Of all the marketing options available for online stores, social media ads sometimes get a bad reputation. And while it is true that they can be intrusive when you’re browsing the web as a user, there is no denying that they can be incredibly effective as pay-per-click advertising for online stores. So if you have passed on social media advertising before, here are some of the reasons why you should consider giving it a try.
1 – Instant results
As with most other forms of pay-per-click advertising, social media ads allow you to skip the trouble of building an online presence by allowing you to just pay to have people visit your store. This not only allows you to get traffic to your store right away, but it can also allow for a consistent inflow of people as you can determine how many visitors you want and limit how many you get per day out of your marketing campaign.
This consistency can also be useful when you’re trying to protect your web servers or your sales team from sudden surges in traffic. This can be useful for businesses that rely on customers getting in touch with a sales representative to close a deal.
2 – Facilitate shipping
Targeted social media ads make it much easier for your store to offer free shipping without hurting your profits. That’s because you can choose which regions your ad is going to appear in. You can take advantage of this by running your ads only in major cities, as shipping goods between metropolitan areas is often cheaper. Or you can even show your ads only in the area around your warehouse, facilitating same-day and overnight shipping.
Of course, there are other ways to make shipping faster and easier. Using a site that allows you to get fast courier quotes, for example, can help you find good deals for your store. But at the end of the day, distance and ease of access are the two factors that weigh heavier on the final cost of shipping.
3 – Target your audience
Social media ads can be targeted using criteria much more specific than just geographical location. Age, interests, previous browsing history, language, relationship status, and more. All of this can help you get the most out of every click by making sure only your ideal customer is seeing your ads.
4 – Precise analytics
Social media ads are also a great way to learn how your target audience reacts to your ads. Most platforms will not only keep track of how many people clicked your ad but also how many people have seen it or engaged with it in some way. This makes social media advertising a great place for you to test the effectiveness of different marketing strategies through limited runs, which can help you flesh out your sales pitch and even develop unique approaches to use on different demographics.
5 – Predictable costs
Social media marketing allows you to know ahead of time exactly how many clicks you’ll get out of the amount of money you’re investing. This is a far cry from something like content marketing, where a video produced by your company may go viral overnight, or it might never be noticed.
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