I’ve heard business leaders vehemently swear off social media advertising.  

“How can we compete with big budget competitors?” they asked, “We’ll just be drowned out.”

Reality is actually quite the opposite.

Here’s a look at some of the top three social media advertising myths explained:

 

• Myth #1: Advertising is too expensive to reach enough people with a small budget.

 

If you’re a massive consumer company like, let’s say, Disney and want to reach nearly every demographic in the U.S.… then yes, you’ll need a large budget on any platform, but, as a B2B, you’re targeting select types of businesses.  

If you’re a small or medium sized business who wants to target your target audience, you’ll find Facebook and LinkedIn will offer you one of the least expensive and most effective methods for marketing if you use the tools correctly.

As further proof, Buffer ran an experiment to see what a budget of $5 per day would gain them via Facebook Ads.  Their results were:

• $0.57 per page like
• $4.01 per click to website
• $6.35 per additional 1,000 people reached

Compare these numbers to other marketing and sales investments you make, such as buying an email list.  Pretty incredible right?  Especially when you consider these are highly targeted, new prospects engaging with your brand, not coming in cold.  Cue the gasps!

This, of course, is just one example, based on a test without advertising expertise.  

• Myth #2: Our prospect list is too small and niche.  We need to sell direct and selectively.

Think of all the information LinkedIn and Facebook has gathered on you.  They know your job title, your industry, your business name, your email address, where you live, and every site you log into when you click “sign in with Facebook/LinkedIn.”  Although this should probably scare us privacy-wise, it’s an enormous asset for advertisers of all sizes.  Anything a user can put into their profile—age, sex, location, education, religion, interests, politics, job title, marital status, etc.—can be used as a filter for your ads.

Furthermore, nearly every  B2B, adult prospect of yours spends enormous amounts of time on Facebook.  Even more than….(drumb roll)… LinkedIn!  

Although, LinkedIn offers a great asset in terms of their business data and users as well, we usually recommend testing your audience profiles and content on Facebook first.  Facebook provides greater insight and more economical testing.  After your brand has optimized your ads, you can transfer your learnings to LinkedIn advertising.  

As an example of the type of targeting available, if you want to target the IT associate who manages telecommunications for the business on the fourth floor across the street… you can.  Not only can you target him specifically (and know his name and Social Security number… just kidding..kind of…), you can do this for a couple bucks.  

• Myth #3: Direct sales work better and faster than advertising.  

Just as with any marketing investment, you get what you make out of it.  I would argue, however, that advertising should come prior to other common investments.  Even if you’re desperate for leads and revenue.

Here’s why…

In-person and direct sales outreach is tremendously more difficult when you’re coming in cold.  Even if your team knows what your prospect eats for breakfast and how hot he likes his showers.  

Advertising allows you to nurture your prospects and engage them once they’re ready to purchase or talk.  

Social media advertising can also be an effective strategy to support your other marketing activities as well.  For instance, promoting your events to your target attendees or building your email list to better market those activities.  

So, Where do You Start?

You have two choices…

#1: HIRE AN EXPERT: As the days roll by, new advertising strategies and features roll-out.  So I encourage you to leverage an expert for maximum ROI and intelligent scaling.  You can end up spending a ton of money testing what works best and a lot of hours researching strategy, OR use someone who’s already figured it out.  

While this may seem like a self-serving statement, I do this myself!  We’ve brought experts on board from some of the biggest advertising and media brands such as iHeart Media and Amazon ecommerce experts (yes, I’m bragging about my own team here)! Contact us here to get started.

OR #2: RESEARCH & DIY:  With any investment, true ROI comes from the strategies you use to accomplish them.  Whether a client or a fan, reach out to us with your questions!  We’re happy to share resources out there for you if you do decide to go DIY.

Whichever avenue you choose, just GET STARTED!  You’re losing time building your brand and your business.

Happy business building!

 

 

 

Jess Steele-Menard

CEO of SSM