29 Mar 2022 Business Insights

How to Get the Most Out of Your Social Media Ad Budgets

Getting organic traction on social media is becoming increasingly difficult for marketers, especially in a landscape as competitive as travel. On top of that, the cost of ads across platforms is rising. Facebook ads, for example, have increased by 90% year on year.

Fortunately, social media ad budgets are increasing too, with spending in the UK alone rising by 38%. Even with more significant ad spending, social media marketers at travel brands need to be savvy with their ads to ensure they get value for their money, targeting the right renters on social media in the process.

As things become more competitive, you will need to make the most out of your budgets. That’s why in this guide we’re bringing you top tips for how to get bang for your buck with social media advertising. So read on and master the world of social media ad budgets.

It’s all about quality ⭐

Every social media platform has a quality score that sets the benchmark for your cost per click. The higher your score, the more people will see your ads. At the same time, a lower score means that you will need to fork out more money to get more reach.

But how is the score set? It’s all about the quality of engagement, including audience clicks, likes, and comments. Therefore, the best way to determine which content will pop is to look at the other avenues you use.

For example, using Google Analytics on your website will reveal your most popular content. You can take that content and shape it into a message that resonates with social media audiences. When it comes to social media ads, it’s all about quality, not quantity.

Make it visual 👀

In today’s market, your social media ads should feature imagery. The human brain processes an image up to 60,000 times faster than text, and more than 95 million images are shared on Instagram daily.

But it’s video content that really stands a high chance of engaging audiences. LinkedIn users, for example, are 20 times more likely to share a video post. A video is an opportunity to let audiences into your world and bring them a little closer to the action.

Competition for videos is high, though, and you should focus on creating snappy content that is easily digestible. This includes short videos of places to travel or whatever relates to your audience. Marketers who go down the interactive route and create short, snappy videos can enjoy plenty of traction with audiences.

Use audience targeting 🎯

The real value for social media ads comes with micro-targeting, rather than trying to reach a large audience all at once. The reach is smaller, but the returns are typically higher. Your customers might not be like-for-like, so you need to segment them.

Keyword targeting can be an effective method for splitting your audiences into different sections. When you go after travellers, think about using specific hashtags that might relate to their persona.

Doing so will help you reach a particular market more than a generic hashtag that tries to do too many things at once. Refining your target audience and going after a particular section is a surefire way to see better engagement for your social media ads.

Don’t limit yourself to one social platform 👍

Trying to master one social media platform makes some sense. But you might spend ages attempting to crack something that’s proving too difficult. By being more expansive with your social media ads and trying multiple platforms, your chances of finding one that works will increase.

And that doesn’t mean only trying Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok. Explore social media platforms like Medium, Reddit, Telegram, and Digg. These networks aren’t as common as the more well-known ones and offer a better success rate to marketers looking to pursue new advertising avenues.

They also tend to be cheaper to advertise on, which means you can further stretch your budget and open up a world of new audiences. There are millions of people on these platforms waiting for your content. Splitting some of that revenue reserved for Facebook and Twitter with other social platforms could prove to be a masterstroke.

Remarket 🤝

Social media remarketing can boost engagement by three times and conversions by twice as much. Use remarketing to push your offers, get more sign-ups and downloads while spending less than you would on a brand new social media ad.

Audiences who have previously engaged have already bought into your product or service are more likely to do so again. Focusing on them for future ads could prove to be fruitful. New customers are great, but maximising the potential of existing ones is also a solid strategy.

Thanks to intelligent algorithms that understand what people interact with, social media platforms are becoming friendlier when it comes to retargeting customers. A retargeting ad might just be what someone needs to convert with your brand, either for a second time or after having shown an interest previously.

Juicing out your social media ad budget

While it’s getting harder to master the world of social media ad budgets, it’s not impossible. With the right focus, you can add new layers to your social media ads and make sure your spending yields successful results that are a hit with customers.