Week 11 - Online Advertising

This week we're talking about using social media advertising; what it is, what the options are and how to best use it. I have to admit that in spite of the fact that I'm not a person who likes to sell things at all, I found this week very interesting. Mostly, the idea that advertising on social media isn't really about selling, but instead it's about building an audience that eventually might need your services.  Then you build their trust with interesting content and if they do need what you have to offer, they will know where to go.

The creation of ads is also different than I would have thought.  The principles of good ad design include:

• Keeping it simple. Use great pictures and as little text as you can to get your point across. No one will sit there and read an ad for any amount of time. You have about 1 second to capture their attention and make them want more information. 
• Have a clear call to action. Make sure that you have a defined place where they can do something, whether it's purchase a product, get more information, sign up for something or follow what you are doing
• The Ad should look visually similar to the site where you are taking them. You don't want to lure them in with one look and then switch to a totally different look wherever they land. 

Once you have an ad, you have to decide where best to use it. Some choices are:

• Facebook banner ads. You can use facebook to target specifically the people you want to target. The options you choose will depend on the group you are targeting with the ad.  You tell them how much you want to spend per day and they will advertise to the audience you target until the money runs out. You can choose whether the ads show in the newsfeed, or on the right column. The options include:
• Location
• Age
• Gender
• Demographics
• Language
• Relationship status
• Education
• Work
• Financial
• Home
• Ethnic
• Generation
• Parents
• Politics
• Life Events
• Interests
• Behaviors
• Twitter ads - These ads are called Tweet Engagements, and just show up as a Twitter feed in your feed.  Again, the options you choose will depend on the group you are targeting. Here you will bid on the options and whoever bids the highest gets that advertisement.  The idea with the Twitter ads is to catch someone in a conversation about what you provide, and intercept the conversation with a suggestion to use your services. The options include:
• Location
• Gender
• Language
• Device / Platform
• Keywords
• Followers
• Interests
• Tailored Audience
• TV Targets
• Behaviors

After researching the types of ads, I think that for our Custom Covers - San Diego business,  right now we would go with Facebook ads. We are new to social media, so at this point, we'd like to build likes. That will allow us to later on target those people and the people they know to build a relationship based advertising scheme.  We don't have the funds to spend a lot of money on this, so maybe $20 per day is the most we could spend.

I see us having 3 or for groups that will have different ads, each targeted to the specific group.  Here are 3 ads I created. They are similar, but will be targeted to different groups.

The first ad is targeted to a group of homeowners who have invested in their home by adding an outdoor entertainment space.  The interests I would choose for this group are:

• Location - 50 mile radius of Oceanside because all of our work is custom, so we have to be able to get there to measure. 
• Age - 25-65+ - This seems like the age group that would be actively entertaining and maintaining an outdoor space. Most younger people probably don't own homes yet.
• Language - English - We aren't bilingual, so we wouldn't be able to communicate effectively with foreign language speakers. 
• Home Ownership - Homeowners and First Time Buyers. - These are the people that would have an outdoor entertainment space.  Not all homeowners would, but they might be interested in looking at the pictures and then they might know someone, or decide to build something down the line. 
• Generation - Baby  Boomers and Gen X. This category is similar to the age category, but would most likely filter out older people who might not have the energy to entertain. 
• Interests - BBQ, Home Improvement, Home appliances, 
• Behaviors - Entertaining, Purchase Behavior - Home and Garden

The 2nd ad group would be targeted at companies that build custom outdoor spaces. They definitely know people who have these and could be a referral source for the people who would actually buy the covers. Or, they could possibly include the cost of our covers in their overall price structure. 

The interests I would choose for this group are:

• Location - 50 mile radius of Oceanside because all of our work is custom, so we have to be able to get there to measure.
• Age - 25-65+ - This seems like the age group that may own companies that build the outdoor spaces. 
• Gender - All
• Job Titles - Owner, Partner, Manager, Project Coordinator, Project Manager
• Language - English
• Interests - BBQ, Home Improvement,  Outdoor Living, Construction, Management, Retail
• Behaviors - B2B - Industry - Construction

The third group would be targeted at Restaurant Owners with outdoor seating areas. We also make covers for outdoor tables/chairs to protect them from the elements.
The interests I would choose for this group are:

• Location - 50 mile radius of Oceanside because all of our work is custom, so we have to be able to get there to measure.
• Age - 25-65+ - This seems like the age group that may own companies that build the outdoor spaces. 
• Gender - All
• Industry - Food Preparation and Services
• Job Titles - Owner, Manager
• Behaviors - B2B - Industry - Restaurant

I believe these ads would be successful because of the photos that catch your eye and stand out, the simple text that would appeal to each different group, and the call to action button that would get them to like us on Facebook where they can get more information about our company, more information on how to contact us and see pictures of the work we've done.

Thanks for listening!  Whew, that was a lot!