Estimated reading time: 7 minutes
First of all, nowadays, there are a great many digital tools that companies can take advantage of to appear online quickly and effectively. One of these consists of so-called "Pay-per-Click" advertising campaigns. These, in fact, are particularly popular means that represent an excellent starting point for a proper "social strategy". Proper planning, configuration and management of a "Pay-per-Click" campaign, in fact, will be able to connect your business with potential customers, either by means of a search engine (Google, Bing, Yahoo etc..), or through one or more social platforms. In this regard, we will explain in more detail - in the following paragraphs - what "Pay-per-Click" campaigns are, highlighting the similarities and differences between different social media (such as Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn), leaving search engine campaigns for a future in-depth discussion.
Social Strategy: Pay-per-Click Campaigns on Social Media
To begin with, implementing a proper "social strategy" by means of planning a "Pay-per-Click" campaign on social media allows you to promote one or more digital content such as photos and videos - in different formats (depending on the options) - with the possibility of optimizing and adapting your budget and choosing the most appropriate geographic and demographic targeting. You can, therefore, customize your ad to make it visible only to the desired people and pay only when users click on your sponsored content.
Social Strategy: PPC Campaigns on Instagram
First, it is only right to reiterate that Instagram is undoubtedly, even today, one of the most widely used and appreciated social media by users of the most varied age groups. This is, in fact, confirmed by the approximately 700 million currently active users. In this regard, the aspect that makes this tool particularly functional for advertising purposes is its high possibility of customization and its remarkable simplicity and immediacy of use.
Targeting
One of the main strengths of pay-per-click advertising on Instagram is its great flexibility in defining your audience targeting options. There are many main criteria that you can configure, such as: geographic location, language, age, gender, education level, occupation type, interests, and more.
Cost
As we had already anticipated, ads on Instagram only charge the cost of the campaign when someone clicks on the ad. In this regard, there are a number of factors that can affect the overall cost. Typically, the cost per click varies significantly, with the minimum value approaching one Swiss franc. The main factor influencing the price is the target of the campaign. In addition, in reality, your target audience may also affect the price. A broader targeting level will cost less than more specific targeting.
Create Advertisements
To this end, you will have a number of choices regarding the type of ad. Single image and single video ads are the easiest and fastest to create. You can create up to six different ads with one image or choose to promote one video. If you wish to use up to ten images in a loop, you can then choose the "slideshow" option. Otherwise, "carousel" ads will allow you to include a series of both images and videos.
- Recommended: Viral Marketing: Why is it a Winning Strategy?
Social Strategy: PPC Campaigns on Facebook
Second, with an audience of about 3 billion currently active users, Facebook undoubtedly represents one of the social media as well as of the most used and appreciated advertising tools for companies. This platform is, in fact, an ideal tool for promoting products or services through the use of text, image or video ads.
Benefits
Facebook ads have their advantages, and here are some to follow:
- Simple interface
Facebook is a very visual and easy-to-use platform. This channel presents a range of customization of your ad in order for you to create the impact you desire. Several options are available to use videos, graphics, and carousels to grab the attention of your audience.
- Large Audience and Excellent Engagement
Facebook currently has as many as 3 billion active users on a monthly basis. This figure represents a huge opportunity to reach a large and diverse online audience. Facebook also has fairly high engagement rates compared to other platforms; this will obviously benefit the likelihood that people will click on your advertisement.
- Specific Target
Facebook allows advertisers to set various targeting options such as age, geographic location, gender, interests, connections, behaviors, and more.
Social Strategy: PPC Campaigns on LinkedIn
Third, with more than 775 million currently active users, the LinkedIn community represents the largest professional network online to date. For this reason, this social channel is considered the most popular option among business-to-business (B2B) marketers. In this regard, in the following paragraphs, we will examine in more detail what are the most interesting elements of its PPC campaigns.
Announcements
LinkedIn ads can, for simplicity's sake, be grouped by target categories:
- Awareness: Increasing the number of followers
- Consideration: Reaching out and engaging those who already know your company.
- Conversion: generating "leads" or promoting sales.
As for the types of LinkedIn ads, there are a few options to choose from.
- Sponsored Content:
This is displayed in the audience news "feeds." Within this category, you can choose "carousel" ads, single image ads, or videos.
- Sponsored Message:
This ad format allows you to deliver a message to your audience's LinkedIn inbox.
- Text Announcement:
This type of ad is visible in the upper right-hand corner of the LinkedIn desktop "feed."
- Dynamic Ad:
This ad type is located on the right side of LinkedIn and is customizable.
Targeting
Once you have chosen your LinkedIn ad format, you will need to proceed with defining the target audience for your ad campaign. To do this, you will need to carefully examine the LinkedIn profiles of members who meet the criteria you have defined. LinkedIn allows you to select a very specific target audience based on seniority, age, gender, education, and most importantly, job position held. LinkedIn requires that-in an advertising campaign-at least 300 members are selected . However, in order to achieve a satisfactory campaign, it is advisable to select an audience of at least 50,000.
Budget
Ads on LinkedIn are significantly more expensive than ads on Facebook or Instagram: on average about 5 or 6 times as much. However, the returns can also be better, considering that such a platform can provide high-quality leads. LinkedIn requires a minimum of US$10 in daily ad spend; however, it is advisable to impiaire at least US$25 for new advertisers and at least US$50 for existing advertisers.
Social Strategy: A Conclusion
In conclusion, for the purposes of an efficient and satisfactory social strategy, it is of primary importance to be able to choose one or more appropriate channels - both considering the type of content produced and considering the target audience. In addition, it is of primary importance to make sure that you have a suitable budget, use content characterized by strong visual impact and correctly select the various parameters provided by the chosen platform.
