How to Budget for Social Media Management & Paid Social Campaigns in 2022

Your company needs to see real growth this year. Love it or hate it, social media advertising is here to stay, at least for the foreseeable future. Maybe this time next year we’ll be writing about how to develop ads for the metaverse, but until then, no VR headsets are needed.

Now, it’s no secret that social media companies like Facebook limited organic reach for businesses some time ago. In fact, unless you’re a celebrity (or a wizard 🧙‍♂️), you’ve got your work cut out for you when it comes to reaching your target audience. From Apple’s blow to Facebook’s ability to track user data for advertisers to Instagram saying it’s no longer a photo app, it would seem that the jig is up and social media advertising is dead…

…right?

WRONG!

The one thing that’s guaranteed in this world — besides death and taxes — is that creative marketers will always find a way to reach their target end-user. The best way to do this short of going viral is through paid social campaigns.

We know, we know, you might be thinking, “Boo! My campaigns have always been huge money wasters!”

But hear us out! Not only are we going to show you effective ways to market your product or business, we’re also going to tell you how to properly budget for it to get the best bang for your buck.

Yeah, we thought you’d like that. 😎

 

The Top 4 Social Media Marketing Strategies and How to Budget For Them

The SBA says that companies with up to $5 million in revenue should set aside around 8% of that for marketing. This covers all types of potential marketing including social media marketing. How you divide that up is ultimately up to you, but the SBA recommends splitting it between brand development and the actual cost of promoting your business.

Deloitte’s CMO survey, which details the marketing spend of many different companies throughout different industries, shows that company’s in 2020 spent an average of 13% of their entire marketing budget just on social media.

Quick math time:

If your company has $10 million in gross revenue annually, your total marketing budget would be $800,000 for the year.

$10,000,000 x .08 = $800,000

If we imitate the average findings from Deloitte’s survey, you should be spending about $104,000 a year just on social media.

$800,000 x .13 = $104,000

Does that number make you nervous? 😰

If we break it down a bit more, it’s a little easier to handle. Remember that your numbers will differ from these (we are wizards though, so… 👀)

$104,000 ÷ 12 months = $8,666.67/month

$104,000 ÷ 52 = $2,000/week

$104,000 ÷ 365 = $284.93/day

So when you break it down on a per day or per week basis, the numbers are more manageable.  You might also consider staggering your marketing efforts to get the most impact throughout the year. Maybe you spend more during the Q4 holiday, but ease up at the beginning of the year. Ramp back up right before and during tax season, then back down in summer. And while fluctuating your budgets throughout the year can help to maximize the effect of your social media marketing, it’s also important to build brand awareness all year long.

Whew! Math is hard. 😪

Now that we have a better understanding of how to budget for social media marketing, let’s talk about four excellent ways to put that money to work for you.

 

1. Writing Content

What you’re reading right now is content — the written kind. 🤫

The majority of your organic SEO efforts come from writing, whether that’s in the form of website copy, blog content, or social media posts. The best social media strategies engage your audience, deliver meaningful value, and gently guide them to a particular destination. Most commonly, you’ll want your readership to mosey on over to your own website. Maybe your goal is to collect a potential customer’s email or to provide a free download to a whitepaper or a value-packed ebook. There are many options to get them there — funnels, direct links, or an interactive ad — but all of them require something to be written. And while you could definitely write your own, if you’re not experienced in writing socially-optimized content, it’s best to hire outside help. A good writer will not only create easily engageable copy but will also aid in the SEO process with writing structure and keyword mapping.

Endurance Usefulness Scale: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

 

2. Video Content

I’m ready for my closeup, Mr. Spielberg. 🎥🎬

Video is a tricky beast that’s easy to tame if you plan it out strategically. Once upon a time, there was a need for incredibly expensive video production at every turn. And while there’s no arguing that high-quality video ads perform the best on social media, depending on where that video will live, you may not need the highest quality footage for it to be effective. You’ve heard of TikTok, right? The best-performing content on the platform is recorded directly from a cell phone using the app’s exclusive features like sounds and filter effects. YouTube, on the other hand, is still primarily dominated by more professionally crafted videos. The same can be said for Facebook as well, although both platforms have recently started to lean heavily into recreating the TikTok magic with YouTube Shorts and Facebook/Instagram Reels. If your goal is multi-platform marketing, it’s best to create content directly for each platform individually. At least from a formatting perspective, you’ll have to change your videos per platform anyway. Portrait-oriented videos perform better on TikTok and Reels while traditional landscape videos perform better for Facebook and YouTube.

Endurance Usefulness Scale: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

 

3. Photo Content

Can you believe what Instagram said? “Instagram is no longer a photo app.” 😭

Well, fret not, because photo content is still very much alive and well just about everywhere else no matter what they say. That dope thumbnail where you posed for 20 minutes like you’re seeing an explosion? That’s right baby, a photo! Professional, high-quality photography can truly make or break a product experience. This is especially true when leading someone from a social media platform to purchase a product or service on your own site. Your photos should clearly show the product or service you’re selling with good lighting and engagement in mind. With brand awareness campaigns or social-to-site or site-to-store lead sends, a photo truly speaks a thousand words (and we’ve got the metadata to prove it! 🤓)

Endurance Usefulness Scale: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (take that, Adam Mosseri 💪)

 

4. Authority Building

It pays to be a know-it-all. 🧠

Seriously though, becoming an authority in your industry or niche is one of the best things you can do for long-term sales. Start by building trust, providing useful content, and actually putting some real effort behind it. When your content sucks, your customers won’t remember you.

Ask yourself these questions: if you could speak to each of your customers, what would you say that could bring value to their lives? Who are your customers and what do they care about? How are you improving their lives outside of just selling them something? Those answers would make a great starting place. A good idea when planning an authority-building campaign is to create a customer avatar. This is the perfect version of your ideal customer. By truly understanding your customers and their needs, you’ll be able to create meaningful content that resonates with them. And once you’ve earned their trust, you’ll be their Tom Holland and they your Zendaya. 🥵

Endurance Usefulness Scale: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐… ⭐

 

 

Social Media Can Be A B!#@h

So many platforms, so little time. ☠

Listen, we get it — creating a winning ad campaign on social media is tough. There are lots of different platforms, each with its own quirks that you have to learn. One of the biggest reasons that companies don’t see the results they want from paid social media campaigns is their strategy. Marketing on social platforms can get pretty deep — like Mariana Trench deep. 🌊

Without a concrete strategy, your efforts (and money 💰) could fade like dust in the wind. 💨

And that’s ok, because guess what? You don’t need to be an expert!

Endurance (that’s us 😋) has your back, especially when it comes to paid reach on every social media platform. We’re pretty sure you’ve got way more important things to do than wrangle an omnichannel funnel campaign with lead gen originations from both social media and your e-mail list.

But we don’t! We LOVE wrangling complicated advertising.

We’re basically marketing cowboys. 🤠

So if you’re looking for a full-scale agency to completely revamp social media efforts, look no further. You’ve found us and we’re glad you’re here! 😁

But if you just need a little help here and there, we’re down for that, too. 💯