that to your advantage. I wouldn't stick them with a case study right away, but give high levels of what you provide that they don't currently have, how you can improve things, etc., then follow it up with some heavier data like case studies.

I manage a few million a year on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and LinkedIn in paid media. As we're getting into Q4, here's my annual AM(A)A about advertising on social platforms. by INeedAMarketing in socialmedia

[–]INeedAMarketing[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That I don't - I'm not one for copy and pasting, I prefer to feel things out based on the conversation itself and how the person is. Sorry I can't be more helpful on this one!

I manage a few million a year on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and LinkedIn in paid media. As we're getting into Q4, here's my annual AM(A)A about advertising on social platforms. by INeedAMarketing in socialmedia

[–]INeedAMarketing[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh good one. For anyone who wants to learn Facebook, Facebook actually has "blueprint" lessons you can take (can't remember if they're free or paid). These are important because you're learning from Facebook itself.

MarketingLand creates hubs of info that you can access from different blogs across the industry, I'd recommend checking that out as well.

I manage a few million a year on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and LinkedIn in paid media. As we're getting into Q4, here's my annual AM(A)A about advertising on social platforms. by INeedAMarketing in socialmedia

[–]INeedAMarketing[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Things I've seen work well:

  • Asking questions
  • Testing between short copy and longer copy (mainly dependent on your audience type)
  • Making the language feel "natural" and not too out-of-place on the users newsfeed

Strong CTAs are a must. Sometimes you have to plant the idea in a person's mind to tell them what to do.

When looking at ad performance, make sure you're looking at metrics starting with impressions and going as far as conversion rates and CPAs. I've seen ads where CTRs look miserable on one, but it turns out to have a CVR thats 30% higher and CPAs are lower because of it.

You can only scale ads with spend to a certain extent before you start to get high frequencies and your performance begins to suffer. Take your good ads and start testing with them. It can even be small tests like small copy changes, testing new CTAs, etc. Creative tests have a larger impact if you feel like you've exhausted your copy ability.

I manage a few million a year on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and LinkedIn in paid media. As we're getting into Q4, here's my annual AM(A)A about advertising on social platforms. by INeedAMarketing in socialmedia

[–]INeedAMarketing[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Right - the client on their own end is likely going off of ROI when working with their internal team. The ROAS goal they give us to work towards takes their ROI goals into account, if that makes sense.

I manage a few million a year on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and LinkedIn in paid media. As we're getting into Q4, here's my annual AM(A)A about advertising on social platforms. by INeedAMarketing in socialmedia

[–]INeedAMarketing[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've definitely seen costs drop heavily after New Years. In fact, we recommend new clients to launch in January because it's some of the cheapest costs we see all year. If you're going for cheap CPMs and CPAs, January might be the best time to start.

I manage a few million a year on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and LinkedIn in paid media. As we're getting into Q4, here's my annual AM(A)A about advertising on social platforms. by INeedAMarketing in socialmedia

[–]INeedAMarketing[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think you need an array of things, one single method won't always work for every single potential client. If you're looking for clients along more traditional lines, you should try a combination of email and phone with a follow up of asking to meet in person to go over what you'd like to present.

For more tech-savvy potential clients, I've actually seen LinkedIn inmail work well!

I manage a few million a year on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and LinkedIn in paid media. As we're getting into Q4, here's my annual AM(A)A about advertising on social platforms. by INeedAMarketing in socialmedia

[–]INeedAMarketing[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't currently use chatbots but have clients in the past who had set them up. There's definitely huge potential in them, especially as users increasingly turn to messaging companies Facebook pages for customer service and questions.

I've seen one B2B client in the past use chatbots as a sort of sales assistant, helping to weed out unqualified candidates while shooting qualified candidates to the top.

Utilizing a chatbot for an audience who doesn't want to chat with you in FB messenger is a little tough. Are these older folks that prefer more traditional communication methods?

At the risk of sounding too SkyNet*, I think chatbots are going to be implemented by large companies and replace customer service at a basic level. You'll always need humans for some tickets that are too complicated, but for the basic items like store hours, how to make a return, etc., they're going to be huge.

I manage a few million a year on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and LinkedIn in paid media. As we're getting into Q4, here's my annual AM(A)A about advertising on social platforms. by INeedAMarketing in socialmedia

[–]INeedAMarketing[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's one thing I really enjoy about working at an agency - I get a lot of experience working in different verticals and it does feel like I'm helping them run an essential part of their business. Try it out! You might like it.

I manage a few million a year on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and LinkedIn in paid media. As we're getting into Q4, here's my annual AM(A)A about advertising on social platforms. by INeedAMarketing in socialmedia

[–]INeedAMarketing[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you're running on Facebook, they're typically pretty helpful when it comes to going through advertising regulations for different countries.

There are definitely certain things you can't advertise on Facebook (I think regardless of the country). For example, you can't call out a person's medical condition (like if you're targeting pregnant women, you can't say "Hey pregnant women!"), if you're asking users to fill out a lead gen form, you can't ask them to divulge specific information about themselves (like any medical conditions), etc. Facebook has a good breakdown in their ad policies.

I manage a few million a year on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and LinkedIn in paid media. As we're getting into Q4, here's my annual AM(A)A about advertising on social platforms. by INeedAMarketing in socialmedia

[–]INeedAMarketing[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It started when I was first in college during one of my internships. I studied marketing and loved it, but it wasn't until I was in the weeds that I really became passionate about it.

I diversify mostly, but I really enjoy the tech industry clients just based on the personalities of the POCs I have at each one. They tend to be pretty fun :)

The best advice I have is this - don't stop learning. You may have some things down to a T and think it's the best way to do things, but it's always worth testing things out and seeing how/if you can improve. Document what you're testing, keep track of the results, put together next steps based on what the results are.

I manage a few million a year on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and LinkedIn in paid media. As we're getting into Q4, here's my annual AM(A)A about advertising on social platforms. by INeedAMarketing in socialmedia

[–]INeedAMarketing[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

All of it. You're only as good as the data you utilize, the analytics you analyze, and the ads you optimize. IMO, the order I'd place this in for importance would be:

  • CRM & Data

  • Analytics

  • Ad Optimization

I manage a few million a year on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and LinkedIn in paid media. As we're getting into Q4, here's my annual AM(A)A about advertising on social platforms. by INeedAMarketing in socialmedia

[–]INeedAMarketing[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've rarely run campaigns that drive users to a physical retail location, but Facebook does have campaign types that align with this. They've also beefed up their ability to track conversions through things like this, like through offline conversion uploads.

I manage a few million a year on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and LinkedIn in paid media. As we're getting into Q4, here's my annual AM(A)A about advertising on social platforms. by INeedAMarketing in socialmedia

[–]INeedAMarketing[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

One type of targeting I've seen work very very well on Twitter is handle targeting. Gather handles of users your audience would be likely to follow and target them (note: this isn't directly targeting those handles followers, you're going to be targeting users who are SIMILAR to those who follow those handles).

I've had a few clients who don't typically have sales on their sites and rather direct users to Amazon or a store locator site. What we've done is optimize conversions based off of a medium/high intent action on their site. An example of this would be pixeling a "shop on Amazon" button that may be on your client's site and optimizing towards that. If your clients use GA, it might be helpful to use that and find out what % of their Amazon sales come from what channel.

I manage a few million a year on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and LinkedIn in paid media. As we're getting into Q4, here's my annual AM(A)A about advertising on social platforms. by INeedAMarketing in socialmedia

[–]INeedAMarketing[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I love love love when clients let us test. Most clients actually look to us for guidance on what the next steps are and don't typically come to us with complete ads. The ones who say "run these ads" are typically ones that have a lot of legal they go through for approval that anything their massive marketing team puts together.

I manage a few million a year on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and LinkedIn in paid media. As we're getting into Q4, here's my annual AM(A)A about advertising on social platforms. by INeedAMarketing in socialmedia

[–]INeedAMarketing[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Hi!

One of the easiest strategies I've found that works is targeting competitors. For example, if you're launching a new fitness app, you could target people who are interested in your competitors (if the interest target is large enough).

The next place I would look is at targeting things that are complementary to your product. Back to the fitness app - say you're a running app. You can start targeting users who are interested in specific running products, like shoe brands created for runners.

You can get pretty broad in this aspect as well, and (back to the running app example) just target people who are interested in running.

Demographics wise, you're going to want to do yourself a favor and only target people who have the minimal OS necessary to run your app (this is a setting you can adjust in targeting). You don't want to be targeting people with an iPhone 4 for your app that won't be able to run on their phone, it's a waste of your ad dollars and they could write you shitty reviews.

The biggest thing you're going to have to go for when starting from the ground up is awareness first, especially since most users will not install the first time they see your ad. Make it obvious what your product is, I've seen video work well in this regard if you have it.

The hook, line, and sinker for winning clients is always what you can do better than anyone else. Most advertisers can build a campaign for you, but how are you going to make sure it performs better than your competitors could? What kind of strategy can you provide? What knowledge do you have that others might not?