How to Create and Design Social Ads

So your business is starting and you want to integrate social media as a sales channel to increase your profits, as one naturally does. With the use and constant increase of social media, and as we mentioned in a recent case study “the significance of online consumption use has been adopted by many brands by focusing a large part of their social media use on brand engagement, brand image and identity”, so a nice boost with social ads is a great argument to make socials a sales channel for your business.

This article provides a comprehensive guide on the essential steps and strategies for designing and learning how to create social media ads. It also provides tips on how to measure the success of your ad campaigns. The article also discusses how to use social media ads to generate leads and increase sales.

• Focus on selecting the right platform, defining target audiences, and crafting compelling ad copy tailored to platform specifics. Use visuals that stand out and measure ad performance for continuous improvement.
• Before creating ads, establish clear objectives such as brand awareness, lead generation, or sales conversion to guide content creation and strategy.
• Stay updated with social media trends like video ads and carousels to ensure ad relevance and engagement. Adapt content styles to fit current trends that align with your brand.
• Use high-quality visuals, adhere to platform-specific ad sizes, and draw inspiration from successful ad examples. Monitor performance metrics and adjust ads accordingly to optimise results.

Creating social Ads

Creating social ads is a crucial aspect of any successful digital marketing campaign. From selecting the right platform to defining your target audience and crafting compelling ad copy, these social ads best practices will walk you through the process of creating effective social media ads that drive engagement and conversions. It's important to craft ads that are tailored to the platform and target audience and to use visuals that stand out. Additionally, it's important to measure the performance of your ads and adjust them accordingly.

There are a few types of social ads that you can use (this will depend on where the social ad will be):

• Display ads: The purpose of display ads is to display your brand and product visually, and to prompt your audience to act.
• Pay-per-click ads: Generally, these ads appear on search engine results pages.
• HTML5 Animated: Adverts that use animated text and images are known as HTML5 animated.
• HTML5 Static: These ads combine text and images to make a textual and visual advertisement.
• Banner ads: These ads typically appear in social media, display channels, and video channels.
• Carousel ads: these ads are made up of a series of images, videos, or text in a cycle, all within a single ad. Display advertising and social media advertisements are both used.
• Video ads: YouTube and other streaming services show these types of ads.
• In-stream video ads: Ads that appear within other videos on social media are in-stream video ads.
• Promoted account ads: These ads will be targeted to the specific audience you selected when you created your ad.

Define Your Goals

Before figuring out how to make social media ads, you must establish clear objectives for your ad campaign, such as brand awareness, lead generation, or sales conversion. Social media has great power but you need to be certain of the goal of this specific channel; as the content it holds will inevitably change depending on what you want to achieve.

Identify Your Target Audience

Understand who your ideal clients are to tailor your ads accordingly. Targeting teenagers on TikTok is different from targeting a marketing executive on LinkedIn. The core foundation of all is that you need to understand who you are selling to, and who your buyers are.

To do this you should conduct research that can include surveys, using data analytics from social media and perhaps looking at competitors or products/services that are similar in the manner you are to figure out the different data points that the user that you want probably will have.

Remember to always keep in mind that your ads must answer a question, offer a solution and inspire. With this, you can understand the point that the social ads will intend to fulfil with the target audience and what audience you need; is your audience needing to be sold something, or to be informed or they need to know of your brand?

Analyse Trends

Stay updated with current trends in social media to make your ads relevant and engaging. Nowadays it seems like there is a new trend every week, and your ads should, in a way, somewhat follow the trends that can fit smoothly into your company’s persona. There are many different types of content that can be used on social media to place ads on (video, images, documents), and in them, you can find different styles of their specific content (animations, image carousel, media banners, podcasting, product campaign, you name it)

Out of the most popular trends at the moment are social media video ads, animated social ads and social media carousel ads.

Focus on Clarity and Simplicity

Ensure your ad message is clear and easy to understand, especially when creating social ad copy. For example, of the most successful social media banner ads are the ones that have a clear message and clear design and images that deliver a clear message.

Normally, every social media platform will have a clear guide as to which type of ads will be best and you will find how to optimise social display ads. You can also A/B test different ads and measure their performance. This will help you decide which ones are the most effective and which ones should be discontinued. Finally, you should always monitor the performance of your ads and adjust them accordingly.

Create a Strong Call to Action (CTA)

Encourage users to take specific actions, such as visiting your website or making a purchase. If you are looking on how to create video ads for social media, it is important that the call to action is as clear as it must be suggestive if your goal is to sell.

A short, sharp and interesting sentence that is appealing and creates a small sense of urgency and acceptance between your target audience is key. It is also important to use the right visuals and colours that will draw the attention of the viewer and evoke the desired response. Additionally, the video should be short and to the point, with a clear call to action.

Designing Social Ads

Design Visually Appealing Ads

The social media ads design is of utmost importance for a successful campaign. Use high-quality visuals and compelling designs to attract attention. There are many articles that will tell you how to design ads for social media, but the reality is that every social media has a different set of rules and social media ads examples that will optimise your results.

You should always keep in mind the specs (measurements) of the content you are creating, as social media ad sizes are very important. For example, when you are creating a banner for your site, it is important to know the social media banner ad sizes as much as the ones you use in your blog and create multiple varieties of it (that remain consistent in design and identity of the brand).

You can normally find the ad sizes for social media online on a quick search, or you can find it on the documentation of the platform, probably under the social ad sizes guide.

Leverage Inspiration from Examples

Look at successful social media ad examples for inspiration. Get ideas for your own banner by checking out the designs of other companies as social ads examples. Analyse what works and doesn't work in their designs. This will help you create a banner that stands out and resonates with your target audience.

Use bright colours, catchy phrases, and eye-catching visuals. Make sure your banner is clear and concise, and that it fits with the style of your company. Keep the message simple and to the point. Test different banner designs and track the results to see which one performs best.

Monitor and Adjust

Track the performance of your ads and make necessary adjustments to optimise results. Look for other social media video ads examples from other companies to rework your own strategy with content. Test different ad formats and placements. Monitor customer feedback and adjust accordingly. Experiment with different types of content and formats.

Scheduling

Plan Your Content Strategy: Develop a consistent content strategy that aligns with your goals and audience. This can be made by doing some A/B testing of your own content and balancing it with the best time to post ads on social media that can be found on a quick SERP search. Monitor customer engagement and adjust your content strategy accordingly. Evaluate the success of your campaigns and optimise your campaigns for better performance.

An essential part of your digital marketing strategy

Creating and designing social media ads is an essential part of any modern digital marketing strategy. By selecting the appropriate platforms and defining your target audience, you can craft compelling ad copy and visuals tailored to resonate with your audience. The importance of setting clear objectives, such as brand awareness, lead generation, or sales conversion, cannot be overstated, as it guides your ad content and strategy.

Staying current with social media trends, such as video ads and carousels, ensures your ads remain relevant and engaging. High-quality visuals and adherence to platform-specific ad sizes are crucial for attracting attention and optimising results. Drawing inspiration from successful ad examples and continuously monitoring and adjusting your ads based on performance metrics are vital practices.

Ultimately, a well-defined content strategy, coupled with clear and strong calls to action, will encourage users to engage with your brand. By leveraging these strategies, you can effectively use social media ads to generate leads, increase sales, and boost brand engagement.