social media ads Archives - Resourceful Business

What does the Trump Executive Order relating to social media say?

Trump’s tweets and the Twitter warnings set off a tirade of accusations and public discourse about the operating procedures and policies of social media platforms. Interestingly, the Executive Order specifically calls out Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube (YouTube is owned by Google).

The Executive Order, which was signed on Thursday, May 28, 2020, contends that social media companies:

violate the spirit of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, which prevents the government from making laws “abridging the freedom of speech”

practice selective censorship that is harming the national discourse

engage in censorship and flag content that does not violate any stated terms of service

make unannounced and unexplained changes to company policies that have the effect of disfavoring certain viewpoints

delete content and entire accounts with no warning, no rationale, and no recourse

Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube wield immense, if not unprecedented, power to shape the interpretation of public events; to censor, delete, or disappear information; and to control what people see or do not see. – Presidential Executive Order, “Preventing Online Censorship,” May 28, 2020

What does the Executive Order “Preventing Online Censorship” hope to achieve?

The Executive Order references Section 230(c) of the Communications Decency Act which provides social networks with immunity from liability. Specifically, the Order requests that the “scope of the immunity should be clarified.”

In the context of Section 230(c), the accusation is that social platforms do not make a good faith effort to promote free speech and remove objectionable content, but rather are utilized to “engage in deceptive or pretextual actions stifling free and open debate by censoring certain viewpoints.”

Another accusation is that by restricting access to content, social platforms are engaged in “editorial conduct,” and as such, should be “exposed to liability like any traditional editor and publisher….”

Where does social media go from here?

The controversy surrounding the responsibilities of social networks could impair ad spend by end clients and agencies, the crux of the social media platforms’ current revenue model. This financial impact would be very real. It is certainly a possibility. The debate surrounding Facebook’s position, for example, manifested itself in a company-wide virtual walkout on Monday, June 1, as Facebook’s own employees took issue with Mark Zuckerberg’s determination to minimize censorship on the platform and his refusal to allow the flagging of controversial posts by President Trump.

In the short-term, any legislative proposals that develop due to operating clarifications requested by the Executive Order will be challenged in the courts, and therefore, changes to how social media platforms currently vet permissible content may be a long time in coming. The Executive Order certainly did not appear to ruffle Twitter. On Friday, May 29, Twitter again flagged the President’s tweets; in this instance, the tweets were about the George Floyd protests and were flagged as policy violations for their “glorification of violence.”

The position of the US government will become clear as two major agencies are now more formally involved. In 30 days, the Executive Order compels the Federal Trade Commission to review its spending on advertising and marketing dollars paid to social platforms to protect Federal taxpayer dollars from financing online platforms that restrict free speech. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has been asked to propose regulations to clarify Section 230(c) of the Communications Decency Act.

The states have also been tasked to play a role in potential regulation of social platforms. The Executive Order mandates reviews by the attorney generals for the states. It compels them to establish working groups to evaluate potential enforcement of state statutes that prohibit online platforms from engaging in deceptive acts or practices. Therefore, some restrictions on social media companies could come at the state level.

As we look ahead, we believe the potential changes to the way social media companies operate could be significant. The digital marketing landscape, and particularly social media, has always been fluid, but recent events may act as a catalyst for change. Keep following our blog and social media for updates, and if we can help you maneuver the unchartered waters ahead in social media, please contact us.

More than half of online adults (56%) use more than one of the five major social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and LinkedIn –Pew Research Center, 2016

In 2015, we wrote about the broad trend away from traditional media to digital marketing, and the data behind the shift is staggering. According to Forrester’s latest forecast, “Investment in paid search, display advertising, social media advertising, online video advertising and email marketing will pace to 46% of all advertising in five years” and approach $120 billion by 2021. As companies turn to digital marketing to reach potential customers, social media ads are a powerful part of their marketing arsenals. A “new media” advertising tool that combines audience targeting, user engagement, and measurability, social media ads are a marketing knockout punch. Here’s why:

1. AUDIENCE TARGETING: Your message gets to the right people

I was once asked to explain Facebook audience targeting, and in particular, why a business should do a Facebook ad as opposed to a traditional ad in the local newspaper. The question came from someone familiar with Facebook as a personal social media platform, but not at all aware of what it could do when marketing a business. I asked her,

“If I offered you the opportunity to market your business with a flyer that only went to people who had an interest in your product, could afford your product, and lived within driving distance of your store, would you do it? And, if I said I could take your flyer and put it on the kitchen counter of only the people you believe would want to see it, what would you say?”

She said, “Of course, I would do it. Who wouldn’t?”

To me, paid social advertising that uses demographic audience targeting is like putting a flyer on the kitchen counter of a potential customer. The range and versatility of targeting options available help digital marketers hone in on a very specific audience. Using filters such as interests, job title, net worth and geo-targeting, marketing dollars can be utilized efficiently, effectively and easily reallocated with the click of a button.

Some examples of custom audiences we have recently created for our clients include audiences that are:

local and geo-targeted within a 10 mile radius of numerous cities where the business has stores
local and in Manhattan with an interest in buying a new home in the suburbs
local, within the tri-state area and Florida
international and interested in accessing a locally-based product electronically

The specificity with which marketers can reach and get information to an audience with paid social media ads makes them a cost-effective, versatile marketing tool not constrained by physical distribution channels.

2. CONVERSATIONS: Social media ads engage an audience and broaden reach

The power of social media platforms lies in their ability to engage an audience with the brand, and social media ads can turbocharge audience reach. Social media advertising will put content in front of your target audience, and people will interact and react with emojis, comments, likes and shares. Your audience can ask questions, and you can answer them – suddenly your content has prompted a conversation.

Another example of a two-way social media interaction is user-generated reviews. Online reputation management is a growing field and business owners often receive online business reviews on their social media pages. Customers will post a review and a business can acknowledge and answer it – another type of conversation. In contrast, once a print ad is distributed, there is no way to tell how many people have read it, who read it or if it has successfully resonated with anyone in the target audience.

If you were offered the opportunity to market your business with a flyer that only went to people who had an interest in your product, could afford your product, and lived within driving distance of your store, would you do it?

3. CONNECTIVITY: Customers can connect with you via social media ad CTAs

According to a Pew Research Center report, “Nearly two-thirds of Americans are now smartphone owners, and for many these devices are a key entry point to the online world.” The use of smartphones has been a boon to the connectivity afforded by social media and the migration towards social media ads with clickable call to action (CTA) buttons.

Here are just two examples of how social media ads can be used by a business:

A company posts a sponsored Instagram ad, and it includes a button that says, “Learn More.” When people tap the button, they are taken to a landing page where they can request a demo, watch an explainer video or start a free trial.

A local business creates a Facebook ad promoting a free consultation for a new service they are offering. People that are interested tap a CTA button that says “Sign Up” and fill in a registration form for the consultation.

Versatile and engaging, social media ads connect businesses with potential customers and can convert them into viable leads with an array of clever CTAs.

4. MEASURABILITY: You can track, analyze and recalibrate social media ads

Social media ads can be configured to target an audience of choice either demographically, by interest, or geographically. Once an ad is live, marketers can track and analyze an array of social analytics from impressions and click-throughs to the number of reactions, comments or shares. On Facebook, you can even track click-throughs to directions, a phone number or action buttons. If an ad is actively engaging people, marketers can move more dollars to the campaign and use a similar format in future.

Another important aspect to social media ads is they can drive visitors to your website, and you can track this information in your website’s Google Analytics data. There are visitor acquisition metrics, and one of the referral sources you can analyze is social media. An added bonus is the availability of numerous pre-configured dashboards in Google Analytics which put key metrics in an organized, visually appealing dashboard. So, in a way, paid social advertising is even better than putting a flyer on the kitchen counter of a potential customer, because it is backed by data that tells you if the person actually read the flyer!

When it comes to advertising, social media ads are a game changer. They offer audience targeting, conversations, connectivity, and measurability – four powerful reasons to ensure you add them to your marketing bag of tricks in 2017. Interested in learning more about social media ads? Work with us.