Social media ads are one of those tactics that get mixed reviews from entrepreneurs. Some people swear by them and others have been burned by them.
But if you’re already using social media to grow your business, social media ads can be an impactful part of your strategy – if you know how to succeed with them, that is! Think about, if you’re already seeing success on a social media platform, then you’ve already built up some credibility and you know that your audience is using the platform so you can probably reach more of them with ads.
So why do so many content creators fail when it comes to social media ads? There are 3 basic things you need to nail in your ads:
- The targeting
- The copywriting
- The creative
If your ads aren’t working, these are the 3 things you need to look at:
- Did you target the right audience? Is your targeting big enough to attract enough people while being small enough that you’re not targeting people outside of your ideal audience
- Is your creative eye-catching? Do they use bright and bold colors or did you create a video that engages your audience to keep watching?
- Does your copy speak to your audience and does it persuade them to stop and take action on your ad?
Today we’re going to talk about that last part, the copywriting in your ad. But before we dive into that, we’re going to reiterate this point: you have to know your audience to make any ads work for you.
It’s #harshtruth time! If you don’t know who you’re speaking to, you’re going to waste a lot of time and money. And it’s not just about having an idea of the type of person. You really need to understand them and their pains, dreams, needs, and fears.
And you know who can tell you all about that? YOUR AUDIENCE! You have to spend some time getting to know them before you try to advertise and sell to them. Use social media for this! Ask questions, engage with your audience, like their photos, follow them, reply to comments, listen to what they share and what they talk about on their pages. You have an open door to your audience so walk through it and spend the time getting to know them.
OK, now, if you’ve done the work to get to know your audience, let’s talk about social media ad copy tips. The caveat here is that every audience is different. What works for yours might not work for ours so it’s important to test different types of copy on a regular basis. We recommend testing your copy before you even launch an ad by sharing variations of your social posts. Check out this post to learn how to do it and how our variations tool makes it so much easier.
Let’s get down to the nitty-gritty of the social media ad copy tips that everyone should try out at least once!
1. Ask “yes” questions
A “yes” question is all about knowing your audience and asking a question that they’re going to say yes to. This is going to hook them in because they’ll be thinking “Yes, this is for me!” This is also going to weed out anyone who isn’t in your ideal audience. To make it effective, pose the question around the solution you provide for people and try to ask it at the beginning of the ad.
Like in the example below, Hired is looking for professionals who specialize in JavaScript, Python or Java. This is going to catch the eye of anyone whose an expert in those specialties.
2. Call out your audience
This is a similar tactic to the one above but it’s more straightforward. Simply call out who you’re talking to. It can be as simple as “Hey Brides!” or “Calling All Teachers!”
In this example, Honeybook very clearly states this ad is for small business owners by addressing them at the beginning.
3. Write about benefits over features
Far too many businesses describe their products and services in terms of what someone will get with their product as opposed to why someone needs it. The truth is people don’t care how many sessions they get or what extras are included. All they want to know is: “Will this make my life better?” and “Will it solve my problem?” Ask yourself why someone needs your product or service. What will they achieve because of it? Then focus on that in your ad copy.
Zendesk is a fantastic example of a super simple ad that addresses benefits over the features. It doesn’t talk about their features or how their product works. They address the benefits every business wants to see: more engaged and satisfied customers who are more likely to buy.
4. Use numbers
Numbers are one of those psychological tactics that humans just can’t help but pay attention to. They’re powerful communications tools and there’s actual science behind why they work. So if you have a number that is relevant to your business, your product or service or your audience – use it! Here’s a tip – the more random or odd the number is, the more likely it is to catch someone’s attention.
Like Hubspot uses the number 93% to call attention to their ad. The ad is targeted at their audience (small business owners) and around their needs (driving website traffic). It’s the number that really brings this ad together and makes it worthy of stopping a scroll. It’s an odd number but it’s also high and supports the need for Hubspot’s service, which is improving SEO.
5. Share social proof
Social proof is the concept that people are more likely to follow other people’s leads and it’s been proven time and time again. People trust recommendations and reviews from other people over advertising. If you have social proof, whether it’s a testimonial from a client or a mentioning a couple of high profile brands you’ve worked with, you should share that!
UberConference did just this in their super simple ad. They’re leveraging the bigger organizations they’ve worked with to prove their credibility.
6. Evoke emotions
Emotional language is a super powerful connector and you can use the emotions of your audience without using it against them. Mel Robbins offers a great example of this by painting a picture of her audience’s pain and desires. To evoke emotions, you want to think about how your audience feels now, how they want to feel in the future and how they could feel after working with you.
7. Tell a story
Our brains are wired for stories! It’s a proven fact! Telling a story is a great use of long-form ad copy on either Facebook or Instagram. The story can be your own or someone else’s but it should reflect your audience’s story and their struggles or desires.
YouTuber Sunny Lenarduzzi does this by telling her own story, which she knows her audience will relate to because her audience is struggling with the same things Sunny once struggled with. This is a great tactic for coaches, trainers, consultants or anyone in a service-based business.
These seven social media ad copy tips have been tested and proven to work now you just need to put them to work for your audience. Mix and match these into different ads and see what works for you. Ads work best when you test everything. And that includes testing with your organic social too to save some dollars so you know what works before you turn on that ad and spend a dime.
Looking for more copywriting tips and tricks to convert your followers into buyers? Grab our Social Selling swipe file!
