In a very dynamic online world were practically so many stuff can be downloaded or done for free, it would seem rather foolish for some to think that they would even consider paying for advertisements online. Why should they? Many would argue… when there are free marketing channels available out there like Social Media where they can promote their brands, products or services.
Most if not all of these digital marketers and business owners thinking the same path of riding the FREE bandwagon would at one point, more sooner than they would think, realize that not all that is free can deliver the kind of results they want. All the numbers affecting the bottom line simply would not add up. The average social media user is exposed to more than a thousand types of content every time they log in to their favorite social media network – over 15,000 is you’re really a social media addict.
A brand trying to get through this clutter of information and eventually reach their targeted audiences would be doomed to fail if they rely only on free or organic social media marketing. That’s why effective businesses – those who really know how digital marketing and social media marketing works – allot a dedicated budget for paid social media marketing. These businesses and advertisers really know the importance of combining organic and paid social media marketing, and would pull away budget from other advertising channels like the ones below, to invest in this very effective digital marketing channel.
The following is a brief overview of the importance of combining and paid and organic social media channels in your digital marketing mix. These reasons will establish the fact that the only way business owners can really make headway in the online world is to make use of effective channels, whether paid or free, that deliver results that affect the bottom line – the only kind of results that matter.
Combined Organic and Paid SMM Delivers Better Results at all Fronts
First and foremost reason why it really pays to combine organic and paid social media marketing is that doing so would deliver favorable results in all fronts: whether your purpose is to reach more audiences, create a whole new army of loyal brand followers, and generate favorable results and actions from highly targeted audiences. This was proven true in a recent case study involving a very recognizable international brand – Castrol.
The study show that the Castrol Moto motorcycle division of this large international company attempted to boost their reach and engagement to targeted audiences in North America using social media marketing – both paid and organic. The first phase involved solely an organic social media marketing campaign for six months. They did get some level of results that may look favorable upfront, but is really not the kind of results they want. Sure, they generated good reach and new fans, but not the kind of fans they truly want.
Enter paid Social Media Marketing which Castrol Moto integrated into their campaign for the next six months. The results as show in the diagram above is nothing but amazing. They generated a staggering reach number and garnered new fans multiple times their original figures. But what really is awesome is that a significantly high number of new fans they generated came from the region the company is really going after – the United States.
What this case study shows is that combining paid with organic social media marketing will not only jack up your numbers and social media reach, but will also improve the quality of your audience and engagement with these types of audiences. Generating these types of audience and leads can really spell much for your company’s bottom line – for these are the types that convert and generate profitable results.
Paid Social Media Marketing Channels You Can Use
Business owners who know the importance of digital marketing tools, particularly the prowess of content marketing, know how effective it is to use social media networks to create a buzz for their content. Most would create their own profiles and pages, and many would even maintain groups and other social discussion communities in an attempt to engage with targeted audiences.
However, these business owners limit the kind of reach and the quality of generated audiences if they rely only on social media marketing that is within the confines of the profiles and channels they own and control. They would be missing out a lot of opportunities of reaching out to highly targeted audiences if they will not use paid social media channels to promote their brand and business. Most social networks have some forms of paid social promotions but at this point let’s discuss the three most popular and most effective paid channels:
- Facebook Promoted Posts
Anybody can post anything on their social media profiles and pages, but due to limitations set by social networks like Facebook, the maximum audience reach of such posts will be limited to what the network has specified. With paid promotions, you can work your way around these limitations and reach a higher degree and number of targeted audiences that your content is intended for.
At Facebook, you can promote and boost the reach of your posts and content through Facebook Promoted Posts. There will higher than standard chances of targeted audiences reading your posts according the manner and budget that you set for promotion. The procedure for promoting a post is fairly easy but you must also rely of effective techniques to make your campaign more effective. This includes the use of good headlines as well as creative and eye-catching graphics that will entice targeted audiences to read and engage with your post.
This is also a very cost-effective channel for reaching out to new customers, just like what the real estate search engine Estately realized when they promoted their “37 Things You Should Know Before Moving to Seattle” post using Facebook’s promoted posts services. For a very small budget of less than a hundred bucks, the campaign generated an awesone 8,500 likes and reaching an audience of more than 30,000 people who flocked to their main website. The company plans to continue this practice on future posts – and so should you!
- Twitter Promoted Tweets
Promoted Tweets is Twitter’s own version of paid promotions and is one of the most cost-effective ways of reaching out to targeted audiences according to specific demographics and targeted criteria. You can set the maximum amount you are willing to spend and has facilities that would allow you to track and monitor the performance of your campaign. The results of using this approach is truly amazing, just like the 49% increase in targeted traffic Prefix Magazine generated in their paid Twitter ad campaign. Another company, Two Plus Media, generated 105 engagements and 7,900 impressions from targeted audiences for their client – all for only $50.
- LinkedIn Ads
If your business is targeting professionals and others from the B2B community, then you may gain favorable results if you make use of paid LinkedIn Ads. Just like Twitter and Facebook promotions, you set your own budget and make use of compelling graphics and headlines to make your paid promotions much more effective in generating results – a good practice recommended by even LinkedIn itself. You can even specify the targeted criteria of your audiences, practically allowing you to specify who gets to view your ads – and generate results only from audiences that matter.
Combine Organic and Paid SMM for an Effective Inbound Marketing Strategy
Inbound marketing like the ones generated by Pay Per Click advertising and other online advertising channels are very effective channels of generating high-quality and highly-targeted traffic with more than ordinary chances of generating good results. You can however, generate even bigger and better results if you throw in paid social media marketing into your inbound marketing strategy mix. 66% of effective online advertisers are already doing so, combining paid social media with their existing online advertising network. 51% of these advertisers even combine it with offline channels like print and television advertising.
Up to 45% of online advertisers make use of paid social media marketing as a channel for raising awareness for their brand and generating positive and favorable opinion of their brand from targeted audiences and potential customers. 16% of advertisers do however use paid social media marketing to generate a direct action or response from their targeted audience, like generating traffic or redirects to their main website, or creating responses to a promotion or product survey.
Set Your Sights at Other Social Networks
While Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn can be the top channels where you can make use of paid promotions for your content, they are not the only ones in the social media mix where you can generate favorable results. You can also focus on other social networks like Instagram, which is purported to generate up to 58 and 120 times more brand engagement than the social network giants Facebook and Twitter respectively. Another upcoming social media player your business should have on your sights is Pinterest, particularly if you’re marketing to a more feminine-oriented audience – and their incredible purchasing power!
Businesses should use digital marketing channels not only because they are trendy or “nice-to-have” but also because the tool or channel is delivering the kind of results that generate profits for your business. Like any paid marketing channel, paid promotions through social media can deliver the type of marketing results you need, generating the right kind of responses, actions and results from the type of audiences you really intend to reach – the type of audiences you can later call customers.
Jomer B. Gregorio is a well-rounded expert when it comes digital marketing. Jomer is also known as a semantic SEO evangelist and practitioner. Check out our Digital Marketing Services today and let us help you in achieving positive and profitable results for your business.