This is a guest post contributed by Janine Henwood from The VA Finishing School.

Social Media Ads can give your virtual assistant business a significant boost.  Contrary to what most people think, Ads are not just a money making scheme driven by social media platforms.

Running ads on social media like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter is an effective way to increase followers, build your email list, and to engage with your audience more.  The world wide web is so connected these days that you can practically reach out and touch your ideal audience with just a few clicks of the mouse. But first, you must get their attention. One of the best ways to do that is to advertise on social media.  Here are 8 good reasons why you should advertise your virtual assistant business on social media.

1. It’s Inexpensive
You can place ads on any social media platform like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter with as little as 20 dollars and get results. This is an inexpensive way to get eyes on your business.   You can test an ad inexpensively, tweak it, make it better, then rerun it – increasing your budget based on your desired ROI.  Don’t forget the option to boost a post on Facebook. For just $2 you can boost a post and having it displayed to the right audience you have a great chance of increasing your followers.

2. It’s Effective
 Paid advertising works exceptionally well since so many people are regularly on social media. If you plan the advertisement correctly, it will seem as if you’re engaging with your audience more. You don’t want the ad to look like a TV ad, but instead more like another share with valuable information.   Your Ad should provoke a desire to click on the link.

3. Targeting Is Amazing
 The way that you can laser target your audience on social media is reason enough to start using paid ads. You can run remarketing campaigns that show an advertisement to people who already went to your site but left without buying. Don’t forget that Facebook Pixel.

4. It Boosts Brand Recognition
 Even if someone doesn’t click on your advertisement, they may still see it in their feed. That seeing cannot be undone, and the more times they see it, the more likely they are to act on the advertisement.

5. Provides More Opportunity for Your Leads to Convert
If you want to convert more leads, a paid advertisement on social media is an excellent way to accomplish it because you’ll reach more people than a regular post.

6. Improves Your Brand’s Authority
Most social media ads will show that they’re ads with the word “sponsored” showing up on the post. While this might seem like a negative, it’s not. If you’re seen as someone who spends money on social media ads, your audience will realize two things, a. You’re making money in your business and b. You are established and know what you are doing. This will establish your company as an authority and people will start recognizing that.

7. Brings More Traffic to Your Website
Social media advertisements will bring more traffic to your website. Make sure you send them to a fantastic landing page, specific to the social media site where you are running the ad.

8. Builds Your Email List Faster
There is no doubt that using social media advertisements to offer a freebie (lead magnet) will help you grow your list faster. But, it needs to be very targeted, you can solve a serious problem easily by setting up a paid advert on the social media platform where your audience is predominantly your ideal client.

Paid advertising on social media, if laser targeted, is an excellent way to increase brand loyalty while also spreading brand awareness. The more eyes you can get on your services, offers, and products, the better.

Homework:
Make a list of companies you follow on social media then visit their Facebook Pages and look at their ad campaigns. Take note of how their ads are laid out.

Janine Henwood