How To Leverage Social Advertising For Business Growth

Over the years, so much has been said about social media’s role in modern advertising that it’s a no-brainer. With its total population numbering in the billions and counting, brands today would be remiss not to use this medium. If Facebook alone chose to become a country, it would be larger than China and India combined.

That said, effective ways of leveraging social media continue to be discussed. It’s reasonable, considering that people’s tastes come and go with the times, and staying relevant in this day and age is every brand’s desire. As such, despite being a recurring topic, it’s still worth discussing.

The State of Social Media Advertising

To understand what brands can do to maximize their presence, they must consign on one crucial fact. Social media spending is now at its lowest in seven years.

Not an ideal start to this discussion, but it’s a pill that businesses must swallow. A survey of approximately 300 marketing leaders in the U.S. revealed that average spending had tanked to 11% of their marketing budgets in Spring 2024. By comparison, the figure was 15.4% just two years ago and 17% in the previous spring.

While the survey forecasts a slight uptick next year, only time will tell if that holds water. If brands are to develop an effective social media marketing strategy, it pays to understand why many businesses seem to be turning away from it. The CMO Survey, the survey's author, offers a few theories.

Content Oversaturation

Social media houses content on just about everything, which in itself isn’t always a downside. However, with more companies establishing their presence there, Internet users are exposed to so much content that they develop social media fatigue. It also doesn’t help that a growing number of health experts are advising cutting time spent on social media.

Misaligned Priorities

Many campaigns don’t align with the social media platform for which they were tailored. Instead of ensuring the right message gets across, they focus more on creative ways to do so. While some creativity is welcome, it shouldn’t come at the expense of the campaign’s message getting lost in translation.

Difficulty in Quantifying Sales

The survey also found that many business leaders struggle to gauge the impact their social media presence has on sales figures. This sometimes leads them to believe that their efforts didn’t produce the expected outcomes. In fact, qualitative impact is much more measurable in this case.

Taking these issues into consideration can improve your digital marketing & advertising efforts' chances of success. Social media usage is unlikely to go down anytime soon, and its swelling user base is still the best source of potential customers.

Design for the Platform

One mistake brands commit is believing that they need to promote on all social media platforms. The problem with that mindset is that not all platforms are the same. Facebook isn’t the same as TikTok, and LinkedIn is better at what it does than X.

Social media marketing campaigns should be tailor-made for the platform used by the majority of the brand’s customers. A business-to-business (B2B) company will likely get better results by running its social media ads on platforms for professionals like LinkedIn. On the other hand, a dressmaker can leverage visual-oriented platforms like Instagram to display their masterpieces.

However, getting this information requires collecting data from your target audience. The most basic method is email, especially if your business has yet to establish your presence. The drawback is that it doesn’t guarantee timely responses, as the emails can end up buried in inboxes or sent to the wrong folder (i.e., spam).

To avoid such inconveniences, you can opt for a data analytics tool like Google Analytics 4. This powerful tool requires some skill to use effectively, but its key benefits include receiving real-time data without having to wait for customers to get back to you.

Engagement is Key

Posting content on social networks isn’t enough. Your followers take time to like, comment on and share your post, so the least you can do is to reciprocate the attention. Customer engagement is a great way to paint a more human image for a brand, one that shows its passion for what its target audience likes about it.

According to the latest numbers, two out of three social media users follow brands to stay updated on their latest products and services. However, a substantial number of users also follow them for engaging content. As such, telling people upfront to buy their products (a la traditional marketing) can be a hard sell without quality content to go with it.

Creating engaging content is a challenge in itself, but it’s the most effective way of drawing more eyes to a brand. Tools and techniques such as SEO and content planning can help, but your primary source of ideas will be the larger audience. Instead of producing the content you want, create the content they want.

Engagement won’t necessarily result in a sale immediately, and most businesses fall into the trap of believing otherwise. However, brand awareness is a great advantage, and people won't forget a brand that has made their day quickly.

Conclusion

It’s easy to see the supposed shortcomings of harnessing social media in digital marketing, but that’s mostly because the wrong steps were taken. Modern consumers want to know more about a brand before entrusting it with their money. Social media is ideal for that, but only when the strategy calls for brand awareness first and sales later.