Content area
Full text
While brands can have a presence in social media for free, a small investment in paid social advertising can have a big impact on yourbrand
When Uniq Life style, owners of th e Brant H ouse, a Toro nto restaurant and nightclub, wanted to draw more customers on Thursday nights, they approached Lyon Lee, founder and CEO of FanCrank.
Together, they came up with the idea of Cocktails & Heels, a weekly event that offered free cover for women in high heels, and entry into a draw for a pair of Louboutin shoes. They knew who they wanted to bring in, and Lee knew just where to find them: he targeted women in Toronto, 25 to 35 years old, through Facebook advertising. They knew the men would follow.
It worked. With a roughly $2,000-per-month advertising investment, the Brant House nowbrings in about 600 guests most Thursday nights compared to 400 before the program began.
Many busine s se s thés e days are u sing fre e s o cial me dia like Fac e - book, Linkedln and Twitter to talk to, and draw in, customers. It's part and parcel of doing business. It's expected.
But while social media is huge, many businesses don't consider, or are intimidated by, its extension: paid social media advertising. But they shouldn't be. With a little bit of money and a little bit of time, businesses can leverage what Lee calls a "very powerful tool, and a great opportunity for businesses to target customers at a very finite level."
Maggie Fox, CEO of The Social Media Group, says paid social "provides the ability to target your audience in a way that [most] display advertising simply cannot." Through social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Linkedln-what Fox calls the "big three", see page 26-small businesses can target their customers like never before thanks to the copious amount of personal information most users of social media gladly display on these sites. Business owners can buy advertisements that target potential customers based on age, gender, education and even income level. This is a powerful thing.
And it doesn't have to break the bank, either. Brant House budgeted $2,000 a month, but you don't have to start that high.
"Do you...