ASSIGNMENT 12

TASK 1

In this day and age, thanks to the impact of social media, the relationship between brand and consumer has changed dramatically. By utilising social media, companies can now build strategies after analysis of their analytics data to understand their target consumers likes, dislikes and demands. Popali ( 2017 )

Here are some ways in which social media advertising can boost an organizations overall digital marketing efforts :

1. Extending the reach of content marketing campaigns

According to Stenitzer ( 2018 ), ‘The best content is custom-made for each platform. By their nature, Instagram and YouTube demand visual content. Text content feels more at home on Twitter and Linked In. That said, all your social media posts get a lift when you include links to visuals – photos, infographics and videos’. These days companies are able to pay to utilise social advertising in a precise and potentially profitable way, in turn reaching demographics and potential customers that they would never be capable of reaching organically. In utilising this best practice method of content marketing they can ensure a greater return on their investment and grow their business exponentially.          

2.      Optimize posts to boost SEO and link to relevant, optimized landing pages on your website to drive traffic

There are some tricks businesses can administer to optimize their social media posts in order to drive traffic to their website. Here are a few uncovered, according to Fernandez ( 2018 ), ‘Make sure your URLs are SEO-friendly. In general, if your URLs are easy for people to read, they will also be preferred by search engines. Match the URL to the title of your blog post wherever possible, and make sure your URLs aren’t overly long (100 characters or more is probably too much). Make sure your URL includes the keyword you want to target. Without “stuffing” your keyword, include it several times within the body of your post. This should happen naturally as a part of the flow of your article.’

             3. Use social media as a listening tool. Listen. Respond. Repeat.’

’According to Tam ( 2014 ), ‘Listening tools aren’t just for vanity. When appropriate, it’s good to jump into conversations, post blogs, read articles, and so on. Find ways to interact with people talking about your brand, then engage with them. If someone is posting something negative, don’t be overly sensitive. You can deal with it using some humor or a take it as constructive criticism. Follow up, interact. People appreciate the transparency (and often, people love the fact that you’re paying attention). For sites that do carry your press release, save things as a pdf to keep an archive for your records.’

TASK 2

1. What key objectives can be satisfied with Facebook Advertising?

Facebook has become a giant of industry over the last ten years and these days the options for advertising via Facebook are wide and varied. This being the case, customers looking to promote their business or services can be a little confused when coming to choose the type of ad they want to create. This being said, the best option for these savvy digital marketers is to have some clear objectives in place,  as to what they’d like their targeted customers to see, when launching their ad campaigns.

According to  Lawrence, ( 2016 ), ‘  Facebook has introduced 3 over-arching categories which all ad objectives now sit under. From top of  funnel Awareness to middle of funnel Consideration and bottom of funnel Conversion. ‘

Below is how these three objectives are broken down :

Awareness

• Brand Awareness
• Local Awareness
• Reach
  Consideration
  • Traffic
  • Engagement – sub categories: Post Engagement, Page Likes, Event Responses & Offer Claims
  • App Installs
  • Video Views
  • Lead Generation
  Conversion
  • Conversions
  • Product Catalogue Sales
  • Store Visits
  If a savvy digital marketer has one or a number of these objectives in mind when creating their Facebook advertising campaign, they can be much more confident in achieving better results.
  2. What are the main Facebook advertising formats available?
  The main Facebook advertising formats are Video, Image, Collection and Carousel.
  Here is a breakdown of these four powerful advertising formats :
  
  
  VIDEO
  According to Facebook Business People Insights ( 2017 ), ‘Video killed the radio star... and is quickly taking over the small screen. Over the last year on a global scale, daily watch time for Facebook Live broadcasts has quadrupled and time spent watching video on Instagram has increased by 80%.’ Video is a great way to advertise your product, as it can be informative and encapsulating, drawing the customer in with the visual aesthetic.  
  
  
  
  IMAGE
  There is a lot to be admired about beautiful imagery, it can be inspiring, emotive and mesmerizing all at once. A talented marketer can bring their business to life with beautiful images. Whatever your goals are, a photo ad on Facebook and Instagram is a fantastic way to increase awareness of who you are and what you do.
  
  
  COLLECTION
  Collection is an ad format that allows people to navigate from discovery to purchase in a free-flowing, guided format.
  Each collection ad features a main video or image, grouped with four smaller images below, in a grid-like format. The customers who click on your collection ad to browse or learn more will automatically be taken to a fast-loading visual post-click experience.
  
  
  CAROUSEL
  The carousel ad format allows the user to display up to ten images or videos within a single ad, each with its own link. Offering more creative space within an ad, you’re able to highlight different products, showcase details about a specific product, offer a service or promotion, or perhaps include a product description that develops across each carousel card.
  
  
  3. How can you target audiences when creating a Facebook advertisement?
  
  
  According to Zuban ( 2018 ), ‘1.45 billion people log onto Facebook every day. This makes Facebook ads a fantastic, cost-effective platform to use when promoting your products to a wide range of consumers. A strong message does more than present a product, it creates a connection with your desired customer demographic and demonstrates how your product may help to solve their problem(s), reach their goals, and fill a hole in their day-to-day lives’.
  
  
  Getting to know your audience is absolutely essential when creating a Facebook advertising campaign!
  Luckily Facebook offers digital marketers a way in which to accomplish this, that’s by using the Facebook Audience Manager Tool. This tool can be found in the Business Manager, by going to the menu at the top-right and selecting “Audiences.”Here the user can choose from three different audience types :
  
  
  SAVED AUDIENCES
  These are the audiences that can be defined by selecting people’s interests, location, age, gender, devices, income level, plus more.
  CUSTOM AUDIENCES
  
  
  Facebook Custom Audiences are quite possibly the digital marketers highest value target audience as they provide the ability to re-target previous website visitors and consumers who have engaged with your content or application.
  
  
  LOOKALIKE AUDIENCES
  
  Facebook Lookalike Audiences allows the digital marketer to reach consumers who are similar to their existing customer database, in turn creating a higher likelihood that they’ll convert.
  
  
  4. Explain the key elements that make up a great Facebook Advertisement.
  
  
  When attempting to compose a super effective Facebook ad, there are some key elements that should be included in it.
  Here they are :
  
  
  1. CTA button
  The savvy digital marketer should always include a CTA button for click-to-website ads, this will guide your potential customers in the the direction you’d like them to take. The accompanying Ad Copy should also include a CTA.
  
  
  2.Quality images
  The savvy digital specialist should utilise high-definition imagery, posting a combination of lifestyle photos, product imagery or videos to entice and attract their potential customers. The Ad Copy should also visually complement and represent their selected quality digital media.
  
  
  3.Refresh ad creative
  In this ever changing digital world, content can quickly become stale and old. Consumers desire to be constantly dazzled by new and interesting concepts and products.
  Savvy digital marketers should refresh the ad copy,imagery and video content within their campaigns at least every one to two weeks to prevent this from happening, ensuring better results from their customer base.
  
  
  4. Make the most of your first 90 characters
  Facebook users can tend to just scan through articles and
  content in their news feed, lazily surfing and not engaging,  so it’s important for marketers to try to encapsulate their target audience with the first 90 characters of their ad or in the headline...or BOTH!
  
  
  5. Boost important or engaging organic posts
  By boosting organic posts, marketers are capable of reaching an even larger audience. If the businesses organic posts are proving to attract a reasonable level of engagement without promotion, said posts are clearly proving
  successful with just a minimal reach, to a fraction of  the organic audience. Boosting them can also offer great potential to gain a larger conversion rate for the business, brand or product.