If you’re still on the fence about social media advertising, I get it.

Things like algorithm changes, privacy issues, ad rejections (oh, the ad rejections!), and never-ending ad fatigue are some of the factors we face every day and what tends to make mastering social ads a tricky task.

The only solution is to keep learning and experimenting – something that, when you’re starting from scratch, can be a time-consuming process. We’re fortunate that we run many campaigns and get great results in the dental sector, so we are always testing and learning about what works best. In this sense, hiring a professional really does save time and generate money.

We’ve previously written about which digital marketing channels to use, but social advertising is such a complex and important field that it’s well worth treating as a topic in its own right.

First, we’ll consider some of the top reasons to trial social ads.

Brand awareness

One of the primary goals for dental marketers is increasing brand awareness, which is why we’re seeing more and more brands achieving this with a paid social presence.

There’s little doubt that social media is becoming one of the go-to places for consumers to research and purchase products. On top of this, the targeting and creative options available on the platforms mean that your campaigns can achieve a good lead rate. But there are a few variables to consider.

Here’s a guide on how social media advertising works and what you need for a successful campaign…

Why run paid social media ads, anyway?

For many brands, organic social reach is declining. It’s true that social media is notoriously fickle, with networks prioritising which content a user sees in their feed first by the likelihood that they’ll actually want to see it.

There are no guarantees when it comes to which people – and how many of them – will see your unpaid posts. This is why you may have noticed that while some of your content gets good engagement, other posts are not liked or shared.

In contrast, social ads essentially ensure that you’re getting impressions, so if you want more people to see your brands content without worrying about algorithms or restricted reach, it’s a failsafe method.

Social ads allow you to target specific audiences

Facebook’s ad platform allows you to get super-granular in terms of who your ads are served to.

For example, if you want to show ads only to millennial women in Manchester, who are interested in beauty influencers, you can do that. This is a level of targeting that you’d never be able to achieve through organic reach alone.

Social ads make it easier to grow your organic presence

Growing your social presence organically is a long-term tactic, but ads can speed that process up.

Rather than thinking of paid and organic posts as existing independently of each other, it’s helpful to consider how social media advertising may supplement your organic efforts. If you’re already creating content and nurturing your community without ads, a well-targeted campaign can help you grow your followers.

How does advertising on social media work?

I’ve learnt that social ads require thorough planning, as even the smallest details can impact your campaign’s performance and reach.

Beyond putting together the ads themselves, it’s crucial to understand how ad targeting works.

For example, the Facebook (and Instagram) ad platform allows you to build specific audiences based on parameters such as age, demographics, location and interests, to name a few. You can also target “lookalike” audiences based on your email list or run campaigns solely for people who’ve visited your website, retargeting them with branded messages.

Calculating your ad budget is an ongoing process of refining and optimising your ROI versus lead costs and treatment conversion. If this all sounds worryingly complicated, fear not: we can help. We recommend running smaller “test” campaigns before increasing your spend.

How does social media advertising differ from organic content?

A social ad might look almost exactly like an unpaid post, with the most notable difference being a subtle “Sponsored” label.

In short, well-crafted paid posts should ideally tick the following boxes:

• Centred around a specific treatment or promotion (we’ve found that ads for treatments such as dental implants, orthodontics and composite bonding tend to yield good results);
• Includes some sort of call-to-action (e.g. “book a free consultation” or “book now”);
• Leads to a form and social media landing page.

What are some goals for social media ad campaigns?

While the seemingly obvious goal from an ad campaign is “to make money”, social media advertising isn’t solely about immediate monetary return.

For example, let’s say you’re more concerned about impressions and traffic versus actual enquiries. On the flip side, you may want to show leadership in a category and educate an audience. Or maybe you want your social ads to remarket to visitors that failed to convert on-site.

Thankfully, social media ads allow you to optimise your campaigns for all of the above, and more.

What are some sample social media advertising formats?

Chances are, you’ve seen a lot of ads in your feeds for Clear Aligners, but maybe you aren’t familiar with many of the advert formats available.

Let’s look at some of the most popular formats.

Static image ads

Although targeting for social ads can definitely be complex, this needn’t be true of the creatives behind them. Simple photo ads, which show off products, highlight promotions or make announcements, are commonly used and quickly put together.

Video ads

For good reason, video is the most popular and engaged-with content type on social media. The same rings true when it comes to advertising. A video grabs a viewer’s attention as they scroll through their feed. The fact that video ads favour short-form content means they’re accessible regardless of your budget, allowing you to create:

• Bite-sized commercials;
• Patient testimonials and endorsement;
• Looping images and slideshows.

Carousel (or collection) ads

Carousels are a perfect way to showcase treatments, testimonials and offers in the same ad. Another big benefit of these ads is that they’re interactive, giving viewers an opportunity to scroll, click and explore, and engage with your brand.

So how do you optimise your social media advertising strategy?

As mentioned already, making the most of social ads means experimenting.

Don’t assume that your first campaign is going to be a runaway success. Fine-tuning your budget, scheduling and ad creatives is par for the course to build response.

For example, think about the ad materials that are already working for other paid campaigns such as pay-per-click (PPC) or search engine optimisation (SEO). Through creative testing, you can get a better idea of which messages and creatives work best for your social ads.

And as always, digging into your data and analytics will help hone and refine the campaign, so do allow some time to collect data.

Are you considering paid social media advertising?

Like it or not, social media advertising campaigns are becoming an important marketing channel, complementing your Google Ads and SEO efforts.

As organic social reach is harder to come by and competition grows in the social space, paid ads are often the best way to ensure that you’re reaching your audience.

Working extensively in the specific area of digital marketing for dentists, we’re well placed to demonstrate what’s possible with paid campaigns. Get in touch if you’d like to find out how we could help you.