Bailey MeCey

One of the benefits of social media is how a post can organically connect with a variety of users and become popular online. However, when it comes to business marketing, it’s clear that social media advertising is needed now more than ever.

In Paid Social Media: Worth The Investment?, writer Basha Coleman highlights that social media advertising “helps with targeting audiences and driving sales,” (Coleman). Unlike traditional advertising, social media advertising can focus on the key demographics of your campaign to be most effective.

Unfortunately, when it comes to organic social media growth, it can take a considerable amount of time for your post to make an impact on your audience. As well, with how much information overload there is on social media, your post can get buried in the pile.

One example of a positive social media ad campaign was done by the shoe company Allbirds. To increase online sales, the company ran video ads on Facebook and Instagram to promote their new line of Dashers shoes, with the video ads focusing on lifestyle trends and sustainable materials.

From the ad campaign, Allbirds saw a 48% increase in online sales. What was key was how they tied in the creative messaging with the product, then connected that with online trends to reach a wide audience (Allbirds).

Another example of a positive social media campaign was a campaign I ran for my work at a non-profit. In the first week of April, I decided to run an ad campaign as a final boost for our school enrollment before the blind lottery that works take place at the end of the week.

For the ad, I boosted a post promoting enrollment with the visual of smiling students outside the building, with text on how the school has proudly served the Bridgeport community for 20 years. The ad copy highlighted enrollment and the requirements for students that apply.

From the campaign, we had a social media reach of almost 6,000 users and 85 link clicks to our enrollment page. What was most effective about the campaign was how I was able to use the detailed targeting to center on the specific audience for this campaign, being Bridgeport-area parents looking for a new school to enroll their kids in. Of the demographics, the highest performing group were women aged 35-44, which makes sense given that is the age range of most of our parents.

In Likeable Social Media, author and entrepreneur Dave Kerpen discuss the power of social media advertising to “find and connect to your perfect audience and to leverage built-in word-of-mouth endorsements,” (Kerpen 55). From reading examples and my personal experience, it’s clear that social media advertising is crucial for success online.

Sourced Cited:

Allbirds. Instagram for Business. (n.d.). Retrieved May 1, 2022, from https://business.instagram.com/success/allbirds 

Coleman, B. (2021, April 6). Paid social media: Worth the investment? HubSpot Blog. Retrieved May 1, 2022, from https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/paid-social-media 

Kerpen, D. (2011). Chapter 3: Use Social Network Ads for Much Greater Impact. In Likeable Social Media. essay, McGraw-Hill.