Should you devote part of your budget for paid advertising? The answer is not as simple as you think.
Your business has great content. But for some reason, you’re not reaching as many people as you’d like.
The most obvious solution is to pay to promote content.
And this involves using distribution channels to get in front of more people. You may not get VIP treatment, but it can certainly give you an edge over other brands.
After all, there’s a lot of white noise happening when you go online. Everybody is busy promoting their brands and customers get bombarded with ads.
Paying for content promotion gets you in front of the people that want to see your ads. And they’re more likely to respond to them.
Most social media platforms offer programs that get your content in front of people at a cost. The most obvious way to do this is by using ads, but there are also other options as well. For example, some platforms like Facebook allow you to boost select organic posts. And clients who choose this option are more likely to appear in people’s timelines.
But is it worth the money?
Paying to promote content can work wonders for some companies and has some great benefits attached. But it’s not
for everyone.
Find out more about the right time to pay to promote content in this article.
The Benefits
Paid content promotion has some obvious benefits. Check out some of them that may help you decide to go down this route:
Benefit #1 – Faster Audience Growth
Paid promotion is all about targeting audiences. And you already have a steady audience in your existing customers.
But if you want to get fresh leads and traffic, you need to widen your audience.
Think of it this way…
Instead of casting your net out wide into the vast internet ocean, think of it as specialising your technique.
You’re picking the right fishing spots because you’re targeting consumers interested in content like yours.
When you pay for content promotion, especially ads, you’re automatically in a user’s feed. And that can mean a window into better leads, website traffic, and sales.
Benefit #2 – You Have Control Over Your Budget
One-size-fits-all paid promotion packages simply don’t exist in the world of social media platforms. Everybody wants choices and these companies are quick to comply.
And that spells good news for you!
Paid promotion lets you be in the driver’s seat when it comes to your social media advertising. Many platforms offer a pay-per-click (PPC) model, allowing you to pay each time users take the action you want.
Along with allowing you more control of your budget, you also have a little more leeway to play around with certain niches. This means you don’t have to splurge on new campaigns if you’re just testing the waters.
Test a few new markets at a discount to find out which audiences work best. Then, you’re able to narrow down a new target audience and get a better ROI without breaking your budget.
Benefit #3 – Improved Brand Awareness
How do you get people to recognise your brand?
They need to see it.
Sure, you can post content yourself and hope for the best. But paying for promotion can increase the odds of the right people seeing it.
But simply putting your brand in front of a person isn’t enough, though.
You need a bit of repetition, specifically in the form of regular news feed appearances, to stick in someone’s mind. And after a while, people will start to recognise your brand.
And believe it or not, that recognition can affect your credibility.
When your brand appears more credible, it can help drive engagement and affect buying behaviour in your favour.
Benefit #4 – Allows You to Bring Attention to Older Posts That Still Have Value
Do you have a great piece of past content that you still wish to use?
There’s no need to reinvent the wheel.
Even though you already released that content in older posts, it still has value today. Bring that content to fresh sets of eyes when you expand your target audience through paid promotion.
Users generally follow brands because they’re interested in what it offers. You can help nurture that curiosity with more content to educate customers and eventually transform them into leads.
Benefit #5 – Ability to Zero In on a Specific Niche
Is your content too narrow to appeal to a wide audience?
Paid content promotion can help with that.
Use the budget-friendly payment options to try out new markets and hone in on the ones that work. Even if the content didn’t get a great response organically, you can reuse it for this new audience.
Paid promotion also helps you zero in on specific pain points and tailor your content to meet these potential customers’ needs. This can help put you in a more favourable position when the time comes to address those pain points.
When Should You Do It?
As mentioned before, you get some great benefits if you go with paid content promotion. But it doesn’t work well for everyone.
Here are a few specific situations to help you identify if this is the right solution for you:
Scenario #1 – You Want to Reach a Specific Audience
You need to have a good idea who your audience is to utilise paid content promotion to the fullest. From there, you can set up parameters for when your content appears.
For example, let’s say that you’re looking for certain demographics. Social media platforms like Facebook can narrow down the right audience.
This includes factors like:
- Age
- Gender
- Location
- Language
You can also narrow down other specifics, like interests, connections, or behaviour. This can help introduce your content to a new audience while keeping your existing ones in the loop.
However, you do need to know which way you want to target your audience to make this work.
Many companies use the PPC payment model to test out new markets. But it’s simply a step to narrow down the focus for your content.
Scenario #2 – You Have a Great Piece That Didn’t Get the Traction It Deserved
Do you have a great piece of content that didn’t get as much attention as it deserved? You can relaunch the piece using a Google Ads strategy with keywords.
The premise is simple:
Anyone looking for those specific keywords sees your ad and Google AdWords puts your content at the top of the results page. As a result, your content gets more exposure and more potential for conversion.
Scenario #3 – You’ve Updated a Piece and Want to Bring It to People’s Attention
Your first piece got a great response, but you’ve changed it a little. How do you get the updated content in front of people?
It’s simple.
Use paid promotion to appear in user feeds.
Your audience already knows and loves your content. But they may not know that you made some changes. You can change that by appearing in a social platform they’re checking multiple times a day.
Sponsored posts on Facebook are a great way to achieve this.
Not only can everybody comment and react to the new content, but they also get to see social proof about your brand.
Scenario #4 – Paying for Promotion Fits Into Your Budget
Will it fit into your budget?
That’s really the big question on everybody’s mind.
Even if you think that paid content promotion is the route you want to take, the money has to come from somewhere.
And that somewhere is your marketing budget.
Can you afford it?
The good news is that paid promotion can be very affordable for most companies. But you need to set a budget first, or you may see things get out of hand quickly.
Most of these platforms use pay-to-play models that only charges you each time users click on an ad. But if too many customers click on the ad at the same time, those charges can add up quickly.
And that cuts into your ROI.
So if you do plan on trying out paid promotions, remember to create a budget for it. Consider how much you can afford and how many people you’re targeting.
Spend a Little Money for a Lot of Exposure
Is paying for content promotion the right choice for you?
It really does depend on your situation. But if you’re sitting on great content and have the budget for it, it’s worth giving it a try.
Just remember that you do need to narrow down your target audience or keywords first. Paid content promotion is designed for companies that are ready to pinpoint specific customers.
Are you ready to take the next step with paid promotions?
Automation Agency can help you design a Facebook Ad image that complies with the platform’s guidelines. But more than that, our team will work with you to create an ad that really stands out. Our design experts can create imagery that will catch the eye.
And we can also help you to segment your audience so that your ad gets in front of the right people. Send a task to our Concierge Service to get started.
If you’re not a member, you might want to talk to our Right Fit Chatbot to learn more about us.
