Does Social Media Paid Advertising Make Sense for Your Staffing Firm?
Do you have a digital marketing strategy? Are you successfully attracting followers and increasing engagement with your target audience? Social media is a valuable resource in your quest to generate leads and ads may help to grow your business, if done correctly. Have you taken the time to ask yourself whether social media advertising makes sense for your staffing firm? If you have not yet explored the idea of promoted ads, consider the following points.
Blind Faith
There is something to be said about being positive and approaching everything from a glass half full perspective, but when it comes to paying for online business ads, a healthy skepticism is definitely required. Placing blind faith in any outlet is a bad idea, so be sure to do your homework and know what you are committing to before you create an online campaign. Conduct market research to determine which social media platforms are visited by your target audience, and try to identify the time of day when prospective clients and candidates are most likely to be viewing their feeds. Identify potential areas of interest or needs that are not being met by your competitors. Create an attention-worthy ad that is going to encourage your audience to like, comment, share, and ultimately engage with your ad.
Test the Waters
Most social media platforms provide coupon codes in the hopes that you will become hooked on their promoted ads. A great way to test the waters is to take advantage of promotional codes by setting up a targeted marketing campaign. In order to determine whether social media advertising makes sense for your staffing firm, create a campaign that makes use of the market research that you have conducted. Place an ad to highlight topics that were identified as important to your clients and candidates. Look at recent blog posts and identify an article that has generated comments and encouraged engagement with your target audience. Be sure to include a link to your website or a specific call-to-action such as “like our page.” When setting up a trial campaign, it is important to set a budget and keep a close eye on the ad activity to avoid any financial overages.
Social Media is Here to Stay
Mobile devices are definitely here to stay, and with this technology comes social media. Clients and candidates are using smart phones and tablets to communicate with others and to access the information available on the World Wide Web. With a reported 1.65 billion monthly active users and three million active advertisers, Facebook has the potential to be a great platform for small businesses. Likewise, LinkedIn lays claim to over 106 million users who are actively using the site for professional networking purposes. If you want to ensure that social media advertising makes sense for your staffing firm, carefully select a platform that targets the type of users you are trying to recruit and choose your demographics wisely. To help boost the return on your investment (ROI), sites like Facebook and LinkedIn increase your chances of being seen by placing the ads directly in a viewer’s feed. The challenge then becomes converting that user into new business for your staffing firm.
Creative Content
When crafting your social media ad, keep in mind that people tend to click on posts that promise to provide informative material. Take the time to include an attention-grabbing headline and a vivid image along with your call-to-action. Get creative with your content, and make use of various formats such as surveys or contests in order to increase the chances of your ad being acted on. Offer educational collateral like electronic books or case studies to drive users to your website, and collect their contact information thru a gated landing
Results
The digital marketing plan is in place, the ad has been created, and results are starting to roll in. How are you going to know whether your ad is successful? Take advantage of the built-in analytics provided by each social media platform and look for patterns in how your ad is performing. Are there a greater number of responses at certain times of the day? Is a certain geographic area responsible for more clicks? Track your reach analytics and determine when an ad is no longer effective. When an ad is no longer generating potential leads, it’s time to go back to the drawing board and determine your next step.
Key Takeaways for Does Social Media Paid Advertising Make Sense for Your Staffing Firm:
- Never place blind faith in any social media outlet
- Test the waters by taking advantage of promotional codes and setting up a targeted marketing campaign
- Select a platform that targets users and choose your demographics wisely
- Get creative with your content, and make use of various ad
- Take advantage of the built-in analytics provided by each social media platform
About S.J.Hemley Marketing
S.J.Hemley Marketing is a marketing and sales consulting firm focused on driving tangible results for professional services firms. Brand matters, but not without ROI. With over 20 years of sales and marketing experience within staffing and recruiting, we have helped to drive successful branding, sales training, lead generation activities as well as defining marketing strategy for top organizations.