The concern for any Chief Marketing Officer with Social Media advertising is always Return on Investment. You could throw your whole budget at Social Media advertising, and at times you may have, but the ROI can be low, and the results fluctuate massively between different campaigns. That’s why most companies hire a Social Media Advertising Firm to manage their campaigns and provide constant direction on where to get the best ROI.
How to Identify a Good Social Media Advertising Firm
I hate to state the obvious, but you don’t want to hire a Social Media Advertising firm that doesn’t run successful Social Media campaigns for their clients. How will you know if they do? Check out the case studies and client reviews on their own website, and their employee’s connection reviews on LinkedIn.
Another factor is are they part of a larger Digital Marketing Agency. It’s certainly an advantage if they are because a good Social Media Advertising campaign should be coordinated with a wider Digital Marketing strategy. If you’re launching new content, or have just received positive PR coverage, you want your Social Media advertising to feed off and into that. It’s certainly advantageous to outsource all of your Digital Marketing elements to one agency who can coordinate all campaigns, taking advantage of uptakes in one of more of the elements.
A third factor to consider is use of technology, a good Social Media advertising firm will mention the use of their proprietary software to create campaigns based on in-depth analysis. Anyone can pay for off-the-shelf tools but a company that has invested in software themselves to manage Digital Marketing campaigns has a commitment to efficient use of their client’s budget and achieving ongoing results.
Finally, a top Social Media advertising firm will be willing to offer a free trial period so that you can see how effective their management of your Social Media budget it compared to when you managed it yourself. You should see a positive increase in conversion rates along the line, with increased revenue.
Which Social Media Channels Should You Advertise On?
Some Social Media advertising firms may suggest a wide campaign across multiple Social Media platforms, but realistically the best return on investments for consumer advertising are being seen on primarily Facebook and Instagram. A well-managed campaign will see a very positive ROI on both Facebook and Instagram, and any budget trialled on any other consumer Social Media channel will likely be switched to these two later anyway to make the most of their high volume and good ROI. Of course, there’s no issue with trying out other Social Media platforms, particularly if you’re a B2B business, but for consumer products and services its very unlikely you will end up looking further than Facebook and Instagram for your long-term Social Media marketing campaigns.
So a good Social Media advertising firm should have proven results, use their own-developed technology to create your campaigns, be part of a larger Digital Marketing Agency, and offer you a free trial period.
