Search Engine Marketing
Our global team of unicorns will help you craft the perfect social media management strategy to engage with your humans.
What is SEM and Why Do I Need It?
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is the practice of marketing a business using paid advertisements that appear on search engine results pages (or SERPs). Essentially, using paid strategies to increase search visibility. Advertisers bid on keywords that users of services such as Google and Bing might enter when looking for certain products or services, which gives the advertiser the opportunity for their ads to appear alongside results for those search queries. These ads, often known by the term pay-per-click ads, come in a variety of formats. Some are small, text-based ads, whereas others, such as product listing ads (PLAs, also known as Shopping ads) are more visual, product-based advertisements that allow consumers to see important information at-a-glance, such as price and reviews. Brands pay for ads to appear as search results on SERPs, and are only charged if a user clicks on their ad.
Search engine marketing’s greatest strength is that it offers advertisers the opportunity to put their ads in front of motivated customers who are ready to buy at the precise moment they’re ready to make a purchase. No other advertising medium can do this, which is why search engine marketing is so effective and such an amazingly powerful way to grow your business.
Some common terms that are often used when discussing SEM include:
- Impressions: How many times your ad was visible on a screen. It doesn’t actually mean the person saw it.
- CPC (Cost-Per-Click): How much you pay when someone clicks your ad
- CPM (Cost per Million Impressions): This is another way to pay for a search ad. Depending on your goals and how the ad tool is set up, you may want to pay just to be seen.
- CTR (Click Through Rate): The number of clicks you got to your website from people that saw the ad, even if they didn’t click on the actual ad itself.
Pay-per-click is an internet advertising model used to drive traffic to websites, in which an advertiser pays a publisher when the ad is clicked. Pay-per-click is commonly associated with first-tier search engines.Ensuring a high quality design element in any form of advertising is crucial considering the visual aspect of social platforms. We always recommend testing different designs over the foundation months of a campaign to see which one has the most impact before settling on a long-term theme. There are several things for you to consider when creating artwork, such as buyer personas and social proofs. The key to finding the right one is making sure your designer understands your product and business.
Always include call-to-actions in your campaigns and use imagery that will stand out over the barrage of news feed content. Be consistent, aim for people’s emotions and above all, make sure you have the correct advertisement in the right place. It sounds daunting, but our global here to help with all of these things.
Boosted Posts
- No word count limit
- Links allowed
- Looks more organic
Right Column Ad
- The original Facebook ad which still exists due to its success
- Least expensive clicks and conversions of all options
Local Ads
- Perfect for businesses with a physical location
- Hyper-target down to small distances
- Excellent way to promote events
Offer Ads
- Promote a discount or coupon through Facebook
- Shorten the buyer journey to increase sales
- Include all information and conditions around the offer
Remarketing
This entails serving ads to users who have visited your website previously and therefore have some familiarity with your brand. With brand familiarity comes trust, and with trust comes conversions.
LinkedIn Ads
Facebook Ads
Retargeting Ad
- Aimed at specifically identified consumers
- Based on consumers searches outside of
- Facebook expanding the data source
Desktop News Feed
- Appears in news feed
- High engagement rates
- Visual and text based
Video Ad
- 8 billion videos watched on
- Facebook per day
- Highly engaging
Carousel
- Promote multiple products in one ad
- Can be used to promote blogs, webinars, etc.
- Separate links (per product) can be included