Two of the most popular ad platforms in use today are pay-per-click (PPC) and paid social media. The results you can achieve through each platform can differ significantly; you’ll need to evaluate them carefully, and make sure you are utilizing them so they best support your individual strategy.
- Looking to make a sale? With PPC, you’ll reach customers with a high intent to purchase, but their ability to influence others is traditionally pretty low.
- Want to create buzz or generate leads? Using paid social media, you’re most likely to touch a pool of strong influencers, yet their actual intent to purchase may be minimal.
Deciding whether one (or both!) is the right choice for your organization is up to you. You may want to take a little “test drive” of each to determine their value for your purposes. One caveat though: Executing successful campaigns in either model has specific upfront requirements.
Checklist: Using PPC
When utilizing a PPC ad model, you’ll need to do a few things first, in order to make sure that you have the best chance for success:
- Identify which keywords should be prevalent in your blog
- Think about whether or not broadening your keywords might result in tangential qualified leads
- Determine what type of landing page would best serve each audience segment
- Map out the sales cycle, identifying next steps for each type of prospect (contact by sales, content, etc.)
- Make sure your sales team is fully trained on how to develop leads, by interest/segment
Checklist: Using paid social media
With paid social media, you’ll need to:
- Find out where your message best resonates geographically
- Determine whether you should differentiate your content for different types of buyers
- Decide if there’s value in providing content specifically targeted by industry
- Outline which organizational level of a company is the optimal entry point for your sales team
- Identify destinations on specific platforms where you will reach the most qualified prospects
As you can see, paid social media and PPC, while both children of social marketing, are each very different in focus. You may find that only one may be right for your purposes—or that using both will complement each other as part of your overall market strategy.
What’s your social marketing story?
Have you had success with either of these approaches already, or are you just getting ready to dip your toe in the waters? Contact us today for a free phone consultation, and we’ll help you determine the best social ad model for your business, and get you the results you need!
