PAID SOCIAL STRATEGIES & BEST PRACTICES
Integrating Paid Social with the Full Marketing Plan
The importance of integrating Paid Social advertising into the broader marketing plan cannot be overstated. Paid Social offers unparalleled demographic targeting capabilities, but to fully harness its potential, it must be integrated with all of the client's marketing channels to ensure that it's being utilized most effectively. Whether that be by utilizing Paid Social as more of a high-to-mid-funnel nurturing platform to then retarget traffic to Paid Search or Email Marketing initiatives for a more personalized lower-funnel sales process, or whether it's by retargeting high-intent Paid Search traffic to Paid Social for additional nurturing and low-funnel lead generation, asking the client about all their marketing channels and forming a unified strategy with Paid Search is key to an effective PPC strategy.
Demand Gen vs. Lead Gen
At the very start of every client engagement, a discussion around goals is crucial to determine the best Paid Social strategies to achieve them. I've found that a mix of Demand Generation and Lead Generation is an effective strategy for B2B clients because it allows us to create brand awareness and build market affinity (Demand Gen) early in the buyer's journey, and then convert that interest into leads (Lead Gen) lower in the sales funnel.
Prioritizing monthly budgets to B2B campaigns with a Lead Generation objective is typically what clients are more interested in because it allows us to generate new leads faster with lower-funnel content (product showcase, customer testimonials, free demo requests, etc.). However, depending on where the majority of the ICP is in the buyer's journey, the audience may need to be educated more about the brand and top selling points before they are ready to convert on the lower-funnel offers, which would require more Demand Gen initiatives (showcase expertise, borrow authority, build market affinity, etc.) earlier in the buyer's journey.
Zero-Click Marketing
Unlike the name implies, a zero-click strategy does not mean that the objective is no longer to drive website traffic. Instead, it means that the ad copy and creatives should provide immediate answers so that the main point of the ad isn't hidden behind a link click. This is a very effective way to share key information and build trust with B2B audiences without requiring them to click on the ad, which is especially helpful on Paid Social where the users we are reaching aren't actively searching for the product or solution. This means less budget wasted due to fewer low-intent clicks coming in and more awareness generated by allowing all ad viewers to learn the key point that the ad is sharing. This is especially effective earlier in the sales funnel when trust hasn't been built yet between the client and their ICP. I like to utilize this strategy even on mid-funnel Lead Generation campaigns to remove as many users with lower buying intent as possible from our mid-funnel leads list.
Paid Social Platform Capabilities & Limitations
An important piece of the Paid Social strategy is determining which social platform to run ads on. LinkedIn is a popular choice for B2B clients because of the way we can effectively target ABM and company lists, in addition to targeting robust demographics targeting like job titles, skills, industries, seniorities, company revenue, and company size, to name a few. However, because of all of the extra targeting parameters that LinkedIn provides, the platform is more expensive to run ads on. On LinkedIn, CPC averages are typically closer to $10 or higher, whereas on a platform like Meta, we typically see CPC averages closer to $1.
Meta can be an effective platform to run ads on as the platform has the most total number of users out of all the social platforms. However, there are fewer audience targeting options available than on LinkedIn, which can result in a higher volume of lower-quality leads coming in. When launching new campaigns on Meta, a strategy that I've found effective is testing a Job Titles+Industries audience against an Interests+Industries audience if quality targeting parameters are available and audience sizes are between 100K-1M. Meta can also target uploaded contact lists, making "target customer" lists for contact list targeting or "ideal customer" lists for Lookalike targeting a strategy that I highly recommend testing as well.
Reddit and Twitter are less effective platforms when targeting B2B audiences because the targeting options are very limited. Reddit has recently released more capabilities that allow it to potentially be a stronger lead generation platform (lead gen forms, contact list targeting, and lookalike audiences). However with the other Paid Social platforms having stronger audience targeting, I typically only recommend launching ads on Reddit and/or Twitter is when we want to expand our reach to retarget the additional traffic to our mid-to-low-funnel LinkedIn and/or Meta Lead Generation campaigns.
High-Quality Audience Targeting
Quality audience targeting is a staple of Paid Social due to the way the platforms primarily target audience demographics as opposed to search keywords, like Paid Search. The strongest Paid Social audience targeting capabilities are on LinkedIn, which makes it a great option for the majority of our B2B clients. Job Seniority targeting and Company Revenue targeting are some of the strongest LinkedIn targeting parameters because they are unique to the platform and they do a great job of filtering out segments of the audience that are less than ideal.
On Meta, with there being fewer targeting parameters offered by the platform overall, a great way to target a large high-quality audience on this platform if quality prospecting options are not available is by targeting a Lookalike audience created from a high-quality contact list (closed/won leads, ideal customers, etc.). This will allow Meta to find users that are "lookalikes" of the users that we upload, which has been a great way to reach additional qualified users.
Aligning Assets with the Appropriate Buyer Journey Stage
It's important to reach users with content that's specific to the stage of the buyer's journey that they're in. This means that if the majority of the ICP is unfamiliar with the brand, it's important to first educate the audience with educational content that will get them more ready to convert on the lower-funnel Lead Generation campaigns. Effective initial educational content that I recommend includes showcasing the client's expertise, borrowing authority from big company names that the client has done business with, and/or building market affinity by sharing which pain points the product or solution can eliminate.
When targeting an audience that is aware of the client and still in the consideration stage, mid-funnel content that I recommend utilizing includes product showcases, customer before/afters, and free demo requests lower in the funnel, to reach the audience with additional compelling information that will convince them to either submit their contact information in exchange for an educational piece of content, or submit their contact information to start a more personal conversation with the client's Sales Team.
Here is an example of how I typically structure a full-funnel B2B campaign strategy:
Scroll-Stopping Ad Copy & Creative
Since we're reaching users that are not actively searching for a brand, product, or solution on the Paid Social platforms, it's important to implement ad copy and creative that stands out and gets the user to pause what they are doing to consume the content.
Gif-styled video ads do a great job of this because of the way that the extra motion on the ad creative catches the eye as users scroll. A zero-click single-image ad strategy can also be an effective way to catch the user's eye and quickly share key information that the audience can't avoid seeing.
To see examples of paid social creatives that I have designed, click here.
Demographics Analysis
One of the best features that LinkedIn has is its demographic analysis capabilities. The platform provides a look at forecasted audience results which helps me make audience adjustments before launch, as well as campaign demographic analysis so I can see the specific audience segments that are engaging with our ads the most after launch. I assess audience demographics weekly for all my LinkedIn clients so that we can continuously expand our exclusion targeting, remove underperforming audience segments, and drive more efficient spend. Assessing campaign demographics analysis' also allows me to determine which high-performing audience segments need to be moved into their own campaign and prioritized with additional budget.
When analyzing demographics from campaigns running on other social platforms, it's important to review the client's CRM (HubSpot, Salesforce, etc.) data and ask the client about the lead quality coming in to determine which additional targeting parameters to exclude.
Budget Management & Bidding Strategies
Selecting the right bidding strategy is crucial to the success of Paid Social campaigns. Bidding strategies determine how you pay for your ads and how they are delivered to your target audience. An optimal bidding strategy can maximize your ROAS, enhance campaign performance, and ensure that the budget is being used efficiently. I always opt to start my campaigns with a Manual bidding strategy. While automated bidding strategies like Maximum Delivery and Cost Cap have their place in certain scenarios, Manual bidding offers unparalleled control, which enables me to drive the most efficient CPCs possible.
Tracking to Revenue
In B2B marketing, the ultimate goal is to drive revenue and generate sustainable business growth. While front-end metrics like clicks, conversions, and impressions are important, they do not always provide a complete picture of a campaign's success. To truly understand the impact of your marketing efforts, it is essential to track campaigns through to revenue and focus on implementing optimizations that drive more efficient back-end metrics such as closed/won opportunities and monthly recurring revenue (MRR). By integrating the client's CRM into our reporting, I can foster better sales and marketing collaboration, enhance our overall strategic decision-making, and ensure that our marketing efforts are directly contributing to the client’s financial health.
Q2, 2024
NOTABLE CAMPAIGN PERFORMANCE
Fitbit
Challenge:
My client, Fitbit, faced a significant hurdle in their mid-funnel lead generation campaign targeting Clinical Care professionals. Despite our efforts, the campaign was struggling to generate LGF (Lead Generation Form) conversions. The primary issue was that our current Cost Cap bidding strategy was not effectively reaching the daily budget, resulting in a lower conversion volume than anticipated.
Solution:
To address this challenge, I implemented a switch from the Cost Cap bidding strategy to a Manual Bidding strategy. This change aimed to provide more control over the bid amounts, ensuring that our ads could compete more effectively in the auction and thus reach the daily budget. The manual approach allowed for fine-tuning of bids to maximize exposure and engagement from our target audience of Clinical Care professionals.
Results:
The implementation of the Manual Bidding strategy proved to be highly effective. The campaign quickly began reaching its daily budget again, leading to a noticeable increase in LGF conversions. Within the next month, this campaign not only met its goals but also emerged as a conversion leader among our other campaigns.
May, 2024
June, 2024
MFG
Challenge:
My client, MFG, aimed to target two distinct groups: Buyers seeking manufacturing services and raw materials, and Suppliers looking to reach new buyers. Historically, MFG focused their ad spend predominantly on bottom-of-funnel (BOF) offers. However, this approach led to high cost per acquisition (CPA) and brought in many undesirable leads due to its broad targeting. The challenge was to improve lead quality and reduce CPA while effectively engaging both Buyers and Suppliers.
Solution:
To address these challenges, I developed a full-funnel campaign approach, expanding beyond the existing BOF strategy. I created targeted ad campaigns that highlighted MFG's brand and key selling points tailored specifically for Buyers and Suppliers. This involved:
1.) New Ad Creatives: I designed ads following Paid Social creative best practices to ensure they were engaging and effective.
2.) Expanded Asset Mix: We increased the variety of assets to educate users about the best offers and selling points before presenting BOF offers.
3.) Audience Creation: New Buyer and Supplier audiences were developed, initially testing Interest-based versus Job Title-based audience builds at the top-of-funnel (TOF) and middle-of-funnel (MOF).
4.) Retargeting Audiences: Implemented retargeting strategies to nurture users through the sales funnel from MOF to BOF.
5.) Optimized Targeting: At the BOF, we targeted high-quality prospecting, lookalike, and retargeting audiences.
1.) New Ad Creatives: I designed ads following Paid Social creative best practices to ensure they were engaging and effective.
2.) Expanded Asset Mix: We increased the variety of assets to educate users about the best offers and selling points before presenting BOF offers.
3.) Audience Creation: New Buyer and Supplier audiences were developed, initially testing Interest-based versus Job Title-based audience builds at the top-of-funnel (TOF) and middle-of-funnel (MOF).
4.) Retargeting Audiences: Implemented retargeting strategies to nurture users through the sales funnel from MOF to BOF.
5.) Optimized Targeting: At the BOF, we targeted high-quality prospecting, lookalike, and retargeting audiences.
Results:
Within the first quarter of implementation, the campaign generated over 2,000 conversions at an average CPA of $70, marking an 86% reduction from previous levels when I took over in late December 2023. Following Q1, MFG and their Data Team established back-end metrics tracking, allowing us to optimize for metrics like Premium Opportunities and Closed Won Opportunities. I recommended reallocating a portion of our Paid Social budget to LinkedIn to target a higher-quality audience and drive more Closed Won Opportunities, further enhancing our campaign effectiveness.
Q1, 2024
Shapeways
Challenge:
Although we were running efficient and successful campaigns for the B2B side of Shapeways' business, they faced a challenge with their B2C segment. Shapeways wanted to allocate part of the successful B2B campaign budget to launch additional campaigns aimed at their online marketplace of products. The marketplace side of their business had been experiencing a decline, and we were tasked with stabilizing and growing this segment. Shapeways relied heavily on my expertise in campaign strategy and ad creation to achieve these goals.
Solution:
To address this challenge, I created new Meta audiences customized for each of the top-selling categories within Shapeways' online marketplace. Additionally, I designed engaging video ads that showcased rotating images of some of the coolest products available in the marketplace. These ads were designed to capture the attention of potential customers and drive them to action. Users who clicked on the ads were directed to landing pages specifically designed for easy exploration and purchase of the featured products.
Results:
The Marketplace campaign proved to be highly successful within the first three months of its run time. It generated 852 purchases at an average cost per acquisition (CPA) of $13.99, which exceeded Shapeways' expectations. The strategic creation of targeted audiences and compelling video ads, along with optimized landing pages, played a crucial role in stabilizing and growing Shapeways' marketplace business.
Q2, 2024
Vultr
Challenge:
My client was facing a well-known challenge in the B2B world: they were offering a $250 credit for a 30-day free trial, which led to a significant amount of Signups. However, the majority of users that would sign up were canceling after the free trial and ultimately not turning into paying customers.
In addition, the content that was being advertised was mostly bottom-of-the-funnel offers, and there were few assets to educate the ICP about the benefits they would experience.
Lastly, certain global regions were taking large portions of the budget due to the high Signup volume they were driving. However, with these regions driving few Payments after the 30 days were up, a strategy shift was needed.
In addition, the content that was being advertised was mostly bottom-of-the-funnel offers, and there were few assets to educate the ICP about the benefits they would experience.
Lastly, certain global regions were taking large portions of the budget due to the high Signup volume they were driving. However, with these regions driving few Payments after the 30 days were up, a strategy shift was needed.
Solution:
To start, I shifted the budget away from Twitter and spent it on Facebook where our Payment conversion volume was consistently the strongest.
I also updated the regional targeting strategy in our Facebook campaigns so that we no longer grouped countries from around the globe based on the amount of Signup volume that was driven MoM. But we instead launched campaigns that grouped countries based on region (NA, LATAM, EMEA, APAC, etc.) and allocated our monthly budget according to the countries that brought in the most efficient Payment conversions by setting budgets at the ad set level.
On LinkedIn, where Signups and Payments were costing significantly more, we took down the $250 Free Trial campaigns and focused our efforts more on product-specific campaigns and ads to educate the audience about the solution. We then set up a cross-platform retargeting audience so that we could reach the high-quality users who engaged with our LinkedIn ads again with our BOF Facebook ads.
Lastly, on LinkedIn, users who had signed up but hadn’t added their credit card to their account were added to the “unfunded” ABM list. I increased the rate at which we updated the client’s "unfunded" ABM lists from a monthly basis to a weekly basis.
I also updated the regional targeting strategy in our Facebook campaigns so that we no longer grouped countries from around the globe based on the amount of Signup volume that was driven MoM. But we instead launched campaigns that grouped countries based on region (NA, LATAM, EMEA, APAC, etc.) and allocated our monthly budget according to the countries that brought in the most efficient Payment conversions by setting budgets at the ad set level.
On LinkedIn, where Signups and Payments were costing significantly more, we took down the $250 Free Trial campaigns and focused our efforts more on product-specific campaigns and ads to educate the audience about the solution. We then set up a cross-platform retargeting audience so that we could reach the high-quality users who engaged with our LinkedIn ads again with our BOF Facebook ads.
Lastly, on LinkedIn, users who had signed up but hadn’t added their credit card to their account were added to the “unfunded” ABM list. I increased the rate at which we updated the client’s "unfunded" ABM lists from a monthly basis to a weekly basis.
Results:
As expected, we saw a decrease in front-end metrics like CTR and Conversions. However, Payment volume increased significantly, leading to a 74% reduction in CPP.
Q4, 2023
