36 Lessons on Creating Better Social Ads

Creating a blog post because my tweets are on rolling 60 day autodelete. This post is taken from a previous tweet storm titled, “36 Lessons on Creating Better Social Ads” It was inspired by a conversation between Matthew Kobach, head of social media for the NYSE, and Savannah Sanchez, a paid media consultant.

The importance of brand strategy

• Before you focus on paid advertising, create a great brand.

• 90% of marketing success is having a great brand behind you.

• Make sure that your social content aligns with your website. Keep your website and your copy simple. 

The basics of paid video advertising

• Capture attention in the first three seconds of an ad

• Don't make it look like an ad. It should look like user-generated content

• Have captions on your video ads as many people mute their sound when scrolling on IG or Snapchat stories. 

TikTok basics

• Start exploring TikTok, whether that's making an account or sending a product to influencers

• It's the most untapped influencer platform at the moment

• First mover advantage is very important on the platform 

TikTok virality

• TikTok's virality is uncapped unlike Instagram

• An influencer marketing video on TikTok for a client had 3 million views even though the influencer had less than 10,000 followers

• This type of virality could never happen on Instagram 

TikTok ad platform

• TikTok ad platform is in beta

• The CPM is as low as $0.15

• The tracking is clunky at the moment, but Savannah expects it to improve in next 6 months 

Other TikTok tidbits

• TikTok is launching its own influencer platform for brands to connect with influencers
  • Savannah expects TikTok to start its own music platform
  • TikTok is a good example of algorithmic timelines being more successful than chronological ones 

Changing consumer preferences

• Gen Z wants to consume short-form content

• Content needs to immediately capture attention and get straight to the point

• These trends will shape the next generation of content creation 

How coronavirus has affected ad buying?

• eCommerce hasn't been hit as hard as other industries

• Huge influx of purchases on stimulus day

• Huge decrease in CPM on FB and IG ads 

Basic of ad copy

• Keep your ad to 10 words or less

• Keep it simple stupid (KISS principle)

• Don't need to tell the entire brand story. Just make it clear what you are selling 

Facebook advertising platform

• You need 50 purchases on FB a week to use FB ads most efficiently

• For example, if you sell a $10 product, you need to sell $500 worth of products for the platform to optimize your ads

• FB is best platform for eCommerce ads 

Learning Facebook's advertising platform

• Look at Facebook creative ad library for inspiration

• Be bold and interesting

• There are lots of other free resources such as YouTube videos 

Ad attribution

• Savannah likes eCommerce ads because it's easy to track attribution

• In general ad attribution is hard

• For example, someone can see an advertisement and then visit a store to buy a product. How do you attribute it?