June 8, 2016

Understanding the Value of Social Media Ads For Your Business

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Michael Jenkins
Michael Jenkins

CEO - Shout Agency
[email protected]

Overview

8.3 billion dollars! That is the estimated amount advertisers earned in 2015 from social media advertising.

In the digital age, social media has transformed from a mere platform of connection into a dynamic space for business growth. Amid this evolution, the significance of social media advertising has soared.

However, this is just the tip of the iceberg. By 2017, eMarketer reports worldwide spending on social media ads should be around $36 billion. This is the start of the new advertising age for businesses. Instead of reaching out to every consumer with a television box, advertisers today can create focused campaigns to interested parties on social media.

The companies ready to include social media ads into their promotional mix now will reap the greatest rewards in the years to come.To help your company be part of this shift, we found a few case studies that demonstrate the value of social media ads for your business.Why reinvent the wheel.  Instead take a cue from these companies successes, so you can improve upon their ad campaigns for your business.

3 Social Media Ad Case Studies

1. Lorna Janes

They are the first Australian retailer to have over 1 million likes on Facebook. Lorna Janes did this with an active social media strategy that goes well beyond social media ads.

They focused on engaging and interacting with their community through social media. Interacting with them and building a sense of community that many fan pages today lack.
On their Facebook fan page, they extended this reach and engagement by advertising to new prospects, targeted customers, and existing fans.
Results: The ads increased brought a number of benefits to the retailer.
First, Lorna Janes’ in-store and online traffic increased substantially. Second, they have been able to increase their presence around the world. The Australian retailer is now even planning on opening 42 stores in the United States. Third, they use the insights from fans to create new products and improve upon the designs of current offerings.
Takeaway: Social media ads do not mean you just overwhelm your customers with your products. In fact, Facebook has begun penalizing advertisers who just promote their products without providing content ads.
Instead, Lorna Janes use Facebook ads to also interact with their customers to ensure they get the most out of the experience before, during, and after their purchases. The more they engage with them, the more they create the raving fans that keep coming back to their store and ecommerce site.

2. Country Road

To celebrate their 40th business anniversary, Australian retailer Country Road set up a Facebook ad campaign that increased their presence, and boosted website traffic.

This old school retailer used new school technology to keep their customer base engaged with them. For those companies who have a presence, celebrating the years you are in business is a good reminder about how you are there through thick and thin with your customers.
Plus, it gives you an excuse to remind customers to come back to your store and website.
Results: As Country Road Social Media Manager Paul Conti stated, “Today, Facebook accounts for about 8% of our web traffic and 5% of our online revenue.” That is a large part of the reason why they plan on increasing their Facebook Ads budget by 133%.
Takeaway: See what type of social media ads work best for your business. Then when you can see the results, increase your budget.
A number of companies discovered that social media ads are a relatively inexpensive way to determine the viability of a product and/or the interest from their target market.

3. AirAsia

What if your Facebook ads promised to giveaway a plane? How well do you think that would go over? While most of us could not offer a plane to their clients, this is the approach AirAsia used to increase their presence on Facebook.

To promote their new flights to Australia, they created a contest to generate interest in the idea. The winner got a free plane ride with 302 of their Facebook friends from Kuala Lumpa to Australia.
AirAsia even created an app to help you choose the Facebook friends you would take with you, and where everyone would be seated on the flight.
When you set up your ideal flight, you tagged your 302 friends, so they knew you chose them to go on a free plane ride with them. As you can imagine sharing images with 302 of your closest Facebook friends on a plane ride to Australia has a lot of viral potential.
Results: They had four huge benefits from this social media ad campaign.
First, AirAsia generated press coverage in excess of $1.6 million. Second, they grew their fan base by over 30%. Third, the campaign generated over 12,500 entries and reached almost 2.3 million people on Facebook. Fourth, and most importantly the airline doubled the number of daily flights to Sydney.
Not bad for giving away an airplane!
Takeaways: Like we said, not everyone can give away an airplane. However, this campaign is valuable because it was relevant and viral. All you need to do is share this with 302 people and you could win a trip to Australia.
Apparently 12,500 Facebook users thought it was a great idea as well. Those 12,500 people spread the word to another 2.3 million users.  Not bad when you consider the population of Kuala Lumpur is only 1.7 million people.

Final Thoughts

Use the social media ad case studies listed above as a starting point to determine your own campaign. Not everything we discussed above will work for your business.
However, many of the ideas can provide you the spark you need to improve your own campaigns. Pick and choose the best ones to create a social media ad campaign that can generate the interest and revenue your business needs.
If you are stuck on ideas or want some help figuring out the best approach to your upcoming social media ad campaign, then give us a Shout! We are more than happy to sit down with you for a free social media ad consultation session.

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        As Founder and Director of Shout Web Strategy, Michael Jenkins is at the forefront of digital marketing. Since it’s inception in 2009, Shout has built a strong reputation as one of Australia’s leading strategic SEO agencies, assisting online businesses to formulate, implement and track successful marketing strategies. Michael is a respected thought leader and digital strategist, specialising in online strategy, corporate SEO, Google retargeting, email and conversion rate optimisation, and online reputation management. Follow Michael on Google+, connect with him through LinkedIn or visit the Shout Web Strategy website.

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