Social Media Marketing

3 Reasons You Need Social Advertising for Your Business

 

Social advertising is becoming the new go-to for businesses of all sizes.  As more and more people use and rely on their smartphones and web browsers for information and ideas, businesses are having to adjust their online advertising plans and budgets.
Businesses have to be where their customers are and right now that’s online. Businesses cannot expect to put an ad out via traditional methods (TV, cable, print) and garner the results of old. While those types of ads do still work on occasion, the ways we advertise and share our messages have changed.
Times have changed and consumer’s shopping methods have evolved. They seek peer recommendations via social media. They search Google for whatever they happen to be seeking. They watch TV shows online (some homes do not have TVs anymore!). These consumers are continually seeking out answers. It is your responsibility to find these consumers and provide them the answers and opportunities.

Reason 1 You Need Social Advertising – You only reach a tiny percentage of your target audience organically:

Facebook organic reach is sitting at a whopping 2-3%. Some lucky ones (and they are rare) see anywhere from 10-30%.  That’s organically (meaning they see it naturally in their newsfeed without any promotion). If you have 2,000 fans, that means only 250-600 people are seeing it or 1,750-1,400 fans AREN’T seeing it.
Advertising via Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn provides greater reach based on your budget. That means your promoted post will be seen by a larger percentage of your audience. Your contest will get more entries or you’ll see an increase in opt-ins.

Reason 2 – Without keeping yourself out there, people will forget about you:

 

My background is not only in advertising but one thing that is permanently branded in my brain is top of mind awareness. If you do not put yourself out there and stay out there, people will forget about you.
With social media, you can stay out there by being active, but that’s only within your community. Yes, compelling, interesting and quality content will keep them coming back, but every business owner hopes to grow, not stay stagnant. According to a stat from Social Media Today, 79% of marketers saw more quality leads from social media. That’s why you need to branch out and advertise, reach that new segment. You want to continually add new people to your community and advertising is the perfect avenue.

Reason 3 – More businesses are advertising online and will do so on a bigger scale – including your competitors:

Social advertising is almost required in social marketing now. If you want to keep up with your competitors, you have to devote some of your budget to advertising online. Take in these stats:

• In 2013, Internet advertising expenditures surpassed newspaper ad spending for the first time. Internet ads now account for 21% of all advertising dollars, second only to television at 40%. (Ad Age)
• There are over 1.5 million active Facebook advertisers. (DMR)
• Over 1 million small-to-medium sized businesses are advertising on Facebook. (DMR)

These facts and figures make online advertising hard to ignore. It’s a sector that is only going to grow and if you are not already advertising online, you need to start – NOW. If you don’t, your competitor is going to beat you to the punch and you’ll spend your time playing catch up.
Are you already advertising online? If so, what platforms/areas are you using? Have you decreased your traditional advertising budget(s)? What are Ghanaian businesses doing to take advantage of the #Social Media