The 5 Steps to a Successful Print Paid Social Campaign

Everyone is on social media. There is research to prove it. People spend hours on Facebook and LinkedIn every single day so it only makes sense to drive more visibility and even leads from these platforms your potential customers are already on. But we constantly hear print companies telling us that running paid social campaigns hasn’t worked for them in the past. They put ad spend behind campaigns and ads that don’t get them the results they want.  That’s why we’ve put together these 5 critical steps to a successful paid social campaign so you can stop wasting your money and run a social campaign that actually works.   

Determine Goal

The most common reason print companies end up running underperforming social campaigns is because they didn’t start by determining what the goal of the campaign is going to be. If you first decide what you hope to get from the campaign, you will keep that in mind as you build, launch and optimize your campaign.  Is your goal to achieve more orders? More quote form submissions? Or even more case study submissions so you have lead information to follow up with? Whatever you hope to achieve from your campaign, make sure it’s trackable and is used throughout the campaign.   

Messaging

Your campaign message and target audience go hand in hand. The product or service you want to promote determines your messaging and the individuals you want to get in front of. For example, if you’ve decided to promote menus, promotional displays and table tents, you’ll want to target the decision makers in restaurants. When you think about the message of your campaign, what are you trying to convey to potential customers? What sets you apart from your competitors? What value do you bring to customers? These are all questions to ask yourself when determining what your ads and landing page will say.  DO NOT list out what services you offer or how you have great customer service. Every other company can do that. Speak to why you are unique as a print company and would be a valuable asset to restaurants in terms of their print needs.   

Determine the Specific Target Audience

Your target audience will be affected by your campaign message and vice versa. If you decided to focus on the restaurant industry, the message will focus on restaurant printed materials such as displays, wall & floor graphics, menus, etc.  Unsuccessful paid social campaigns are often targeting too broad of an audience. You have to be specific when deciding who exactly you’re trying to get in front of through social ads. Most printers are targeting too many different audiences. Focus on only one customer segment. Within Facebook and LinkedIn, you have the opportunity to target based on industry, job title, location, age, school, years of experience, the list goes on. This means you have a ton of opportunity to get in front of the exact individuals that are likely to do business with you.  Decide the industry you want to work in whether that be restaurants or schools, then determine the targeting criteria within each platform so you can be confident you’re getting in front of the right people.   

Set Up Tracking

Would you print an order of 1,000 brochures without tracking how many have been printed? So why would you want to put money behind a paid social campaign without tracking the performance?  It’s critical to set up conversions in the platforms so you can see how each campaign, ad or even audience is performing. You can set up a conversion for form submissions or order completions so you can see if someone clicked on your ad then completed the action you wanted them to take.  Tracking performance will ultimately lead to better campaign optimizations and better results.   

Routine Optimizations

Well performing campaigns require routine check ins to measure performance. User behavior and the platforms themselves are always changing so checking in on budget, targeting, tracking, etc ensures your campaign is generating the most conversions possible.  If you’re tracking your campaign properly, you’ll be able to see if you aren't getting the number of quote form submissions or case study downloads. That will lead you to make decisions on changes within the campaigns that will only increase performance.   

Why a Paid Social Campaign?

People are constantly on their social media accounts interacting with friends, family and brands and consuming content. So why not take advantage of this opportunity and get in front of those individuals online? You’re likely already posting to your social media accounts and not generating leads organically. We’ve found that paying to be seen on social media is an effective way to see more leads and sales quickly.  If you’ve been wasting your ad spend on underperforming campaigns, start getting real leads and sales by following these steps. Or if you’re new to paid social campaigns, take the first step by taking our Campaign courses or using our pre built campaigns that are ready to use.

Are You Ready to Sell More Print Using Paid Social Ads?