How to Advertise Through Social Media!

    Social media has become a staple in American culture over the past 30 years and is used for different things based on one’s personal needs. Businesses, both small and big, often use social media to help expand their brand. Whereas someone individually might use social media to post pictures of their life or even meet new people. No matter what you use social media for, you are advertising yourself to anyone using the platform. Advertisements aren’t just used by businesses; individuals on social media platforms are essentially advertising themselves as well by posting pictures of their lives with the hopes people will enjoy their content enough to like and follow their accounts. These seven steps are the key to creating compelling, engaging advertisements that will impact the audience. According to the text, the seven steps are: “1. Select Goals, 2. Select the Target Market, 3. Select Platforms, 4. Select a Budget 5. Select the Ad Format, 6. Consider the Ad Funnel, and 7. Develop the Content.” I will go in-depth about these steps and how they can help you, individually or in a business setting, create entertaining advertisements to increase success on all fronts.

    The first step in this strategy is to select goals, specifically ones that align with the company's overall objectives. If the ads are going to represent your business, it is important that they align with what the company stands for. The stronger your goals, the better advertisements you can create, likely increasing the company's overall sales, web traffic, or engagement. 

    The second step is to determine your target audience and adjust your posts accordingly. If most of your customers are between 18 and 24, you should promote the things that would be most useful for that age group. For example, if you are a bag company, you could make an ad that promotes backpacks and the bags that are the most sturdy after looking at the analytics and seeing that most of the group is in college. If you have multiple age ranges, creating a different ad for each customer persona is possible based on what they enjoy or what you are selling. 

    The next step is to select the platforms you want to use. It is essential to look at the demographics of each social media platform to determine where you will release your advertisement. Businesses will likely use different platforms for different reasons depending on their target audience. Instagram and TikTok are the best platforms for reaching teenagers, but Facebook and Twitter are better for promoting something or trying to reach an adult or business audience. 

    The fourth step is to create a budget for all social media activities. Creating a budget is crucial because it can help make sure that the spending rate is not more than the expected revenue back. If you overspend on advertising and you don’t get enough money back from sales, you will lose money, and this could become a significant problem for businesses. Especially for small businesses that don’t usually make a lot of money, it can be hard to create suitable, appealing ads that won’t spend too much money. Since costs to post advertisements vary between social media platforms, you should research to find out what works best for you and your budget.

    Step five is to select the ad format. Depending on the product the company is trying to sell, a video might be better than a picture. Whatever ad type you or a company create, do research to find out if the platform you want to use supports that format. 

    The next step is to consider the ad funnel. AIDA is an acronym that talks about the buyer and the process it takes them to scope the product to buy it. AIDA stands for Awareness, Interest, Design, and Action. Awareness is the content in any form that is posted and advertises a product or service one is selling. Interest is when the business retargets the audience that clicked on the video or visited the post. The design stage is similar and is where the company can post customer testimonials or case studies that elevate their product. Action is the last section and is where the brand hits the audience with a coupon, free trial, consultation, etc., in hopes that it leads the customer to try out or buy their product.

    The last step in this strategy is actually developing the content. This includes making the advertisement (videos, images, etc.) and the captions or words that will accompany it. It is good to remember that the best social media posts are often the ones with the fewest words, so if necessary, you might want to create a written post to go alongside the digital aspects you post. 

    Overall, these seven steps may seem like a lot, but they are the best strategy for producing engagement with an audience and increasing web traffic. These steps can help create an impact on social media for brands or anyone posting across any platform. Companies use methods like this, and so can you!