When Facebook and Twitter sneaked the first promoted posts and tweets into their feeds, they were met with derision by some and skepticism by others. Yet promoted posts, which stay at the top of the page in spite of incoming traffic from other posts, have been surprisingly successful at generating clicks.
Forbes reported that response rates for promoted Facebook posts are 15 percent more successful than banner ads. This form of marketing is also pretty cheap and can rake in impressive ROI for the few dollars spent, if done well. A successful promoted post or tweet has certain characteristics, so if you want to hire a web designer or marketer to handle this for your business, be sure they know these Tweet tips.
Promoted Facebook posts begin their life as a regular post on your business page or Twitter account, so any of your fans or followers who happen to be looking when you post will see it. Paying to promote the posts gives you the option of expanding your audience beyond your confirmed followers to other groups of people that might find you interesting. But you have to tread carefully. Anna Washenko at Sprout Insights says that if you don't target to the right audience on social media, you could annoy more people than you impress.
On the other hand, Mashable highlighted a Seattle real estate firm’s viral post on Facebook that specifically engaged Seattle sports fans with a post called “37 Things You Should Know Before Moving to Seattle.” The firm targeted wisely and for just $100, they gathered 8500 likes and drove thousands of people to their website.
Remember that people aren’t hanging around social media outlets to shop; they’re there to socialize. So focus on building a relationship. Factor in this Mashable report that 70% of consumers trust brand recommendations from friends, and the fact that your fans are more likely to pass along something useful, funny or cool to their friends. While it’s hard to know what’s going to go viral next, a recent Business Insider article suggests keeping your eye on what’s currently hot on social media by visiting sites like BuzzFeed. They also have an interesting infographic showing how social media users are most engaged by photos and video—which are, ironically, the ones least used in promoted posts. Imagine the web design careers that could be launched by the smarties who post useful videos about fun projects involving their products!
Facebook and Twitter both provide analytical tools to gage how successful your promoted posts are. Hire a web designer who knows how to use these them so your marketing team can process that data to cook up future successful promoted posts. It’s a relatively inexpensive form of marketing that is generating some great results, so get out there and keep posting, and contact us today to learn more.
Andrea M is a freelance writer available on WriterAccess, a marketplace where clients and expert writers connect for assignments.