Engage More Before You Spend More on Advertising
By Melissa | Jun 25, 2019 (4 min read)
PPC | Social Media | Video
It’s been over 25 years now since the first online advertisements appeared. The very first advertisement on a website appeared in 1994.
Since then, the amount that businesses spend on online advertising has increased by over 1200%.
In 2018, the total online ad spend for Google, Facebook, and other online platforms exceeded $120 Billion. By 2020 it is estimated to grow to over $200 Billion.
It seems that with so much money being spent on getting attention from customers that the solution is to spend even more money on ads.
But do the results of spending money on ads actually make customers buy?
It is estimated that between 25%-30% of all marketing spend is wasted. As an advertising agency, it seems that our suggestion would be to spend more money.
Having worked with many companies on growing their online presence, we have learned that the best tactic to get more attention is to give attention first.
To Be Interesting, Become Interested
Be honest: how much time over the last month have you spent liking, commenting, and sharing content other people post?
For most people, it’s not a lot.
The reality is that most of us go online for two reasons: to post something about ourselves, or to see how many likes and comments our posts have gotten.
We may have a passing interest in what everyone else is doing and saying, but most of the time, we are there to focus on ourselves.
Businesses are the most guilty of this behavior. They post something, then come back to check the analytics, then go offline.
Are You Paying for Wasted Attention?
Many companies focus on advertising as the primary way to draw attention to their brand. They plan out a budget, spend time deciding on a campaign, and then monitor the results carefully.
However, after the ads gain attention, instead of engaging with those interested users more than once, they begin to focus on getting more new customers.
Gathering new followers or fans to a website page or social media profile is a waste of time if you don’t then give them attention.
Posting valuable and entertaining content is a big part of increasing engagement. But the other half of the equation is to make sure you are commenting, liking, and sharing the content of other people.
Flip The Focus for Better Results
When you begin to focus on the people who follow your brand, magical things can happen.
Brands that take the time to engage with their followers have huge loyalty as a result.
Here are two ways to get more value out of the current follower relationships you have:
- Taking 10 minutes a day to visit the profiles of your followers to like, comment, and share their content is an incredibly simple, cost-effective way to grow the attention and loyalty to your business.
- Acknowledge all comments and shares from people. Set up your notifications, so you know who is commenting and sharing your posts. Take a minute to thank them, either on the post or via a direct message. This will encourage them to share more of your content.
Remember that as much as you want new customers, that the actual value is in repeat customers and business. By building up an active community, you can potentially reduce your ad spend over time and begin to grow your organic and social reach.