Adverts on social media platforms

 As it gets harder to drive organic traffic to your website, the role of paid advertising on social media will increase further.

So, how do you stand out in this increasingly crowded and competitive field?

Video advertising is now essential

It’s long been predicted and now it’s finally arrived. Video is finally supreme when it comes to social media marketing. Increasingly, people not only go to social media to view and share videcontent, they are going online in general to do the same. Video creates fast, immediate connection between brands and their target audience. It tells a story directly, allows you to share your message and can be shared across platforms.

Video advertising can be difficult to get right and easy to get wrong. You only have a small window in which to grab someone’s attention.

After you’ve got their attention, you then need to convey a message. It needs to work both from a storytelling and visual point of view, and consumers have increasingly sophisticated expectations from the social media videos they watch.

How do you go about grabbing their attention and getting your point across?

Choose your platform

Ideally, you want your advert to be freely shared across platforms, but if you’re paying for advertising then you need to decide where to spend your money. When you’re using paid advertising it’s less important to have an existing audience in place as your advert will be shown to targeted users. However, if you’ve had more success with one platform than the others with previous non-paid content, then it might suggest that’s where your target audience is.

Different social media platforms have slightly different demographics. Facebook is older and broader, Twitter skews towards professionals and graduates with millennials featuring heavily. LinkedIn is also largely professionals and B2B, Instagram and TikTok lean towards younger audiences.

Facebook remains the most popular place for businesses to advertise principally because of its universality. If your budget is limited then it may be that for the broadest possible reach that is

where you should focus your attention. If, however, you have a clearly defined target audience in mind then it may be beneficial to look elsewhere. If, for instance, you were selling a new

brand of skateboard clothes and accessories, then you should target the platform where you’ll find the most teenage males.

Keep it short

When it comes to advertising videos the key to success is brevity combined with engagement.

Whatever platform you opt for your advertising video needs to be brief and snappy. It should give your target audience a flavour of your brand, a snapshot of your product, or a hook to

encourage them to find out more.

Keep your message simple

Don’t try to convey too much information or anything contradictory in your video. Keep it as simple as possible by focusing on one key theme with a clear aim in mind. Do you want them to

like your Facebook page or share the video. Perhaps there’s a give-away to encourage them to do just that.

Engage the senses

One reason why video advertising is much more effective than static images or text is that it’s a more immersive experience for the user. A video can engage them with images, music and

sound that work together to give a flavour of your brand. Think of some of the brands you love and how they present themselves. What is it about their brand presentation that engages you

and how is that expressed in their video advertising? Getting across a sense of what your brand is all about is more effective than merely relaying information.

Capture attention early

You need to get your audience’s attention almost immediately. Advertising videos will auto-play on most platforms so you need to make sure that your video looks intriguing rather than being

annoying. If you can capture the attention of your audience within a couple of seconds there’s a much better chance that they’ll pause rather than scrolling past.

Create videos that work with or without sound

Sound can add an extra immersive element to your advertising videos but it’s important to remember that increasingly people are using social media on smartphones often in public

places. Platforms don’t allow sound to auto-play because of the potential nuisance value. To get around this add subtitles and spark enough interest for your target audience to want to unmute.

Eight Engines can create compelling video adverts for your brand. Call 0161 974 1319 or email Info@eightengines.com to find out more about our award winning service.