Landing Pages for Social Media Ads

The What and the Why

It’s a common problem – a new business starts trying to advertise on social media, and clicking on their ad takes you straight to their home page without utilizing landing pages. I know that this seems like the best idea. Let’s face it, we all want our website to be seen, right? Why not send customers straight to the home page?

I know that your home page is the face of your website, but I’m in the business of helping you grow. To do that with social media advertising, you’ll want to use landing pages – and I’m about to tell you why.

What is a Landing Page?

Before I talk about the advantages of having a landing page, let’s start by defining what that is.

A landing page is a web page built to zero in on the specific product or service you are trying to sell with your advertising, while also gathering information on the customers who clicked the ad.

For further definition, let’s look at the two types of landing pages: Lead generation pages, and Click-through pages.

A lead generation page focuses more on gathering customer information for future contact, such as their e-mail, phone number, or mailing address. A click-through page acts as a thoroughfare to your website, but concentrates your products or services to best match the advertisement you placed.

Why have a Landing Page for Social Media Advertising?

If there’s one thing social media is good for, it’s finding exactly the information you want without having to dig for it. Whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest, you want your advertising links to take your customers straight to the product or service you’re offering.

For example, if I clicked on a Facebook ad for a free downloadable e-book on gardening and ended up on the homepage of a home improvement website, I probably won’t look for that e-book. Instead, I’ll peruse the site, and leave the site without giving that business any usable information.

Or worse, I’ll bounce. Bouncing is when a customer looks at a web page and then hits the back button or goes straight from your site to another site. Social media users are accustomed to ads taking them exactly where they want to go, and they won’t hesitate to hit that back button.

Your landing page cuts to the chase – Here is what you’re looking for, here is what you can give me in exchange. With convenience and a simple line of communication, you increase the chances of gathering information and making a sale. After all, that’s what business is all about, isn’t it? Social media is the bait, and your ad may be the hook, but in the end, your landing page will be the reel. So yank ‘em in with a landing page, and you’ll find more prospects and conversions than your home page could provide.

Landing Pages Work – Just Try Them!

I’ve worked with a lot of people who couldn’t understand why their social media ads weren’t working for them the way they should have been. Putting out a beautiful ad that links to your home page just isn’t enough anymore.

With landing pages, you’re putting the most important information in front of your customers in the most convenient manner for them. Convenience builds confidence, and confidence builds loyalty. In addition, you’ll be generating more leads, gaining more website hits, and seeing many less bounces on your website.

If you’re worried that your social media ads are just not performing the way they should be, I suggest trying out landing pages. You’ll be surprised at the difference it makes for your business – I know I was!

Why You Should Have a Marketing Plan

When we build a marketing plan with business owners, we’re not just providing them a service. We want to help them guide their business through the ins and outs of marketing. There's a lot more to it than placing ads or joining social media sites - and it's not as easy as one might think.

The Value of a Marketing Plan

If you were building a house, you wouldn’t go to the hardware store and buy random wood, nails, and tools. You certainly wouldn’t begin building without knowing the layout of your future home, or where your yard runs into your neighbor’s.

Business owners without a plan build on unsteady ground. Advertising companies know this, and will push unwary business owners to purchase expensive advertisements. Other advertising methods, such as Google or Facebook, can also be bank account quicksand if you don’t know how to utilize them properly.

Having a plan can change that.

Building a marketing plan is the most valuable move for your business. From your core values to realistic goals and marketing strategies, our marketing plan is designed to map out who you are and how best to advertise your company. Your marketing plan is the blueprint to building your business while saving you time, money, and headaches.

Tools and Materials

With that blueprint in mind, you can now focus on the tools and materials you need to market your business. The marketing plan will give you placement and budgeting ideas, necessities that enable you to hit your target audiences.

So who is your target audience? That is determined by examining not only your product or service but also your most profitable customers. After figuring out the personality of your ideal buyer, you can narrow it down even more through age, location, and in many other ways.

From this information, you can easily figure out how to reach your target audience. For example, a 60-year-old man living within 50 miles of a lake is more likely to be interested in your handmade fishing lures, while a 35-year-old mother would be more intrigued by your photography services.

And now, how to reach them? Once again, look to age and interest information to figure out the best advertising methods. In the example above, the fisherman probably watches the morning news, while the mother is more likely to see your booth at a children’s exhibition event. With TV, radio, social media, newspapers, and events, the venues of advertising are numerous. Having a great marketing plan can help you decide which ones to utilize and which ones to pass up on.

Building Your Marketing Plan

If you’re trying to build your marketing plan and feeling overwhelmed, we understand. That’s why we want to help you. We'd love to walk alongside you as you map out where your business is going and how you're going to get there.

Our marketing plan is built to act as a guide. You can use it to filter out only the best advertising methods, saving you a lot of stress, money, and time. Let us help you get there - it’s what we do!

The Social Brand's 3-Steps to Building a Marketing Plan

#1 - We sit down with you and get your business marketing plan on paper.

#2 - We help you recognize the most useful and compelling advertising methods for your business, as well as completing critical market research to establish what you're up against and how to respond.

#3 - We work with you to create a marketing plan customized to fit your precise needs and values.

Being Found Online

We talk to people every day who aren't being found online. They often express that they feel so overwhelmed and don't know where to start. So, here are our beginner's steps for the business trying to be found online!

These profiles are the beginning steps to developing your brand's Local SEO strategy.

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1. Google My Business Profile

This should your first step in getting found online.

What is it? The Google My Business profile puts you into Google's free directory of businesses online. This is the square you often see a pop-up on the right-hand side of the page when you're searching on a desktop or the first results that pop-up on a mobile phone.

Why? Google search engine results are highly used and trusted. Many Android phones, tablets, and internet browsers use Google as the primary search engine. Every time you search in Chrome, Google gives you any and all results. By taking hold of your business’s results to allow you to control your public image and the first impression to potential customers. This tool is crucial!

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2. Bing Places for Business

This should your second step in getting found online. Although Bing is not the #1 search site, it is the 2nd - so it's still important!

What is it? Similar to Google My Business, Bing Places for Business is a free directory for businesses. Just like on Google, this is a separate box that comes up on the right-hand side of the screen. It looks pretty similar, too!

Why? Bing powers all Microsoft phones, tablets, and PCs. Anyone who searches your business on Microsoft Edge or Internet Explorer will get their results through Bing. Have you ever used a Microsoft Pixel and Microsoft Surface? Yep, their main search engine is Bing! Bing is incredibly useful for your business.

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3. Yelp

As you can see in the photo above, Bing pulls in reviews from Yelp. So this is the next natural step. Siri and the Maps app on iPhones, iPads and other Apple products also use Yelp which makes it very important.

What is it? Yelp is a large-scale search engine with results based on business reviews. It also supplies Apple Maps with all reviews, business hours, and information regarding your business. Additionally, Yelp gives you the opportunity to take hold of your business’s public information and reviews.

Why? Yelp provides information for many more important platforms - making it vital to your business' findability!

NOTE: Please do not confuse our recommendation to create a free profile on Yelp as a recommendation to accept free advertising on Yelp or to pay for advertising on Yelp. Our recommendation is to create a free, verified listing only.

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4. Yellow Pages

Yellow Pages helps keep your business profile accurate and controlled. Although this profile is less critical than the first three, along with the other directories - it does certainly helps you be found by new customers!

What is it? Yellow pages is the online version of what used to be the phone book. It is a free directory online.

Why? Many times search engines use information from Yellow Pages to populate information.

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Feeling Overwhelmed?

We can help, learn more here! This is what we do here at The Social Brand - help people get found online! Feel free to reach out to us to see how we can help. Local SEO helps local customers find your business, learn more about these tactics here.

Our Tips for Live Videos

Use it!

Our first tip for Live videos, is that you should be doing them, regularly! People are following you because they’re interested in you and your brand. No amount of perfectly edited photos and well-designed marketing campaigns will fully satisfy your customers’ desire to connect with a person.

So, give the people what they want. Show your face! Talk to your followers.

The beautiful thing about Live Videos is that their organic reach is greater than a regular post… and sometimes even greater than a regular video! Why? Usually, your followers will get a push notification (pop-up) on their phone telling them you’ve gone live. This means more people will know to jump on and watch your video!

Know, Like and Trust

As with all things in marketing, Live Videos work best when they’re done regularly. Now, we’re not talking about every day… but once a week or so. In some cases, every couple of weeks or so is even enough to get people used to hearing from you. The ultimate goal is that your followers know who you are, like you and trust you. (KNOW, LIKE, and TRUST).

Now, let’s think about that phrase. If your followers are going to grow to know, like and trust you. Then, that means that every time they see you, you shouldn’t be trying to sell something. AMIRIGHT?!

NO ONE LIKES TO BE SOLD TO. People like to be educated, they like to be entertained, they like to feel like they’re a part of a community, but they don’t like to be sold to. So doing a Facebook or an Instagram live and only talking about the latest deal may drive a short-term increase in number but ultimately will lead to less engagement. Now once you’ve shown your followers you care about them by educating them, entertaining them and bringing them into your community… if you want to sell them something every once in a while, they’ll listen! Just like they’ll listen to a friend!

Set Up

Now just like anything, there’s a level of technical stuff to doing a Live Video. Here’s what we consider to be important.

· Make sure you’re in a well-lit area. Make sure people can see your face, without shadows being on your face. The light should be in front of your face, not behind you.

· Make sure you’re in a quiet area. You don’t want to do a Live Video with a loud fan running, near traffic or outside where a heavy breeze may be blowing. Essentially, make sure the TV is turned off and silence your phone before going Live!

What You Should Do

· Eye contact. Look AT the camera. Don’t flicker your eyes around or look at your hands, etc. Eye contact lets people know that you’re trustworthy. Once again, helps with that “Know, Like, and Trust” thing we’ve been talking about.

· Practice makes perfect! I always encourage people to practice! Figure out what you want to say, so you don’t ramble. Record yourself and watch it, check for too many “umms” or nervous ticks. In most industries, a Live Video should be less than 10 minutes. The exceptions to this would be tutorial type videos (DIY, makeup, etc.) or interactive videos.

· Engage your followers. The beauty of live videos is that you can interact with your followers LIVE. It’s a conversation! So as people watch your video, they can comment and you can answer them… LIVE!

Now, with all that being said, Facebook and Instagram Lives are overwhelming. We get it! So if you have further questions, we'd love to hear from you! This is what we do!