Your guide to making digital marketing more effective.

Have you ever wondered what it would feel like to run an ad that pulls more than a couple click-throughs a day? If your marketing isn’t producing as many results as you would like, it’s not because marketing doesn’t work. What you say and how you say it is the most important aspect to any marketing.

There is no algorithm for making the perfect ad, but there are several guidelines you can follow to ensure you don’t regret your spend down the road. Here, we will run through a few different ways to optimize digital marketing to its fullest potential.

Boosting a post. This one is pretty simple, but there are still a few rules you should follow to make sure you get the most out of your money. First, make sure you are choosing the right post to boost. Don’t base your decision off of the result you want unless the post meets this one requirement: it is already popular among your followers. If your followers have already expressed their interest in the post through reactions and engagement, chances are the audience you are targeting will too. Your boosted post doesn’t have to be a promotion, it can be a post that your followers found entertaining. This is a good way to increase brand awareness without spending a lot on ads. Boosted posts don’t always drive a lot of traffic, but if you boost the right one, it’s definitely possible.

Paid search. Let’s use Google Ads as our example. Let’s say you want to run a Google ad to drive more website traffic. The number one rule to this is hooking your audience. Write a headline that will capture your audience’s attention and make them want to click on your search result to learn more. You can read more about writing a good headline in my other blog post, “10 ways to write headlines and copy that stand out,” but here’s a refresher. Focus on the benefit. Avoid the feature. You are selling an experience, not a process. My first Google ad I ran for my agency read, “Dominate your digital marketplace | Small business advertising.” I thought it was good - it wasn’t. I spent $150 on that stupid ad that produced less than 80 clicks. It should have read, “Convert more customers with small budget ads.” Specific, targets the benefit, and leaves the reader with a reason to find out more. It also doesn’t get so technical to the point where I am assuming the reader has extensive knowledge on the subject. Google is also very good at providing support with their ad process. If you have any questions or issues with your ads, I highly recommend contacting their customer success team. They can provide specific tips to help you see better results.

Facebook ad campaign. My favorite type of digital marketing. This one can be a little more complicated, as Facebook has a lot of policies and your content can be flagged for virtually anything. Rule number one here is always targeting. Small budgets need a small audience. Try to narrow in on specific interests and behaviors. Don’t try to spend $5 on targeting everyone within a 10 mile radius of you. If you own a restaurant, try running an ad that targets males and females within a 5 - 15 mile radius, age 18 - 45, who are “foodies.” A better way to do this would be targeting anyone belonging to food junkie facebook groups, or perhaps likes a lot of restaurant pages. Use the characteristics you know your current customers to have. One thing to keep in mind, do not try to include too many target variables. Too many will drown out your ad’s effectiveness and give Facebook’s algorithm a run for their money.

After you choose your ideal audience, tailor the creative content of the ad to their interests. Don’t target food junkies and run an ad promoting a discount. This may produce a few results, but it won’t drive nearly as many clicks and conversions as an ad that targets the experience, authenticity, and deliciousness that food junkies crave.

Lastly, make sure your imagery is authentic and visually pleasing. Try to avoid animations, stock image photos, and photos covered in text. No one wants to read a picture! Post an image of your chefs cooking the food or the finished product or the aesthetic of dining in your restaurant. If you don’t like your image, your audience won’t either. On the flip side of that, just because you like your imagery, doesn’t mean your audience will too. Try to match the imagery you used in posts that have performed well organically, if you can.

Videos are also a very good way to draw in more results. People love to stop scrolling when an image starts moving. Better yet, you can retarget anyone that engages with your video in a follow-up ad.

Organic content. Posting a lot of content all the time is the best way to gain exposure, right? Wrong. Unless you are a media agency, posting more than once a day can annoy your audience and actually cause them to unfollow you. Posting every other day is usually a good rule of thumb to follow here. Stay relevant, but don’t be in your audience’s feed every time they open up social media. Give them some space to breathe.

As far as the content itself goes, if you already post content, follow the footsteps of content that has done well for you. Stay consistent with your imagery, each of your profiles should maintain a constant aesthetic. Make it look professional. Avoid images that are plastered with text. Use authentic images of your employees and your business, as long as they are clear and professional. Not every post has to promote your business. This is big. You can post organically just for the sake of staying relevant and in the conversation. Talk to your audience the same way you would talk in person. Don’t try to paint this image of a well-studied, experienced know-it-all. Use common words and post as if you genuinely want to contribute to the entertainment. Use a consistent tone of voice, and make sure your captions match your imagery.

Lastly, Rule #1 for any content that you create and publish: Do not copy. Don’t copy what your competitors are doing. Don’t copy what a successful business is doing. Don’t copy any imagery, captions, headlines, or promotions. Stay on top of what your competition is doing, but do it better. It’s okay to browse through content for inspiration, as long as you don’t copy it. Don’t even use it as a template. Customers are smart and they can spot a disingenuous post from a quick scroll past. “Authenticity_Originality” should be the name title of every campaign you publish.