The best time to start advertising on Facebook and Instagram

“When is a small business ‘ready’ to being advertising on social media?”

This question is a bit like the Chinese proverb, “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago.The second best time is now.”

While Facebook and Instagram weren’t even hatched 20 years ago, the idea is the same.

This was reinforced to me last week when I received this Instagram message from a coaching client:

Yes! Running social ads is one of the fastest ways to get momentum for your business.

When you start running effective social media ads, a few things happen: your email list grows, your social media platform numbers grow, your organic posts are seen by more people, thanks to the algorithms.

Think of it as consistently “stocking your pond,” and at the right point, you can go fishing.

Or to use another metaphor, you are planting seeds that, if well tended to, you will later be able to harvest.

If you look around, nearly every successful business uses advertising and marketing to get new email addresses or contact information. Grocery stores, online retailers and big box stores all want this contact information. Just have a look at your keyring and those little cards are a marketing tool to get your contact information.

This is because big businesses know their numbers, and if enough people sign up, a percentage of them will buy.

This is true for your small business, too.

You are nodding YES…but, where the heck do you start?

If you are not currently running ads, let me give you a specific social media ads campaign recipe that is great for almost any business.

1. Create a Facebook/Instagram Ad promoting a Freebie: Valuable Guide, Market Report, Tutorial, Checklist, etc.
2. Exchange an email address for the Freebie.
3. Then provide consistent VALUE (not sales) on an ongoing basis through email marketing.
4. Ocassionally promote your product or service.

For this ad campaign, you can also use retargeting and advertise to your email list when you have a sale or promotion.

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Even with a small advertising budget, this plan works.

You may need to keep a close eye on it during the holidays (i.e. Facebook ads prices tend to go up during the holidays) but it is still worth it to start now if you don’t have any ads running.

Let me know how you go!

Warmly,

Amy

P.S. And if you need one-on-one help with advertising, just complete the form below and we’ll set up a chat.