The digital marketing channel you utilise as a business will depend on things like your goals, budget and target market. Paid search and paid social are two of the highest performing digital marketing channels – so why do we have to choose between the two?
The good news is – there are many ways of making sure the two marketing strategies can work hand-in-hand rather than against each other. In fact, as a digital marketing agency, we often see the best results when combining efforts across two channels.
We’re going to list some of our top tips to make sure you’re leveraging the two channels together. By doing so, you should see things like increased website visits, more sales and a boost in engagement.
Gathering insights
We can access insights from both social media and paid search. To gain the best results – it’s important to learn how the two can complement each other. So, how can insights from social media feed PPC, and vice versa?
One example is using a medium from one channel – let’s say Facebook – to discover the highest performing headlines. Evaluate the headlines that are driving the most engagement, i.e. likes, shares and comments. Then, with this information you can consider using a similar headline on other social platforms and in your PPC ads. The idea is that you’re using the information that is already existing – therefore saving yourself time going forward. We’ve got some more tips below:
Check out the competition
Competitor analysis is an essential part of any digital marketing channel – and social media is the ideal place to start. Think of it this way – you can search a brand, check out their levels of engagement and see who they are interacting with – all within minutes.
Now, we’re not suggesting copying headlines or tactics – but we do suggest seeing what it is that brands are doing right and wrong online.
For example, what type of content are they posting and what trends are they using to boost their PPC and social media success? What are your biggest competitors doing that you can do in your own unique way?
Where do you get most of your results?
Social media is something that can take time to build authority on. We understand that often, it’s a mixture of strategies that leads to results. But, it’s important to analyse your own performance as well as your competitors.
What content, blog posts, headlines or photos are grabbing your audience’s attention? Is there a noticeable pattern between social media engagement on specific headlines and your PPC clicks with specific ads?
Keep testing
Testing is the key to a successful digital marketing campaign – especially when it comes to PPC. Although most PPC marketers will tell you that testing is essential – this is less heard of within a social media campaign. We suggest bringing the testing concept over to social media.
Different platforms actually offer advanced testing tools – for example, Facebook Audience Insights can provide you with data on your best-performing ads, posts and demographics. Using testing across multiple channels will save you time, help you to really understand your audience and drive more conversions.
Be more consistent
When utilising more than one channel – it’s likely you might lose a bit of consistency along the way. Whether it’s different tone, brand voice or choice in language – you might be surprised at how often we see brand inconsistencies.
This is common because you might be targeting a slightly different audience, or have different goals etc. However, it’s much more effective if you make sure you’re maintaining brand consistency.
Essentially, you want to appear genuine and transparent – which requires consistency. You don’t want to appear as two separate companies when using PPC or social media. Instead, you want to build a sense of trust with your customers. So, what can you do?
- Visuals – Users will notice if your landing page looks completely different to your social media profiles. If your visuals are different then it might lead to confusion.
If they are too different – users might even think you’re a separate brand. Try to keep some similarities in your visuals to ensure you’re encouraging conversions and trust. Also, it looks a lot more professional if you have established your brand ‘look’
- Tone – We’re not suggesting copying and pasting your headlines or phrases from social to PPC – but we do recommend establishing a brand voice and tone. For example, are you professional? Quirky? Funny?
- Messaging – Why do you exist as a brand? What is your unique value proposition? Once you establish this – you will naturally achieve more brand consistency across social media and PPC.
Use PPC to grow a following
We’ve spoken a lot about social media in terms of engagement. Using your social platforms to measure performance is great – but you will need a following before that can really work.
This is a prime example of where PPC and social media come hand-in-hand. You could even start by sending your paid search clicks straight to your social media pages. As long as the page will offer valuable information, you can still please your viewers while driving traffic.
Use PPC to drive more social shares
Why do users click on your landing page or social channel? Well, it is usually because they already have an existing question and think you might be able to help. With the right content, you can drive more social shares by simply writing about a relevant topic.
What are people clicking on? Where are you achieving the most clicks online? You could also use a tool such as Answer the Public, which will reveal the trends and topics around a specific keyword or phrase. Think about what people are searching – and use this within your social media content.
Let us know if you have any thoughts or questions!