Do you ever want to just give up on social advertising? Quit! Finito! It just seems pointless and it doesn’t work anyway, right?
If that’s what you’re thinking you’re not alone! Here are some common reasons I’ve heard to stop advertising socially.
#1: I don’t want to waste my money
While budgets are tight and many of us don’t want to throw money away right now, it’s hardly the time to disappear. In these tumultuous times it’s even more important to stay top of mind and tip of tongue.
The question of the day is this: Can you afford not to advertise? Can you risk people thinking that perhaps you’ve gone out of business? Do you want to start over from scratch building your business?
Solve this pressing money issue by committing a couple of dollars a week to advertising. Then select your best post (the one that’s gained the most traction and has a beautiful image). Run the ad for a day or two as a test. Combine this with tactics to improve your organic reach and earn even more views.
#2: Advertising looks complicated
I won’t lie, advertising can be complicated. There is an easy way though. Simply click the ‘Boost Post’ button and select an audience of “People who like your Page and their Friends.” This easy technique makes the assumption that your fans are friends with people who have similar interests. This means that these ‘friends’ of your fans have the potential to travel and to become clients of yours.
Take your advertising up a notch and target qualified people.
#3: I have too much business now
A couple of months ago I was talking with a travel pro and she was ready to give up on social marketing saying she had so much business she could hardly keep up. “Why post socially and advertise? I can’t manage the clients that I have now!”
So quit! But….
- What happens when your clients age-out of travel?
- What happens when your clients think you’ve disappeared because they’re not hearing from you or seeing you on-line?
- What happens when your clients are enticed by another travel resource (a savvy travel consultant, a sexy app, a cool new ad) and stop calling you?
If you don’t care about the future of your business or want an early retirement, just stop posting and advertising.
#4: My clients say they’re not on Social Platforms
The other issue many travel & tourism pros struggle with is the thought that their clients don’t really want to hear from them.
- Do your clients tell you they’re too busy to look at their social feeds?
- Do you feel as if you’re being too pushy when you post, advertise or send an eblast?
- I had one salesperson tell me their clients didn’t want to see them on video – go figure! Really!
While your clients may be busy, one 2018 report from GlobalWebIndex estimates that, on average, social media users spend 2 hours and 22 minutes online each day globally.
But you say…my clients are boomers and millennials….they don’t have that kind of time.
Guess what:
The vast majority of Boomers use social media regularly, find information through search engines, and spend a large portion of their free time online. In fact, on average they spend 27 hours a week online – that beats Millennials’ time by two hours!
#5: Past ads haven’t worked for me
You could just give up. When that’s not an option, here’s four tips to tweak your ads:
- Re-consider your expectations. Don’t expect to sell something immediately to a cold audience. Build relationships with brand awareness ads, informative content and a personal touch.
- Reach out to warm audiences; people who have some connection to your page. Create a pixel and use it to reach the right people with your ads.
- Ensure your ads speak to your audience. Having the right content, but the wrong target audience is a recipe for failure. Align your message so that it speaks to the right audience. Simple adjustments to the words, tone and style can make all the difference between appealing to a Boomer versus a Millennial.
- Test, Test and Test again. Wouldn’t you love to know which graphic will appeal to which audience? I’ll bet you’d love to know what words in your ad text will have more impact. Split testing and Dynamic Ads do the heavy lifting for you.
Don’t let social advertising get you down, just stick with these tips and don’t give up. To borrow a great quote:
“Never stop testing and your advertising will never stop improving.”
-David Ogilvy
