If you own a small business, then you know how hard it is to attract new customers. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, half of small businesses fail within five years of having launched. For many, the problem stems from being unable to connect with new clients.
The right marketing on social media and other platforms can help bring your company the customers and money it needs. But what things should you pay attention to when crafting social media ads?
Keep reading to learn about how to create a social media advertisements that will give you the results you’re looking for.
Table of Contents
1. Grab Their Attention
Throughout the day, people sift pass a plethora of advertisements without giving them a second glance. This means that the social media ads you create need to grab their attention in a short period of time. The best way to do this is with a catchy headline.
The right headline can cause someone to stop what they’re doing, pause, and check out the rest of your advertisement. The wrong headline ensures that your advertisement gets lost with the multitude of others.
Some effective ads highlight a new product, while others take a negative angle (“lowering expensive costs”). Spend some time thinking about what headline will be the most effective.
2. Highlight How You’re Different
As people come across dozens of advertisements a day, you need to make a point to emphasize what’s different about your company.
What makes you different and unique from the competition? A customer should be able to find that ten seconds after looking at your advertisement. Your differentiating strength should be powerful enough to attract new customers to your business.
3. Emphasize What’s in It for Them
Aside from describing what your product or service is like, you also need to highlight what the customer will get out of it. This will create a sense of need and give them a feeling that what you’re offering is too good to pass up.
For example, many cosmetic companies have mastered this. Do you suffer from dry, flaky skin? You’ll need this deep hydration serum. Is your hair thin and damaged? This collagen repairing conditioner is a must buy. These kinds of benefits are hard to pass up.
4. Eliminate Their Fears
As the world is full of scammers and products that don’t work, it’s no surprise that people are hesitant to spend money. To alleviate their fears, you have to make customers feel that buying your product or service is in their best interest.
The best way to do this is often with a risk-free guarantee. In most cases, this means giving customers a period of time to try out your product. If they don’t like it, they can return it and get their money back.
This sort of risk reversal is effective because it provides customers with a safety net. It also shows them that you can back the claims of your product up.
5. Include Testimonials
To make people purchase your product or service, you have to build up a sense of trust. One way to do that is by including testimonials in your advertisement.
Adding a testimonial or two is similar to reading reviews before buying something: it creates a sense of security to know that other consumers have bought and are pleased with what you have to sell. When customers see that others are happy with your product, they’re more likely to buy it themselves.
6. Take Advantage of Visuals
People are visual creatures, and you’re not going to be able to engage them with boring text on a simple or plain background. Try adding pictures or use different fonts to make things look more exciting.
Although it needs to be eye-catching, make sure to not overload your advertisement with pictures and graphics. This can make it look amateurish and unprofessional. Try to find a balance between too much and too little.
7. Create a Sense of Urgency
Instead of planting a seed in customers’ minds, you want them to take action to buy your product or service right then and there. If you don’t, the person will likely forget about your business as time goes on.
One common way to create a sense of urgency is by offering sales or discounts that expire after a certain amount of time. This makes customers feel that they won’t be able to get the same deal later on and that they need to act at that moment.
8. Include a Call to Action
Instead of only describing your products, make a point to use language that encourages them to check out what you have to offer now. This means using persuasive and exciting words to help push them.
Depending on what products or services your company offers, this can mean a number of different things. Some companies use simple language, telling customers to click on the ad or buy their product. Others encourage customers to sign up for newsletters or email lists.
9. Don’t Forget Contact Information
An alarming amount of advertisements don’t offer a clear way to contact the companies who made them. After explaining what you’re selling, make sure there’s an easy way for people to get ahold of you.
Whether you’re making Snapchat ads or advertisements on Facebook, include a link to your website. This can help turn people browsing your website into real clients. It’s also a way to see how your ads are doing, and whether or not your advertisement campaign is working.
Create an Effective Social Media Advertisements With These Tips
If you spend money to create an advertisement, you want to make sure that it’s effective. By following this guide and the nine tips mentioned, you can be certain that any social media advertisements that you make will help attract customers and help your business grow.
Do you now have a better understanding of how to make effective social media ads? Before you go and start creating the perfect marketing campaign, take a moment to check out some of our other blog posts for more guides and tips.
