How To Use Social Media For Advertising Without A Following

Read Time: 4 minutes

Social media has become a major advertising and marketing channel in a relatively short period. Research indicates that in 2022, spending on social media advertising totaled approximately $230 billion. Experts predict social media advertising spending is only going to increase as the value of this marketing tactic becomes more and more apparent.

Brands across virtually all industries have taken advantage of social media platforms to reach new customers and foster loyalty among existing customers. While you may appreciate this, you might nevertheless be reluctant to devote time and money to promoting your brand on social media. Perhaps this is because you currently have a limited social media following and therefore believe that social media advertising can’t yield a strong return on investment for you.

This is an understandable perspective. However, once you learn how to use social media for advertising without a following, you’ll realize that social media marketing can still play a valuable role in your overall promotional strategy. The following overview explains how.

Check Demographic Data to Choose the Ideal Social Media Platforms

The first step in the social media advertising process is to identify which platforms your brand should have a presence on. Even if you develop and release otherwise strong social media marketing content, your efforts won’t result in major rewards for your company if you’re not posting on the platforms your target audience uses.

Start by defining the basic demographic data of your target customers. List their age range, gender, and other such relevant factors.

Then, research the demographics of social media users broken down by platform. Doing so will help you choose which platforms you should be active on.

Create Your Pages

Before you embrace social media advertising by running active campaigns, you need to create pages on your chosen platforms. Keep the following essential tips in mind when doing so:

Be sure to thoroughly and accurately list all the ways potential followers can contact your business
Include high-quality images that represent your brand’s unique identity
Draft a concise description of your business that ensures followers understand the nature of your products and services

Now is also a time to establish a basic plan for how you will maintain and monitor your pages. At the start, this can be as simple as setting aside a particular day or time during the week to check for messages and schedule future posts for the upcoming week. As you gain more experience with social media advertising and management, you’ll develop a stronger sense of how you can fit managing your social media presence into your routine.

Alert Existing Followers

You may not currently have social media followers. That doesn’t necessarily mean you have no customers at all.

Think about the various ways you may already be in contact with your customer base. Examples potentially include:

Your website
Your email list
Any ads you already run on radio, TV, or in print publications
Your brick-and-mortar presence

Make a point of letting your customers know about your social media presence. By promoting your social pages through your website, email list, ads, and conversations with customers, you can begin developing a following. Doing so may give your social media advertising campaigns a head start.

Familiarize Yourself with the Social Media Advertising Process

Providing brands with a platform for advertising and marketing is one of the key ways social media companies make money. Thus, no matter what social media platforms you use, there’s no shortage of tutorials regarding how to advertise on said platforms.

Review all the relevant tutorials and guides. Although learning the nuances of the social media advertising process may require long-term experimentation, you want to have a grasp of the basics before planning and running a campaign.

Consider These Tactics for Using Social Media Advertising Without a Following

There are several ways you can take advantage of social media advertising to your benefit, even if your current social media following is fairly small. Ideas to consider when planning campaigns include the following:

Consider partnering with influencers: Partnering with influencers is a popular way to drive exposure for your brand. According to research, approximately 25% of marketers already use influencer marketing to some degree. If you find an influencer to partner with, and you confirm their target audience overlaps with yours, working with them could help you cast a wide net despite having a limited following.
Use hashtags: Hashtags give brands the opportunity to participate in various ongoing and trending conversations via social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram. Monitor trending hashtags, and when you find any that are relevant to your brand, share relevant posts accordingly.
Use paid advertising: Again, advertising is one of the most significant monetization tactics for social media companies. Although the social media advertising and marketing processes should certainly involve posting content on your pages, you should also experiment with paid advertising campaigns. If you use a social media platform’s targeting tools to target the right audience, your campaigns could deliver major results.

Most importantly, be patient, and prioritize generating and sharing impressive content. That’s key. Even if you don’t currently have many followers, your goal with social media advertising should be to share the type of content your ideal followers would find valuable. Consistently doing so will allow you to naturally cultivate a follower base.

As always, it’s also important to define specific advertising goals and to monitor the performance of your campaigns. Knowing exactly what you intend to achieve and tracking your progress accordingly is key to optimizing and refining your strategy. You may not have a major following now, but applying these tips can change that!

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Hanna Abitbul

Hanna is Powtoon's Content Marketing Strategist. She joined Powtoon as a copywriter in 2019, after graduating from university with a specialized degree in marketing and business. She continues to inspire people to create incredible video content with blog posts, videos, guides, and more. Hanna's passions include reading, singing, and caring for animals (#proudvegan). Nothing makes her happier than waking up to her two black kitties who, contrary to popular belief, are good luck!