Benefits of an Integrated Paid Social + Creative Strategy

Creative performance has become a major strategic differentiator in digital marketing, allowing brands to stand out against the millions of advertisers that are going after the same audiences. Paid social is an effective advertising tool that allows your brand, company or service to advertise to an audience of over 2 billion active users on a monthly basis! From introducing new brands into the market and converting new users into customers to creating lifetime value and brand loyalty, paid social advertising is a powerhouse! 

With this short read, we will dive into the benefits of an integrated paid social and creative strategy and how this combination can be lethal and effective in driving solid results.

Paid Social + Cohesive Branding

With millions of businesses leveraging paid social advertising to drive awareness, conversions, and create lifetime value, it may seem like an overwhelming task to stand out. So how is YOUR business able to be differentiated from the competition? By having badass branding creative that complements paid social advertising tactics.   

Why is this important? Branding is more than just the company name, logo, and fancy fonts. Branding is all about your company voice, your imagery, who your target audience is, and how you make your customers feel. 

By having a cohesive branding strategy across all touchpoints, (awareness, consideration, and conversion), not only are we able to connect with our customers, but we are able to create recognition and a loyal customer base.

Creative That Speaks to Consumer Where They are in the Buying Journey

When it comes to creative, there is no “one size fits all” option. Imagine meeting someone you are interested in. You wouldn’t ask for their number or go in for a kiss right away, no! You’ll need to nurture that relationship. Same goes for different stages of the consumer journey leveraging nurturing creatives. Consumers need to be nurtured before they turn into customers. Let’s break down how a solid creative strategy impacts each stage!

• Top Funnel (Prospecting): This stage of the funnel is the first touch point. Here, consumers are unfamiliar with your brand, company, service, or product. At this stage we want to create awareness and buzz with a mixture of education, storytelling, and entertainment. A few things to consider when leveraging creative in an integrated campaign:
  • Focus on unique benefits (unique selling propositions) Informational — who you are, what solution you offer
  • Engaging — fun creative that doesn’t require the consumer to do much work.

• Middle Funnel (Retargeting): This stage of the funnel leverages conversion-focused creative. Driving first-time purchases for users who have engaged, and are now familiar with your company, brand, or product.
  • Incentivize — perceived value of freebie or free shipping
  • Showcase product for brand recognition
  • Comparisons to similar products in the industry
  • Testimonials and reviews — built trust and generate social proof
  • Ask for the sale with a strong call to action (CTA)
  • Risk Reversals
  • Money back guarantee
  • Free trials
  • Satisfaction guarantee

• Bottom Funnel (Retention): This stage of the funnel is post-purchase. Here we want to utilize creative that is focused on generating lifetime value of our brand to our customers and drive repeat purchases as we continue to grow our customer base.
  • New product launches
  • Replenishment creatives
  • Offering subscriptions
  • Exclusive offers or special discounts

Opportunity to Test Variety of Creative Formats

Channels like TV, audio, and print are pigeonhole to one creative format that fits within the medium. Paid social presents the opportunity to use more than one media type to present the story you’d like to craft around your brand. Combining video, static, and GIFs allows your brand to showcase itself from multiple angles all on one platform. 

Beyond media types, every social media platform has a breadth of ad placement format types that can help move the needle for your bottom line if used strategically. Try testing different creative and ad placement formats for your social media campaign initiatives. You can A/B test media types against one another to understand which proves better for your brand. 

Your Consumers Can Create Content for You! 

It’s no secret that it’s pretty easy to sniff out an advertisement. Ads typically stand out in traditional media platforms, think: commercials, full-page magazine ads, pre-roll videos on YouTube. Social media platforms have presented marketers with a unique opportunity: get involved in the conversation and blend in. User Generated Content (UGC) is unique to paid social and can have a major impact for your brand. You can repurpose content as social media ads from folks who have great stuff to say about your brand while having it natively fit right into social media feeds. 

Wrapping Up

All in all, creative can have a major impact on the success of your paid social campaigns. Crafting a strategic marketing plan around how to present your overall brand story, what aspects to highlight to users depending on where they are in their consumer journey, and utilizing a variety of ad formats can alter the sentiment of your target audience. With the ever-growing competitive landscape, integrated marketing is a must. And luckily, social media channels have presented the opportunity to creatively enter the conversation, so jump right in!

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