Paid social media is a goldmine of potential customers.

As many business owners already know, social media is a goldmine of potential customers. The info collected by Facebook and other sites allows you to target specific groups of people based on their demographics or tastes. This is a huge leap for marketing. The days of putting an ad in the newspaper and hoping for the best are behind us.

Let’s say you’re a dentist in search of new patients for your small practice. Twenty years ago, you probably would have advertised your services on the local radio. Perhaps 90% of listeners wouldn’t have paid attention, 5% would have switched station, and another 4.9% would already be loyal clients of another dentist.

It was still worth it for the remaining 0.1%. But such poorly targeted marketing was almost like sending a message into outer space for aliens to discover.

Unlike many marketing campaigns, paid social tends to involve more than just exposing new people to your brand. It often employs what’s known as direct response marketing. This means that your ads provide a compelling reason to visit your website.

On social media, the extent to which your calls to action (CTAs) can match the needs of your potential clients is amazing. Imagine that you’re a broke university student idly scrolling through Facebook, and you see these words:

‘Are you an Auckland University student? Visit our website now to arrange your free dental checkup.’

Your chances of taking action would be much higher than if you’d seen a generic ad aimed at no one in particular. With any goldmine, the quality of gold extracted depends on the skill of those who tap it. The social media goldmine is no different. Any good digital marketer will be able to tap it to your advantage. But only the most dedicated and creative digital marketers will be able to take your campaigns to the next level.