Media buying: Don’t try this at home!

Picture this; you’ve decided to venture into the world of fashion by opening up a boutique through a Facebook page. You have a good sense of style, your family and friends are excited to purchase from you, and your posts look professionally done compared to the ones of your competitors. Then, to give your business a boost, you promote your page too. However, despite all the effort you’re putting in and all the likes and comments, your sales are simply not reaching your expectations.

This is a common issue that a lot of small businesses face as they start off. You follow every step but it doesn’t seem to be helping at all. The problem here is that even though you’re advertising on several platforms, it’s not specifically targeting the people that would actually be interested in buying your product.

In the last blog post, my partner-in-crime, Jaser revealed the ins and outs of media buying and planning. However, simply learning about the process isn’t enough; you need to figure out which methods and strategies to choose according to your own business needs.

I, on the other hand, am going to shed light on the problems that you’re likely to face as you walk through the steps. I’ll also discuss how agencies can precisely identify those challenges and help you solve them. So, let’s get right into it!

Acquire in-depth knowledge 

The first requirement that you should cross out is acquiring in-depth knowledge about your target audience’s tastes and preferences. Intensive research is a must-have to figure out how you want to send your message out and capture their attention skillfully and effectively. (Roque 2018) This is where professionals can help you out with their experience and market insight.

Media planning is an extremely precise and accurate process than simply sponsoring your posts on social media platforms; it’s much more critical and business owners often face some difficulties, but these can be avoided quite easily. As social media has evolved to an ideal spot to place ads, platforms such as Facebook, Google, and Youtube have developed their native ad programs such as Facebook Insights Tool, Google Ad Words, and TrueView respectively. They give you access to insights that a regular user of the platform would not be able to view, and can help you find several crucial data on how your page is doing in terms of engagement (Joss n.d.). 

Some key features of these programs are a demographic overview, your audience’s preferences, and their habits. These help you analyze and plan what your page should do depending on whether you want to gain exposure, generate engagement, or increase sales. Here, a team of experts can help you understand how to use this data to your advantage. These tools also provide a breakdown of all the expenses that can occur; any action you want to take, how precise you want your information to be, and the specific audience you’re targeting. This allows you to make a more clear-cut budget.

Choose your platforms carefully

The second most important decision you need to make is carefully picking out which platforms to send your message through. Not all popular platforms will give you the exact benefits, even if they seem similar at first glance. For video content, be it clever ads, tutorials, or even skits, YouTube would be the ideal platform. Instagram would be amazing for aesthetic posts with short and catchy videos as well as static posts, targeted towards the younger and a more social media savvy audience. On the other hand, Facebook caters to a more mass audience (YouTube vs. Instagram vs. Facebook – Which is Best for Video Ads? 2017). You’ll find that there are vastly different peak times for any post you make depending on your business, country, target audience, and even the type of media you’re posting. According to Sprout’s research, people are more likely to come across and engage in your content on Facebook during lunchtime on Wednesdays, but the content of consumer goods brands performs well on Friday mornings too (Arens 2019). However, in Bangladesh, the peak times might completely differ from the West. 

With such a variety of media being produced and published, it’s crucial that you’re able to keep track of where your content is being posted. It’s also equally important to integrate each of them to ensure that they don’t contradict each other or confuse the customers. This is why it’s better to hire an agency and get an expert’s opinion on how to allocate them efficiently.  

When you’re dealing in this particular sector, it’s safe to claim that your ultimate goal is to drive engagement and conversions. Nevertheless, it’s equally essential that you set up short-term objectives for each department to make your campaigns more efficient. Setting smaller goals enable you to specifically select platforms that your campaigns will be published in, making the process smoother and better organized.

Of course, it’s also crucial to research thoroughly your target market on their likes and dislikes, what catches their attention, and how to make sure your message would stand out to them. While you can go with the regular segmentation methods, gathering your own data tailored to your brand and industries’ history and past performance could be more effective and bring you satisfactory information to be used productively.

Now, all these tips and tricks can be pretty hard to keep track of, especially when your team is already slumped with work from other departments. But fret not, there are agencies that specialize in particularly media buying and would gladly take the load off your shoulders. These teams of experts will have more data and historical knowledge from past research for other brands, which gives them a bird’s eye view of what works and what doesn’t on various social media platforms. This leads to fewer trials and errors, therefore, minimizing the costs that may occur if you do the research yourself (Benefits of Using Media Buying Services 2017).

That said, these pointers aren’t the only way that your business would thrive. Each business functions differently, and will, therefore, require different solutions. While these tips are likely to get you started on the right path, it’s up to you to dig in further and use trial and error methods to figure out what works best for you.

Most importantly, remain patient! The results of your hard work will not be noticeable at first but with the proper guideline, strategy, and mindset, your business shall prosper. 

Sources:

• Roque, C 2018, 7 Reasons Why Marketing Research Is Important to a Business, Envato Tuts +, viewed 19 September 2019.
• Joss, E n.d., A Beginner’s Guide to Facebook Insights, Neil Patel, viewed 19 September 2019.
• YouTube vs. Instagram vs. Facebook – Which is Best for Video Ads? 2017, Animated Video, viewed 19 September 2019.
• Arens, E 2019, Best Times to Post On Social Media for 2019, Sprout Social, viewed 19 September 2019.
• Benefits of Using Media Buying Services 2017, Strategic Movement, viewed 19 September 2019.