Social media presence opens up the opportunity to connect and engage with both current and potential target audiences on a personal level. Around 74% of customers today rely on social media for their purchasing decisions. Thus, the various social media channels are nothing but avenues to drive your business at an increased pace. However, you need more than simply a social media presence to succeed in the competitive digital space. You need to make sure that your social media ads or your social media posts are engaging. Because only engaging ads grow brands. Sure, impressions mark the starting step for a strong social media presence, but that is not all! Only engaging social media ads can take a further step closer to conversion. That’s why brands and agencies must invest in creative ads and optimize campaigns for clicks, not just brand awareness.

It's all about engagement today!

Engaging content combines good creativity with intelligent targeting. It is true that online ad platforms are getting more competitive, day by day. There are also loads of intriguing creatives who seemingly have a magic ability to capture target audiences' attention.

But do they really? Let’s look into a comprehensive list of must-know practices for advertising that are in line with data-driven engagement tactics. This will give you a fair answer to the daunting question, “How to advertise my business on social media?” Firstly, let’s understand why keeping your audience engaged is important.

Benefits of engaging content:

• Organic growth on the social media platforms

• Sound social network for the brand

• Build trust and strengthen brand loyalty in the long run

• Easier traction build

• Enhanced social media presence

• Higher click-through rates & assured ROI

• Higher sales & market share

3 things that make up good, engaging content.

It is one that:

• Catches the attention of the target audience

• Delivers the core message within a very few seconds

• Makes them click on the CTA

Thus, before answering the question of “how to advertise my business on social media,” we need to know how to create a social media channel, develop a sound content strategy, and be abreast of the trends in social media management. Assuming that you have a fair understanding of all of the above, let’s proceed to the crux of how to create engaging social media ads to attract customers.

Best Practices to create engaging content to attract your target audience:

As previously stated, high-quality social media posts make the target audience click on them and engage. Beyond the basics, like ensuring your ad meets the particular social media platform’s size guidelines and community standards, here are some pro tips:

• Firstly, format: Before designing your social media ad, check and see if the format will get the message across. For example, stories are good for impulse product messages. On the other hand, image carousels make more sense for B2B products that demand more technical information and thereby long-form social media content, in the sense of carousels, blogs, whitepapers, articles, etc. More in-depth information is needed.

• Mobile first: Globally, approximately over 60% of web traffic comes from mobile devices. People are greatly hooked on their mobile phones today. So, it is inevitable to make sure that your social media posts or ads are mobile-friendly as well. This will enhance accessibility to a great extent.

• Less text, please! Let the design speak. No one has the time or patience to read the text. Moreover, the ideal practice for social media content is to keep it below 20% and not more.

• Get to the point: As already stated, the attention span of the audience is very short. To keep your audience engaged, we need to make sure that the message is very short & up to the point. In case you are using any supporting copy, it should also be crisp and punchy. Studies show that people spend between 0.4 and 3 seconds scanning ads on social media platforms. Focus on keeping the key message upfront. It can either be a good product image, a snappy CTA, or a campaign offer. Resist from cluttering your social media ad with excessive copy. Instead, dive into your message appropriately to create engaging social media posts.

• Adding movement is a must! The world is literally done with static ads. Motions, animations, effects, & transitions top the category of engaging content. There are several free and paid tools to help you animate static social media posts for your ad campaigns.

• A Clear CTA! Including a clear CTA is a must. Most paid social media platforms provide a CTA button. However, it’s true that it is lower in the visual hierarchy, so it can easily get lost in a busy feed. Working with an experienced designer should really help you sort out the puzzle as to how to advertise your business on social media.

Tips to Increase Ad Engagement:

The following must-know tips will nail down the strategies as to how to advertise your business on social media by boosting engagement.

• Know your audience: Data is the key to turning good posts into high-performing engaging content. Make sure that you don’t get caught up in assumptions based on pure demographic data. Rather, focus on observed behavior and first-party data. Pro tip: To gather first-party data, one needs to leverage behavioral insights. To put it in simple words, combine what your customers tell you with what they show you (behavioral data). This simple process will help you target your ideal customer profile. The profile turns out to be the ideal customer profile and provides something like a personalized experience. This way, it becomes easier to find out your target audience and build trust in real-time.

• Evaluate real-time! Give up waiting for monthly reports when you have access to real-time data from all your social media platforms. Give importance to studying the analysis in real-time. Use this data to determine which channels, posts, or CTAs are working and apply the same to optimize ROIs.

• Make it very personal! Today’s audiences resort to personalization and transparency to a great extent. It is advisable to collect and gather first-hand information though it is always in short supply. Desires and pain points are a good start, but genuinely engaging content strategy homes in on that information that acts as a trigger point encouraging your target audience to click.

Conclusion:

Most importantly, don’t expect to reach the sweet spot on the open itself. Start with a lower budget. Try testing multiple variations and variables. Monitor data to see what’s working in real time, as previously insisted. It all begins with sound monitoring trends, devising an appropriate content strategy, setting up proper ad campaigns, correct budgeting, iterating, & repeating! If you are looking for a shortcut, resort to a leading social media agency in Bangalore. They will have expert knowledge of how to advertise your business on social media, ease the whole process, and achieve the desired ROI.