About three seconds. That’s all you’ve got to catch the attention of your audience or potential customers on social media.

Social media continues to evolve at a break-neck speed, and content creators are faced with challenges to come up with a steady stream of engaging content, one after other.

As content creators ourselves, we know the struggle is real, and we feel your pain. Which is why we want to share our four tips that will help you the next time you hit a brick wall while creating a social media Ad copy.

Writing skills are often undervalued, underrated and not appreciated, especially in an ecosystem whereby traditional marketing is considered the King.

Words are a powerful form of marketing, that when used correctly helps brands to build an emotional connection with their audiences; a connection that provides an opportunity for brands to nurture their audiences and bring them on a journey that bridges the gap between awareness to sales.

Great copy requires research and does not write by itself.

Know Your Audience

Before you even begin writing, make sure you are clear on who your target audiences are. Who are you talking to? What are they interested in? What’s their demographic?

Social media as a platform enables marketers to target different types of audiences with improved accuracy.

Compared to traditional methods, you can now customize and personalize your ads, and create a better experience for your audience groups.

The more personal and tailored the ad, the more it will resonate with your audiences.

One of the best ways to identify and group your audiences are through ‘personas’. These personas can be categorized based on their age range, gender, interests and so on.

Then, craft your ad with these personas in mind. Or to be more specific, imagine what kind of tone they’d respond to, imagery, video etc.

When your ad copy is written in a style that matches these personas, it is more likely you’ll garner increased attention.

Getting it right can be tricky. Luckily, there are features like A/B testing that allows marketers to pinpoint which copy works best. When supported with valid data, you can quickly overcome the mental block most copywriters face.

Give Your Audience A Reason To Click On Your Ad

A great copy is good. But when your copy goes together with a great image, then it becomes an outstanding Ad.

For example, Facebook’s news feed is becoming increasingly competitive, crowded and fast. This means that your copy is now competing with all the other Ads out there. And most importantly, you only have a matter of seconds to grab your audience’s reaction.

Designing the right image to complement your ad copy is important. You don’t want to confuse and push away your audiences with a message that has no connection with your design.  Your Ad may also be brought down due to its misleading nature. Similarly, do avoid putting in way too many words in your image design

A good Ad is when the copy and image work together as symbiotic partners. They should not exist independently. As the writer, you must work closely with your designers, so your message gets across and is translated visually.

Always ask for second opinions because as the creator, you may be able to see the macro of things and not the micro.

Developing and designing a winning Ad requires time. Do your research, and plan your timeline accordingly so will not rush it.

Do Not Hardsell

Let’s be honest. Chances are, your audiences don’t care about your company and what you do. Instead, they are more interested in how you can provide a solution to the problems. Take a look at the diagram below.

This is the Golden Circle framework by Simon Sinek. According to Simon, it is very easy for companies to describe WHAT they do, the products they sell, which industry they are in and so on.

There also some companies that know HOW they do WHAT they do. They have unique differentiators and value propositions.

But only a handful of companies know their WHY. Their purpose, cause and belief in doing what they do.

Since WHAT is the easiest to present, most brands and leaders start with WHAT. Whereas at times, they also discuss the HOW. But rarely talk about WHY

In contrast to the general practice in marketing your services or products, Simon advocates that we should go from the inside-out of the Golden Circle rather than outside-in.

Remember, creating and publish an Ad copy that builds trust requires authenticity. It means the message you’d like to convey; HOW (actions) and WHAT (results) have to be consistent with your WHY (beliefs).

Keep It Simple

Keeping it simple can be difficult at times, especially if you have a lot to say in one Ad. Content creators and marketers first need to accept the fact you won’t be able to cramp everything about your brand, product and services in one advert.

Instead, filter the information you have and identify the goal of the Ad copy before writing.

Your goals can be:

• Download a case study
• Register for an online webinar
• Request for a software demo
• Attend an online workshop 

Lay it all out and use clear, short, but effective CTAs (call-to-actions) that will guide your audience in the path you want. Again, to be effective, an Ad copy should be short, clear, to the point and use simple language.

Here are the three things your copy must tell your audience:

• What you’re offering
• How it can help/solve a problem or why you’d want it
• What to do now

CONCLUSION

Avoid creating Ad copies that are similar to click-baits and keep these 4 simple tips in mind the next time you are working on one. With the right words, you can immediately halt your audience from scrolling away from your Ad, and pique their interest to take the first step toward your goal conversion