Many brands get lost in the advertising algorithms on Facebook, and it can be difficult to differentiate your brand with another. It’s important to make sure that you stand out from the crowd as your brand might not be too different from your competitor. You might also both be running the same type of ads with similar creatives. This is where Branded Content could be the next step to help improve your brand’s bottom line.
Pick & Mix
Branded Content isn’t about picking a random brand, celebrity, or influencer with the most followers to market your product. Though many businesses do this, it’s not something we would recommend. Don’t settle for vanity metrics. Be picky, take your time, and select the brand that’s right for you. This is the most important decision you will make when using Branded Content. Choose a brand or influencer that aligns with your brand ethos and message. For example, if your products are plant-based, you wouldn’t choose to collaborate with a brand or influencer that didn’t believe in the same values. This is the moment where you need to research the interest of your audience as well as the interests of the brand/influencer’s audience. If both audience demographics match, and they have a sizeable following that would benefit your business then you could be onto a potential winner.
The next step is finding out if they are willing to collaborate with you. Open up a conversation with them, shout out about your key message, let them know that you think they would be a brilliant partner to collaborate with, offer to send them free products, and build rapport. Don’t feel disheartened if they decline to partner with you, as there are plenty of other brands and influencers that could be willing to promote your products/services.
When you’ve found the right brand/influencer, it’s time to begin working on the content that will be shared.
Powerful and Persuasive Content
Branded Content is inherently different to the type of ads that you may be running at this point in time. Branded Content blurs the lines between organic and paid advertising and can have an impactful and positive effect on your brand. All Branded Content will appear as paid partnerships on all social platforms, having said that, the feel of a paid partnership will appear organic and adds an extra layer to your marketing.
Make your branded content appear friendly, approachable, and inviting as possible. Make sure that you are happy with the branded content before it’s published, and make sure the caption and image match your brand message. To maximise the persuasiveness, use an exclusive introductory offer such as a discount or free shipping.
Now that you have created or published the branded content, it’s time to use your new followers and page visitors to your advantage.
Brand Awareness and Recall
You may begin to obtain new followers and more page visitors which you can also use to benefit your marketing further down the line. Use the new data from web visitors to create custom audiences for remarketing. Create exclusive ads for new users to drive ad recall and further hammer down on marketing to your newly obtained audience. Combining both branded content and standard ads across Facebook and Instagram can increase purchase intent, it’s best to keep your new audience separate in ad targeting as this will increase intent through repetition of the same creative ad, thus driving more awareness and ad recall.
We hope you get the chance to use branded content ads to your advantage, helping you to improve your bottom line, as well as brand awareness and brand recall. For more info on social advertising, make sure to check out our Online Facebook Advertising Course.
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