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Online social media is growing up. It’s no longer the sole realm of bored teenagers and somewhat weird individuals who build fantasy identities online. Regular people, self-promoters of all stripes, even politicians are actively participating in online social platforms.

So it also goes that online social advertising is in a maturation stage as well. 

But there remains a storm of hot opinion as “experts” debate whether or not social advertising really works. We believe that in the final assessment, social ads will be just like any others – sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t, largely depending on the product, the offer, and the efficacy of the campaign.

Still, here are several factors that bear watching by those who are active, or plan to be active, in online social advertising

1. Social media advertising can be cost effective, even if the percentage of engaged viewers is small. Here’s why. For each active social media viewer, there will be anywhere from 6-14 brought into the fold by that single person. That translates into targeted viewers and/or readers brought in for you by members of your own market.

2. If you are unsure whether the user base is more male than female, or if you know both sexes are represented equally – market to the women. Not only do women nowadays have 80% of the buying power, according to countless net sources, men will usually be influenced or guided by the significant females in their lives. A man will often walk into the store and buy the same soap he’s bought for the last 7 years; the woman is the one who will try something new – especially if you make a personal connection with your ad

3. Tracking, of course, is still king. Check whatever social network you’re considering using, to see what their tracking provisions and choices are. If none exist, set them in place yourself; or else move on to a better network.

4. Don’t forget the double-edged sword of word-to-mouth recommendations in social advertising. Make sure you deliver what you promise – and if you blow it and get a lot of flack, go immediately into damage control mode. Take your lumps, acknowledge the mistake, and fix the problem. With a bit of honesty and humility, you can convert a disaster into an opportunity for building credibility.

5. Remember that the one critical factor your ads all need is a social context. Make sure they are preceded by and linked to social network pages, videos, groups, content.  Give your fans a place to congregate, vent and enthuse.  Hold contests and polls, ask for feedback, offer virtual gifts. Engage. Otherwise, your ads are guaranteed to be seen as annoying banners everyone should ignore.

6. Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater: Meaning… don’t neglect all your other advertising venues – email, offline flyers, website banner ads, AdWords – and track and tweak them all.  Social media advertising is best used to compliment these other campaign components, in most situations.

Follow these six tips, and you’ll more likely get ahead of the curve while others are still doing the research on which social networks to use.

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