Writing digital marketing ad copy isn’t as simple as it used to be. With more businesses than ever using social media platforms to promote their brand, your ads are competing against the best of the best across more and more channels. And as every business owner knows, just throwing up some pictures and a quick sentence or two isn’t going to cut it in our digital world.
Luckily, we are here to show you how to take your flat text and turn it into something powerful that will keep your customers coming back for more. These ten tips are an excellent place to start when writing ad copy for any social media platform, from Instagram to Facebook to Twitter, etc. There’s an art to writing good social media ad copy, but it’s also a skill you can learn with a little knowledge and practice.
1. Research and Understand Your Audience
Know your audience and write specifically for them; you need to know what your prospect marketplace is thinking and find a way to address that. Social media ads are about attracting and engaging potential members, but there’s more to it than that. From the customer’s point of view, each ad should answer the following four questions:
- What is the brand/product?
- Why is this product/brand for me?
- How can I benefit from the brand/product?
- Where can I find it?
By targeting these questions, you will inherently narrow down your copy to fit the mold of a specific
Ad Copy Example #1 – Know Your Audience
In the example above, the ad is targeted at students looking for the best student loan refinance rates. The ad image clearly states who will benefit from this product, and the ad copy defines why the target audience needs this product, how it will benefit them, and lastly, how they can capitalize on the offer with a call-to-action (CTA).
2. Solve a Problem For Your Customer
Whenever you write an ad, it’s your job to remove all barriers preventing a potential customer from making a purchase. Put yourself in the user’s shoes and answer this question: What would keep you from clicking an ad, visiting a landing page, filling out a form on the page, or making a purchase?
At every stage, you should include information that potential customers need to make an informed decision. There are many ways to identify the customer’s needs, but the best way is to hear what they have to say. Customers are often more in tune with customer service, quality of a product, or unresolved issues than you might think, so talk to them to know what pain points you should be addressing. Customers are a wealth of information when it comes to knowing what they want. They have suggestions for you and will be honest with you, too.
Make sure there is always a benefit to using your product/service that will solve one of your customer’s pain points. Your ad should never just be about what you offer; instead, you always want to focus on how it benefits the customer. We often recommend the Problem-Agitate-Solve formula. The formula works like this: Identify a problem, analyze that problem, and uncover the solution. Consumers want to hear that you can identify the problem and produce a product or service that can easily solve the problem in their life. You want to communicate how your product or service will help them solve their problem and how they can get in touch with you. This can include re-emphasizing the aspects of your ad’s headline and developing more details on how your service or product will benefit them.
Ad Copy Example #2 – Solve a Problem
