Columnist Kristi Kellogg recaps a session at SMX East that dives into how marketers can integrate their paid search and social efforts for better marketing results.
From left to right: Pamela Parker, Executive Features Editor, Marketing Land & Search Engine Land; Tara Siegel, Senior Director of Social at Pepperjam; Maggie Malek, the head of social at the MMI Agency; and Sahil Jain, CEO of AdStage.
No news flash here. Marketing teams cannot afford to exist in silos.
Paid search and social are no exception. You can amplify the reach of both of these channels by combining your efforts and leveraging data from each together.
In the SMX East session, “Using Paid Search and Social Together,” three speakers, Tara Siegel, Jahil Sain and Maggie Malek, shared their top tips for winning with paid search and social.
Using search techniques to win at paid social by Tara Siegel
Tara Siegel, the Senior Director of Social at Pepperjam, said she is on a mission to make people understand that social must be viewed holistically. Social is an omnichannel optimizer.
It’s very important to be consistent across channels. Deliver the right message to the right people, Siegel explained.
In social, campaign goals will guide ad type and strategy. The same is true for search, with ad extensions, click-to-call, lead generation and so on.
Facebook is the Google of social. In Facebook, there are two ways to buy: in an auction or in a Reach and Frequency campaign. The latter is a fixed price and is very similar to a traditional media buy.
Relevancy Score couldn’t be more important. Facebook has always used relevance as a factor in determining ad delivery and price. In 2015, Facebook began allowing this metric to be reported natively and via the API. The score is fluid and based on engagement over time.
Facebook Relevancy Score vs. Google Quality Score best practices.
Factors that determine Facebook Relevancy Score
- Positive and negative feedback
- Hidden ads or ads reported as negative
- Ad creative vs. ad objective
- Audience expected engagement
Parallels between search and social ads
Today, there is a lot of crossover between search and social ads.
- Dynamic Product Ads are the equivalent of Product Listing Ads.
- Reach People near Your Business in the equivalent of Local Extensions.
- App Install ads are the same as App Installs.
Custom audience targeting, Google, Facebook and Twitter style.
Siegel told a story of one of her clients: An unnamed, high-end fashion retailer found that seven percent of their fans were military and five percent were veterans via Audience Insights. Given that, the retailer created a military appreciation landing page with a special offer for that audience.
Reporting in social is incredible. It’s really important to use Audience Insights data on top of reporting. Reporting can be broken down by demographic, device, placement, time of day and device impression. Using Audience Insights with a broken-down performance report can give insight into optimization opportunities across campaigns.
How Facebook told Siegel she was pregnant
Facebook knows where Siegel has worked, where she currently works, what she watches, what she posts on Instagram and Pinterest. Facebook knows she’s a mom and a foodie.
What Facebook doesn’t know is that she gets migraines and that she is pregnant.
However, Google knows — because she searched for things about early pregnancy and migraines. She clicked on ads, cookies were matched, audiences were built, and thus was born a Facebook Custom Audience and a Lookalike Audience, and Siegel saw ads regarding pregnancy and migraines on Facebook.
Facebook advertising boosts ROAS (return on ad spend). Social is a great introductory channel, according to Siegel, and search is a great closing channel.
The full slide deck from Siegel’s presentation can be found here.
The case for cross-network advertising by Sahil Jain
Sahil Jain, the CEO of AdStage, says that he is often asked, “Why would you advertise anywhere but Google?” Channels shouldn’t be viewed as silos, he asserts, but rather, digital marketers must look at different channels as part an ecosystem.
It takes seven to 13 different touches to deliver a qualified sales lead. Paid media needs to account for a multi-touch world.
It takes seven to 13 different touches to deliver a qualified sales lead, said Sahil Jain. Digital marketers must look at different channels as part an ecosystem.
Defining your ideal customer profile
How do we determine best-fit customers?
- Connect with sales.
- Talk to customers.
- Tap into your CRM.
You need to not only find out what your customers want, but how they would refer to your product. How do they see your product, service or audience? Understanding the terms they use can help you better describe your own services in ads and promotions.
Tapping into your CRM
Use historical data. This better allows you to craft your personas.
In other words, humanize the data. Identify your ideal customer, and then work backward to put him or her into a persona sheet. Once that persona is created, you can use it in social targeting.
Using cross-network techniques to reach your ideal customer
Drive brand awareness
Create brand affinity. Build trust. Trust is the number one factor in building a brand.
Write really useful content that targets that ideal customer persona. What will they find incredibly valuable? If truly valuable content is coming from your brand, people will trust it.
Drive engagement
To drive engagement, use Facebook Sponsored Posts, LinkedIn Sponsored Posts and Sponsored Tweets.
Retarget
A visual diagram of how retargeting accelerates visitors through the conversion funnel.
Remember …
- Use customer profiles to inform ad targeting
- Align campaigns and budgets to funnel stages
- Think about search and social in an eco-system
The full slide deck from Jain’s presentation can be found here.
Paid search and social: the ultimate knock-out punch, by Maggie Malek
Maggie Malek, the head of social at the MMI Agency, believes that if you think about people first, efficiency comes.
Digital marketers must create moments that matter to people — that they will share in every single way.
Search and social people are the ones who can make it happen. But there are two main roadblocks: staffing and data.
Plan for unbridled success
Maggie Malek shares her “Plan for Unbridled Success” focused on staffing models and data access.
Kicking it off
Here’s the information brands need to bring to marketers:
- Business objectives
- Customer data and insights
- Marketing objectives
- Specific campaign objectives
- Available competitor data
Here’s what search and social marketers need to bring to brands:
- Search query reporting on existing paid search
- Organic search traffic reports
- Website demographic information
- Paid search demo and geo info
- Historical conversion data
- Existing search KPIs
- Top-performing ad copy by clicks or CTR
- Seasonality trends
- Website content editorial calendar
- Demographics by social platform
- Historical social ad conversion reporting
- Creative successes
- Demographic breakdown by campaign
- Social sentiment data by platform
- Any online share of voice data
- Organic social KPIs
- Social media editorial calendar
Malek told the story of a client, the Shell Houston Open. It’s a PGA stop. The MMI was tasked with:
- reaching new audiences;
- driving ticket sales; and
- increasing on-site revenue.
She used listening tools to identify key conversation topics. Malek prefers a tool called NIME.
The places she looked for information about her audience included:
- customer survey data;
- focus groups;
- media consumption; and
- one-on-one interviews with stake holders.
After researching, Malek determined there were three groups that would be interested in the golf tournament:
- families;
- avid golf fans; and
- millennials interested in a cause.
When it comes to the millennials, they need ads on mobile, as that’s where they live. Malek would target an older demographic differently.
In closing, Malek told the SMX East audience to:
- optimize to create a better brand experience. That is how you will meet your objectives.
- fail fast. Fail forward. Test things on social and see what works — then turn that into your paid social ad.
- chart your course with data, but let your heart lead the way.
- design campaigns based on intention first.
- keep a holistic view of performance.
Keep one brand voice across all media: owned, earned and paid.
Be agile and flexible with media and budgets.
The full slide deck from Malek’s presentation can be found here.
Some opinions expressed in this article may be those of a guest author and not necessarily Marketing Land. Staff authors are listed here.
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