3 stages of your ad campaign
Over the last 6 years we have worked with mannnny many small businesses, of all shapes and sizes, and we have run literally hundreds of social ad campaigns. Thanks to a lot of research and testing, we have learned a LOT about the ad types that work (and the ones that don’t). But perhaps more importantly, we have seen countless times the benefits of the buyer’s journey to our social media ad campaigns.
Some of you may have heard of the buyer’s journey. Basically, the buyer’s journey is the process people go through to become aware of, consider and decide to purchase a new product or service. Understanding this helps us to create social media ad campaigns that move our prospective buyers from a cold lead (someone who has never heard about our brand) through to a hot lead (someone who makes an enquiry).
It’s powerful and effective and it’s also pretty simple when you break it down to its fundamentals:
Stage 1: Awareness
Stage 2: Consideration
Stage 3: Conversion
Why are all three stages important?
Before we dive in, it’s worth saying at the outset that you can’t jump to Stage 3 Conversion. When you think about it, if someone has never heard of your brand before, they’re not likely going to be in a strong position to take action. It would be like jumping to marriage before a few dates. Who would!?
This logic applies even more so in the digital world.
As a social media marketer, you have to invest the time and money in building trust, before you can ask for a purchase. That’s where this idea of awareness, consideration, and conversions come into play. While it’s tempting to think you can jump into their face with a special offer, most people will be pretty skeptical of this kind of content. In short, you really can’t cut corners.
Stage 1: Awareness
Creating awareness means letting your target audience know about your product or service. One great strategy for creating brand awareness is to focus on organic social media posting and amplifying your top performing content. Or in other words, Post Boosting.
One of the biggest opportunities for brands with limited time and resources is to simply boost top performing posts from their page. Not only is this the most inexpensive form of social media advertising, but it also provides brands with a way to reach a new customer segment that they might not have been able to with traditional ads.
Organic social media content is a powerful catalyst in increasing word-of-mouth marketing. People are much more likely to notice and engage with content that doesn’t feel like a promotion or ad.
Stage 2: Consideration
The Consideration Stage is all about educating your audience in the benefits of your product or service. Generally, the strategy here is to lead your audience to an external site where they can “Learn More.”
We love using video for consideration content, as it’s an engaging format to illustrate and educate. It’s also the preferred way people like to learn. When you think about it, if someone has opted in to get more information, they’re already halfway there! So, it’s definitely worth investing the resources into this area.
Ad types that are great at Consideration Stage include Post Boosts, Instagram Story Ads, and Carousel Ads. Just make sure the Call To Action is Learn More or Watch Video, or some other Consideration action.
Once they’ve come across to your landing pages, the journey definitely shouldn’t stop there. There are a number of ad types that you can use to stay close to them. We love Pixel Targeting and Lookalike Audiences.
Pixel Targeting
We recommend having the basic Facebook Pixel set up on your website. You can find your unique Pixel in Facebook Ads Manager under “Pixels.” Installing the Pixel will allow you to track the behaviour of users on your website and also target them with Facebook Ads in the future based on specific actions.
Lookalike Audiences
Using Facebook’s sophisticated algorithm, you can create a custom Lookalike audience that targets users who are most likely to engage with or purchase from your brand. There are two great ways to go about creating a Lookalike audience.
One: you can upload an email list of your most valuable customers – ideally customers that have a high lifetime value (LTV), or customers you know that make repeated purchases. That gives Facebook a great place to start in understanding who to target.
Two: you can create a Lookalike audience based on your own Facebook Page audience. In other words, an audience that’s closely related to the people who currently like and engage with your page.
Stage 3: Conversion
Congratulations, as your prospective buyer now knows about your brand and they’ve considered the benefits and the value it can bring to their lives. It’s time to encourage them to buy or enquire about your products or services.
Conversion-focused ads almost always contain an irresistible offer. This might be a discount on a product, a free-trial, a coupon, a buy-one-get-one-free offer, or even the standard product in full price depending on the industry. We also find that AfterPay and other buy-now-pay-later services are a great way to get those hesitant browsers over the line, especially with product based e-commerce brands.
There are a number of different types of Conversion Ads, including Product Carousels, Instagram Stories and more. In fact, any ad that directs people to the point-of-purchase can be considered a Conversion Ad, although some definitely perform better than others.
On a final note, it almost goes without saying that it’s super duper important at this stage to be able to track your results through Facebook Ads Manager or Google Analytics, and through your CRM (if you have one). This will provide rich data on their purchasing behaviours which you can apply for social media ad campaigns.
Summary
What do you think? Does this help or shed light on the results you are seeing from your current campaign?!
We hope that it gives you a good framework for creating your social media advertising campaigns. Don’t forget that all of your content is going to actual people, who need to trust your brand before they whip out their credit card. Understanding which ad types are best for creating awareness, fostering consideration and driving conversions will help you to direct your efforts into the right areas and minimise ad budget blowouts. Let’s face it, Mark Z has enough of our money!
We are here to help!
Don’t know where to start? Drop us a line! We are passionate about helping small businesses to realise their fullest potential. Get in touch for a free 30-minute consultation here!