Social media marketing has been for some time the darling of all digital marketing. Let’s be honest, random banner ads on websites are no longer effective. For one, a lot of people have ad blockers installed. For another, even if you get a few clicks, there’s no guarantee that they come from genuinely interested customers or from people who are just curious. Since every click costs, you want to make sure that you spend every dollar effectively.
And this brings us to the topic on hand: getting the right people to click and getting a good ROI on your social media ad campaigns. Successful social media ads can get you lots of qualified leads. The social media has become the new public forum where people want to connect with friends, find entertainment and seek recommendations for products and services.
Writing for the Social Media Is a Specific Skill
There is a huge difference between the copy for a banner ad and the copy for social media ads. First of all, you have to stick to a specific image/text ratio. Secondly, your ads must be finely tuned to attract the attention of the intended audience. There is so much distraction on the social media compared to other channels: from friends’ vacation photos to funny memes, from cat videos to the latest celebrity gossip.
Your ads have to compete with all the above, plus the distractions people get from the real world, making them stop browsing their social media pages. There are several factors that influence the success of a social media ad campaign:
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Audience targeting
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Selection of visuals
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Ad copy.
Today we will discuss the last item on the list above.
1. Write for the Intended Audience
Unless your business serves a very specific niche, you have more than just one type of customer personas. If you run a general purpose retail business, your audience ranges from stay at home mums to young and busy professionals and retired seniors. Even if your business is focused on a single type of product, say footwear, you still have women’s shoes, men’s shoes and children’s shoes. You probably carry various ranges, from comfortable everyday shoes to elegant shoes for special events.
For each product, you have a different audience. And for each audience you must have a different approach. It is not just in the tone of voice you use in the copy. The vocabulary you use, the local dialect, the use (or lack of use) of emojis and such impact the way your copy is perceived. If you manage to sound like your potential customers, they will relate to your brand and click on your ad.
2. Adapt Your Ad Copy to the Funnel Phase
The traffic and sales funnel has three stages:
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The top of the funnel – you write for a wide audience, the main purpose being to raise brand awareness
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The middle of the funnel – you write for leads who are interested in learning more about your products and services
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The bottom of the funnel – you write for qualified leads who are ready to make a purchase.
As you can see, the definition of each funnel stage indicates the type of copy you should include in your ads. Top of the funnel ads will be more general, focusing on your brand values. Bottom of the funnel ads present a clear offer, with numbers, benefits and a strong call to action.
3. Match Your Copy to Your Visuals
In social media advertising, visuals are king and queen – but the copy is the valiant prince who saves the day. To get a winning combination, you must have harmony in your royal family. In other words, your copy must be related to the photo or video you selected for the ad.
Imagine the ad copy for evening shoes above the photo of a woman walking on a beach in flip-flops. There is no connection between the two, people will be confused and scroll away.
4. Answer the 5Ws
The rule of the 5Ws comes from journalism. The rule states that the first paragraph (in this case, your ad copy) must answer the following five questions:
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Who?
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What?
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Where?
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When?
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Why?
Who obviously represents your brand name. What is your specific offer. Where is your online or brick or mortar store. When represents the urgency to take advantage of a special offer or limited time discount. Why is your unique selling proposition – that key advantage or benefit that differentiates you from your competition.
5. A/B Test Various Ad Copy Lengths
Social media networks became a little more lenient recently in terms of how much ad text they allow. This gives you the freedom to add more enticing details in your copy. But it does not mean that you should go with long copy without testing it.
Run A/B tests between a descriptive copy and a short and punchy text and see which one works best. You will be surprised how much people vary their preferences for a type of ad, so never stop A/B testing your copy.