Social media has continued to grow as a primary advertising channel for many brands. However, emphasis on data privacy and user consent, changes in consumer behavior and preferences, and advancements in ad tech such as programmatic advertising and AI-driven ad platforms, have evolved the Meta universe drastically. For tips on keeping up with this ever-changing ad landscape and leading trends, we tapped William (Billy) Brody, Head of Growth at Crap Eyewear.
Tips to Set The Foundation
- Ensure owned channels are firing. Before investing a single dollar in paid advertising, it is crucial to ensure that your owned channels for acquisition and retention are operating smoothly. This entails setting up essential touch points such as a website pop-up to capture emails, establishing an effective welcome series, and implementing abandoned cart and browse flows – all of which guide users into your sales funnel and ensure that any leads generated through advertising efforts are nurtured towards making a purchase. Without this strong foundation, you risk spending money to generate demand for a product that may end up being fulfilled by one of your competitors.
- Platform prioritization. Platform prioritization is crucial when venturing into paid advertising to avoid spreading yourself too thin across numerous channels. Consider your target audience and brand positioning (LINK TO BRAND ARTICLE) to determine the most effective platforms for reaching them. Assess where your audience predominantly consumes media and identify the platforms where you are most likely to connect with them successfully. For instance, if your target audience skews towards an older demographic, prioritizing Meta over TikTok might yield better results for your advertising efforts. Test and learn what works on one platform then slowly branch out to other platforms.
- Power of social proof. Enhance your buying process and showcase validation by harnessing the power of reviews, user-generated content, and compelling value propositions. Integrate these elements across ads and website to reduce the barriers to purchase, making it easier for potential customers to make confident and informed decisions.
- Start small. Gone are the days when shelling out $10k+ for influencer posts guaranteed significant results. Nowadays, you can engage with creators, offering them free products or relatively low fees to receive user-generated content (UGC) in return. With creativity and a strategic approach, you can stretch your budget effectively, making every dollar count.
Ad Creative Best Practices
- Test everything. “If you start running ads and you’re not A/B testing, you’re too late,” shares Billy. Often, when you're so involved in the creative and copywriting process, it's easy to become biased and make assumptions about what will resonate well with your audience. You might anticipate strong performance from certain campaigns, only to find them underperforming. Conversely, something you least expected to succeed could drive effective results. Certain content or messaging might strike a chord with a specific consumer segment or demographic, revealing an unanticipated connection. The marketing landscape is ever-changing, requiring constant adaptation and innovation to stay ahead. When crafting copy, avoid using cookie-cutter agency copy. Invest in defining your unique brand voice, as it can make a significant difference in attracting consumers to choose your brand over others, ultimately paying off in the long run.
- Diversify content. Ensure your advertising strategy encompasses a diverse array of content types, such as static images, videos, native ads, UGC, on-model shots, product-focused visuals, adaptations of TikTok trends, and unboxing videos. Each brand will have a unique combination of successful content formats. Additionally, when creating content, tailor it to suit the specific platform where it will be displayed. Develop creative that seamlessly integrates with the native look and feel of each platform to maximize engagement and effectiveness in reaching your target audience.
- Work smarter. Take a strategic approach to content sourcing to maximize its impact and efficiency. Instead of solely focusing on a single video, consider asking for a variety of content pieces that can be repurposed or modified easily. Having one video with 10 different intro hooks can maximize the impact and lifespan of the video across ad networks compared to having 10 different videos; the first 2 seconds of the video are the most important. Invest effort and testing resources into generating this content instead of creating multiple, completely different videos. You can also extend your insights across channels - leverage top-performing ad copy and use it for an email subject line. Take a top-performing organic post and see if it resonates as an ad.
How AI Can Help
AI can also be an effective tool to enhance paid media efforts. There are various AI-powered tools and platforms available that can assist you in different aspects of paid media including Facebook with Advantage+ campaigns, TikTok with Smart Performance campaigns and AdWords with Performance Max Campaigns. All intake top performing creatives and copy and using AI they deliver personalized ad formats that the system deems most effective for each impression. AI can also help you analyze your audience data and segment them into more refined groups based on demographics, interests, behavior, and buying patterns. While AI can automate many aspects of paid media, it's essential to have human oversight to ensure the AI decisions align with your overall marketing strategy and business goals.
Measuring Performance and Frequency
The frequency of measurement depends on your business size, but it's best to maintain a daily pulse while focusing on week and month intervals for meaningful insights. Overreacting to daily fluctuations can hinder progress, so analyze trends over broader time frames. Keep a close eye on key performance indicators (KPIs) daily to observe trends in channel performance (for example, how an email campaign performed). For in-depth analysis, dedicate time to weekly reviews, comparing week-over-week changes to previous periods to make the most actionable decisions. Monthly evaluations allow you to dive into the details and make more impactful shifts in strategy.
Your advertising KPIs can be looked at by platform and as a whole. These metrics help you evaluate the success of your campaigns and guide your decision-making to optimize your advertising strategy. Billy recommends keeping a keen eye on:
- Ad spend to revenue ratio and aim to keep a balance that is consistent
- CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost) – blended ad spend vs. new customers
- Gauge creative performance via click-through rate (CTR) and conversion rate
- Look at the cost per event in platform such as cost per click (CPC) and cost per view (CPV)
- Post-purchase survey results. Implement a post-purchase survey and map these results to paid media efforts as a non-biased attribution tool to use alongside in-platform metrics. This will allow you to have another source of truth or signal into your ad performance and allow you to better allocate your ad spend using zero-party data. Open-ended answers can also inform you about potential influencers, blogs, or channels that are driving impact and should be incorporated into your strategy. Our recommended Shopify plugin is Wellspring Attribution.