Did you know experts predict social media ad spend will skyrocket to $105 billion by the end of 2021? That’s a 68% increase in just three years!
You may be asking why at this point. The simplest answer? Your potential customers are on social media, and social media posts drive targeted traffic. Advertising drives hyper-targeted traffic. If you put it all together, you can see why social ads make sense!
Thankfully, we’re not the only ones who think this type of digital advertising is essential. HubSpot offers ad software to help you create, manage, and measure Facebook, Instagram, and Google ads all within your portal. Tracking your ads in HubSpot lets you attribute contacts to specific ads, so you can see where your prospects are coming from and which ads are driving revenue for your business.
If you haven’t had a chance to use the HubSpot ads tool – or want to brush up on your knowledge – here are a few tips and tricks.
#1 Use Tracking URLs and UTM Parameters
To link an ad to a particular campaign, you’ll need to create a tracking URL. In fact, it’s best practice to use a tracking URL for all your ads! You’ll also want to be sure your UTM parameters, or the tags added to the end of your URL, are specific to your ad. UTM parameters include campaign, source, medium, term, and content.
#2 Ensure Auto-Tracking is On
In order to track your ads in your account, you must enable auto-tracking. You can do this by logging into your account, hitting the settings icon, going to “Marketing,” then “Ads,” and switching the “Auto-tracking” button on for each ad account. Your ad accounts include Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google, and you can have various campaigns within each ad account.
#3 Use a Naming Convention That Makes Sense
You may end up having dozens of ads in your different accounts. Use a naming convention that makes sense for your company, so everyone who needs to access your ad account can find the ads they need.
#4 Provide Appropriate Permissions
User permissions on the individual level are needed to look at and manage social ads. Give the appropriate people on your marketing team the correct access so they can make edits and report as required. When you are looking at data, you can only pick three accounts at a time. You can then create a ton of different reports and add them to your larger reporting dashboard.
#5 Clean Up Your Ads
Still have an ad account in your portal from four or five years ago? You may want to consider deleting it, so your portal doesn’t get too overwhelmed. In fact, it’s good practice to go through your ad accounts quarterly and remove anything outdated or irrelevant to your current efforts.
#6 Measure Your ROI
This is a given, but determining how you want to measure your ROI is up to you. You can measure it either by revenue from your deals or by estimated revenue. If you choose the first, you’ll have to be sure to mark your deals properly when they’re closed-won. If you choose the second, you’re looking at ROI from manual entry based on your sales detail. Either works, so pick whatever is best for your team!
#7 Use the Ad Pixel
Want the most accurate information about your ads? Then be sure to include the ad pixel to all the correct sites for all your accounts. You only need to do it once, but there is a different pixel for each external ad network.
#8 Optimize Over Time
Don’t set your ad and forget your ad! You may be sinking money into an ad that doesn’t work if you do that. So, ensure that your efforts are working by optimizing your ads. This can include switching up your audiences, changing the CTA, altering the copy, or using new imagery.
Reach Out
These are just a few suggestions to make managing your social ads in HubSpot a breeze. If you’d like any more ideas or need assistance creating an ad, feel free to reach out to the Lynton team!
