Sustaining a social media advertising campaign for clients is no easy task. With competitors crowding the space, how are you going to stand out? While the goals of the campaign are important, the media you post is even more important.
Don’t Crowd Your Image
When focusing on a paid advertising campaign, you’ll want to include your logo within the image. The point of your campaign is to increase brand awareness and revenue for ecommerce. However, don’t be overzealous with text boxes and logos. Overcrowded images won’t work – they overwhelm your design as well as your user. As my mom told me about everything, KISS: Keep It Simple, Stupid.
If you look at any major brand’s social media, you’ll see simple but enticing images. Simple Bank has a bright background but shows their debit cards with their logo within the image. Hum Nutrition follows the same idea with their brand names on the bottles and showing the product. The copy shows what they are advertising rather than having it on the image itself.
Images courtesy of @Simple and @Humnutrition Instagram accounts
In a similar fashion to these major brands, try images like theirs. Showcase specific products and turn the product so the brand’s name is visible. Hashtag your brand and any related tags in the caption. Instead of adding tons of text and overcrowding your image (which the user is most likely seeing on a phone) keep text simple on the image. Then add more information to the caption – better yet, include a link in the profile bio.
Be Different
Social media – specifically Instagram – is all about white. I create a clean, crisp image where the user can see everything in the picture. However, this is becoming the new normal. Marble, white and wood backgrounds are everywhere these days. Why not try something different?
As an avid social media user, I am much more likely to click on an ad or image if it catches my eye. If you try to be too similar to your competitors, the user you’re targeting is less likely to click on your image. For example, a stop motion video of clothes will stand out against still images used by your competitors. Colored backgrounds instead of white in cosmetic posts will also stand out.
The beauty of social media and all advertising is testing. I prefer to A/B test with the standard white backgrounds against colored backgrounds within the product color scheme. I’ve found that color background images work better since they stand out in the user’s feed.
How to Stand Out
Now that you’ve learned a couple of tricks to stand out, start testing. Within your advertising campaigns, create two ads. Have the winner of your current ad test and implement a new ad – whether it includes a new background or removing text from the image, get testing!
If you have any techniques to share, please leave them in the comments or tweet @hi_annarosaley to share yours!
