#BePrepared – How to Establish a Social Media Ad Budget
Is it possible to achieve social media success without advertising? Sure.
Is it easy? No way.
In today’s world, gaining an organic audience on social media is nearly impossible.
Unfortunately, however, many small business owners live under the assumption that social media advertising costs way too much money or that it’s too difficult to pull off.
We’re here to tell you that’s not true. You don’t need a ton of training to pull off a successful Facebook ad – and you certainly don’t need a giant budget.
Here’s how to make it work:
Setting a social media budget
The first thing to do when determining a social advertising budget is to figure out how much you want to spend on your social media strategy overall – that includes everything from scheduling tools (like Hootsuite) to hiring outside contractors.
From there, you can determine what portion of that budget you want to spend on social media ads.
For most small business owners, a marketing budget amounts to 5% to 15% of annual revenue – so if you’re making $50,000 a year, you might spend between $2,500 and $7,500 on advertising. Out of that budget, you’ll likely want to spend about 15% on social media advertising.
The bigger picture
When planning your budget, don’t forget that the actual cost of the ad is only part of the total expense. Even if you’re handling the work entirely by yourself, there is still time spent – and when it comes to business, time equals money.
So, what exactly goes into creating a social media ad campaign?
- Research
- Copy Writing
- Design
- Strategy
- Analytics
- More
Those items need to be worked into your social media advertising budget. If you hire someone for graphic design, that cost should be lumped into your ad budget. If you’re doing the design yourself, account for that as well – for example, if it takes you one hour to design an ad, and you charge $75/hour, deduct that amount from your budget.
It’s important to not let those peripheral activities go unaccounted for. If you don’t keep track of your real ad spend, you’ll have no idea what your actual ROI is.
Bottom line? For just a nominal amount each month, you can expand your reach and attract new customers. Totally worth all that time it takes to sit down and create a budget!
Contact us if you have questions about setting a social media marketing budget. Our Social Power Program can teach you how to use ads – and much more – to grow your business on social media.
Be sure to Follow us and Let’s Engage!
Hollie Clere of The Social Media Advisor is a “#BeAwesome” Developer, Social Media, Brand Builder, Content Manager, Trainer and Author in LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Google+, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram, and the tools to manage them.
Click here for Social Media Training, Speaking and Strategy Consultations.
