It doesn’t make sense. Your content is well written and super-informative. You’ve published it on all your channels.
So why are you only getting a few hits?
The thing is, putting your content on different platforms doesn’t guarantee it’ll be seen.
SEO and #hashtags on social media aren’t always enough. We use popular tags and keywords – like #smallbusiness, #marketing and #hiring – because that’s what people search for the most. But it also means that they’re used by a lot of our competitors.
To really stand out, consider using paid media. We’ll look in detail at why and how in this article.
What is Paid Media?
Paid media is traditional advertising gone digital. You pay a third-party to advertise your content online. It includes:
Pay per click (PPC)
Display ads
Social media ads
Paid influencer
Paid content promotion
Lots of businesses use paid media to get their content in front of as many potential buyers as possible.
Google AdWords, promoted Tweets and Facebook ads are just a few examples of popular paid media methods.
Your content (SEO written content, videos, podcasts and interviews) is owned media. When you post your content on Twitter or publish it on Linkedin, for example, you can gain earned media (shares, mentions, reposts, reviews).
Where does paid media fit in?
Well, if you pay to promote a recent twitter post that includes a link to your blog on your website, you’re using paid media in tandem with owned media to increased earned media, and by result, your engagement levels rise.
This is why we recommend using paid media to promote owned media to strengthen your influence.
Is It Worth the Investment?
You can still earn clicks or followers from your content without paid media. But you can’t guarantee you’ll reach lots of people. For instance, Ogilvy recently revealed that just 4% of your Facebook followers are seeing your brand’s organic posts.
Paid media can enhance sharing and engagement. It puts your content in front of the right people (we’ll explain how in a moment) and, when paired with an intriguing tagline, can net you more clicks and shares.
Will you always get high click-through rates (CTRs) and customer conversions from paid media? That depends on who you’re targeting. Target an established audience who are loyal advocates (for example, current followers on Twitter or existing customers) and you should get great results.
If you’re targeting a new audience, it’s worth spending time building their trust before investing in paid media. Circulate relevant content, optimise SEO and run events or competitions to get your brand noticed. So, when you use paid media, people will respond positively because they trust you more.
The bottom line: if you want to maximise your brand’s awareness, paid media is a smart investment. However, consider who you’re targeting before committing. An advertise-first strategy may not be highly effective for a new audience.
The Right Way to Use Paid Media
There’s a lot resting on the content you promote using paid media. Any mistakes and you’ll waste your shot at a healthy ROI. So there are a few things you need to consider before pressing publish.
Let’s look at promoted tweets in Twitter as an example. To execute this form of paid media well, you’ll need to consider each stage of the publishing process carefully.
Step One: What Do You Want To Achieve?
The bedrock of all marketing is your objective. What equals success? Will you raise awareness, attract followers, send traffic to your website or increase engagement?
Consider which marketing funnel your target audience is in. This will help you shape your main goal e.g. an audience at the awareness stage who is learning about their purchasing options wants information, not a hard-sell. So, your goal should be to raise awareness or increase engagement rather than improve conversion rates.
Step Two: Define Your Audience
Like Facebook, Twitter enables you to pick an audience using its targeting features. You can filter by geographic location, interests – even specific followers from a notable account. This ensures you get your content in front of the right people.
Step Three: Bidding
To give all brands a fair chance to get their ad in the spotlight, Twitter Ads operate via an auction. You’ll be bidding against competitors to get your promoted content shown to your selected audience. Whether you win depends on how much you chose to bid and the quality of your advert, so use high-quality graphics to increase your chances.
Step Four: Pay the Right Amount
Pay what you can afford: there’s no minimum spend. You’ll only be charged for a billable action (this is related to your campaign objective, e.g. a click-through or an impression). You dictate your daily budget – Twitter recommends at least £20 a day to consistently reach audiences.
Step Five: The Finishing Touches
Time to craft the perfect tweet. To boost your hits, engagement and conversion rates ensure you use attractive pictures, a strong call-to-action and compelling copy to entice interactions. Steer clear of #hashtags or @mentions in your content to eliminate the risk of users clicking away from your advert.
The dos and don’t’s of promoted tweets can be applied to most forms of paid media. The golden rules are to target specific audiences, use high-quality media and bid intelligently to ensure you get the best results.
The Attention Your Content Deserves
Paid media used in isolation is less likely to get you a significant ROI. When executed as part of a wider marketing strategy – alongside regular engagement, a stellar social-media service and gripping content – you’ll not only supercharge your brand awareness but you could improve clicks and conversion rates exponentially.
Harness paid media using what you’ve learnt today and you’ll gain a mighty marketing resource.
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