Budgeting for Social Ads

With the ever changing newsfeed one thing has become apparent, to stay in front of your audience you need to set aside ad dollars. Let's get down to it - so how much is it going to cost?

1. Industry matters.

If you're B2B plan on spending between $1 - $3 per engagement. If you're B2C cost per engagement will most likely run you $.30 - $60. I often say the more "fun" your business is (think food, spirits, fashion), the less money you'll need to spend.

2. Networks matter.

Whether you are B2B or B2C, Facebook tends to be the most cost efficient when it comes to social ads, followed by Twitter and then LinkedIn. This has held consistently true no matter what the industry. Facebook also allows integration of Instagram with its ad platform, so you can target two networks at once.

That said, if you can't find your audience easily through Facebook targeting, it may be worth spending the extra money on Twitter and LinkedIn. At the end of the day you want your message to reach the right people, even if that means fewer people overall.

3. Goals matter.

What's your ask? If you want people to click to an external website you'll probably pay more. If you want people to commit to liking your page versus liking a boosted post you'll also pay a slightly higher premium. The larger the "ask," the more you'll need to budget.

4. Reach matters.

Like any traditional ad buy, the more people you want to reach, the more it will cost you. I recommend a minimum $50 a month ad buy to clients. This allows you to boost two posts a week at $5 reaching around 1,000 - 3,000 people based on your targeting goals.

Social ads are accessible, easy to create and a must in today's world of social media marketing. Make sure you carve out budget to support your content, otherwise you may be talking to yourself.

Do you really need Facebook ads? Yes.

Remember when Facebook ads used to be a nice to have? If you want to reach even a third of your fanbase those days are over. As Facebook decreases the organic reach of pages you can expect less than 10% of your fans to see your content. Here are a few strategies for tackling the ever decreasing organic reach. 

• Budget for ads. Simple enough. You need to carve out a certain amount of dollars to get the content that matters most in front of your fans. Whether that be specials sales or a new product. Consider boosting at least one post weekly to keep top of mind. The good news is you don't have to throw thousands of dollars behind a buy, depending on your audience size, sometimes $5 a post will do.

• Diversify. Sure Facebook-owned Instagram will probably follow suit in a year but in the meantime see what kind of organic exposure you can gain. Twitter has an ad product but as of now they aren't "editing" your stream the way Facebook does. That said the Twitter stream moves so quickly it self-edits in a way. Pinterest is testing ads and favoring those with a bit of development prowess - rich pins rule - but you don't have to advertise at this point in order to get seen.

• Create content your fans want to share. Even if a mere 5% of your fanbase is seeing it, if your content is good that 5% may share expanding your reach.

I wanna be popular - Facebook Ads

It's every marketer's dream to have 1 million Facebook fans waiting to hear your messages and even better waiting to give you real time feedback. Finally, you have a place tucked neatly between family and friends in a newsfeed. But of course you have to respect that space. A recent study by Opinionway shows 36% of people stop "liking" a company on Facebook mainly because they don't care for the content or the frequency of posts are too intense.Which got me thinking about some recent Facebook ads I've seen that could be construed as a little misleading. An ad by Casa Dragones Tequila shows Eva Longoria and promises other celeb pics. Another ad from Corona Light promises to put my face on a billboard in Times Square if I like it. Now if I'm a Desperate Housewives fan I may click that ad but it really doesn't mean I like the tequila, and if the thought of seeing myself in Times Square seems exciting...which it does...I may click Corona Light, but it doesn't mean I like the beer...which I happen to like very much actually.

The point is you may get a million fans this way but are they going to stay? Do they really really like you, because if not, they aren't going to keep you in their ever-growing newsfeed. Perhaps its better to just tell them the truth. "Hello, my name is Casa Dragones, I paid Eva Longoria twenty grand to show up at this party and take a quick picture. You probably won't see her very often on the page. In fact what you'll really get are some recipes. That's who I really am. P.S. Hope we can still be friends."