paid social media advertising case study

Social Media Advertising Case Studies That Will Inspire Your Next Campaign

• April 13, 2023

Social media is and always has been unique in its ability to develop meaningful connections with users. Every day, advertisers strike gold with impactful social media strategies that change the way customers think about and interact with brands. This is true even for ads, as social media drives results otherwise unreachable through other advertising tactics. Below, we’ll dive into case studies that drive home the possible impacts of social media advertising firsthand and highlight the creativity and success of different platforms.

• If You’re Interested in Meta…

Meta is a unique solution for a variety of businesses, ranging from B2C brands offering niche services to traditional e-commerce brands selling socks through Shopify. SweetPlaid’s case study is a perfect example of taking advantage of new products to test while maintaining a strong, consistent strategy and seeing substantial returns.

• If You’re Interested in TikTok…

TikTok is a true melting pot on social media that reaches young and old alike and can get your brand in front of users you never got close to reaching before. In this example, Blendjet utilized the power of video and creator partnerships to achieve favorable results with TikTok’s expansive audience. 

• If You’re Interested in Snapchat…

Full-screen, immersive ads on Snapchat are quick to inspire action and engagement. Snapchat ads are borderline interruptive yet still playful enough to achieve results. Pit Viper is an impressionable example of how strong creative and thoughtful targeting has the potential to drive an impressive ROAS on Snapchat. 

• If You’re Interested in Pinterest…

Instead of mindless scrolling, users come to Pinterest to discover what they like while browsing through a feed built personally for them. This ultra-personalized platform is a win-win for users and brands alike, as Scotch & Soda discovered in this case study. Utilizing a full-funnel strategy, this brand was able to achieve results that were otherwise unachievable with other campaigns. 

• If You’re Interested in LinkedIn…

LinkedIn is the undisputed leader as the most popular choice for driving quality leads but can serve as a solution for a variety of brands. In this example featuring Knotch, the brand utilized an organic strategy in tandem with a paid strategy that led to not only an increase in the number of leads but also quality, leading to more valuable conversions. 

• If You’re Interested in Twitter…

Twitter is a great option for brands looking to drive conversations with their audience in a more direct way than on other social media platforms. Subaru successfully used Twitter to tap into a key market of dog lovers while employing strategies that exceeded campaign benchmarks across the board. 

The case studies outlined here are only a few of the many inspiring stories of how social media can ultimately become an invaluable branch of your marketing mix. Some of our own clients at JumpFly have found success themselves utilizing the methods outlined in the case studies listed above. If you’re interested in learning how JumpFly clients have specifically found success, read on below! 

• Name Bubbles – Case Study
• Discount School Supply – Case Study
• Really Good Stuff – Case Study

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5 outstanding social media marketing case studies

Do you read social media marketing case studies for inspiration? It’s always a good idea to benchmark against your competitors or pinch ideas from them, but it’s also worth looking at success stories from the biggest brands out there. You might not have their budget, but you can always gain inspiration from their campaigns.

Here are five of the best brands on social and what I think you can learn from them:

1.Mercedes Benz – Repeated, successful social media marketing campaigns

Mercedes Benz seem to win every time with their social media campaigns.  The one that stands out to me was back in 2013 when they created what I still believe to be one of the best Instagram marketing campaigns to date. Mercedes wanted to reach out to the younger audience so they hired five top Instagram photographers to each take the wheel of a new Mercedes CLA. Whoever got the most likes got to keep the car – so they all really worked at it!

By the end of the campaign, Mercedes has received:

• 87,000,000 organic Instagram impressions
• 2,000,000 Instagram likes
• 150 new marketing assets (stunning photos)

What lessons can you learn from this? Could you put your followers up for a challenge and make it into a competition or campaign?

• Can you do a competition that gets people trying out your product first?
• Think about your target audience. What is a prize they would value?
• Like Mercedes you could recruit bloggers/influencers via social media and get them blogging about your service or product. Whoever receives the most engagement wins .

2. Dove – Connecting with their target audience

Is it just me or do all the Dove marketing campaigns make you cry? If you’ve seen their Real Beauty sketches campaign, you’ll know what I’m talking about. Dove’s goal is to make women feel good about themselves. They know their target market and create content that tells a story that women can relate to.

Today I am… pic.twitter.com/VoAf2wRdwa — Dove UK & Ireland (@DoveUK) February 19, 2016

Dove did some research and found that 80 percent of women came across negative chatter on social media. Dove’s goal was to change that and make social media a more positive experience. As a result, Dove teamed up with Twitter and built a tool to launch the #SpeakBeautiful Effect, that breaks down which body- related words people use the most and when negative chatter appears during the day.

According to Dove, women were inspired by their message.

• #SpeakBeautiful was used more than 168,000 times
• Drove 800 million social media impressions of the campaign

Dove know their audience. Knowing your audience is the only way you will engage with them. The best way for this is creating personas. Knowing what life stage they are in, if they’re employed, what their interests are etc. will certainly help you when creating content. Then think about linking your audience to your brand values in order to create something just as successful as Dove’s campaign.

3. Nutella – Incredible content that makes you salivate

Each post makes you want to eat Nutella. There are a lot of people (including me) who take photos of their food before they eat it. Nutella does the same and it works. Nutella isn’t afraid to be fun and creative with different ingredients. Nutella is just a chocolate spread yet they manage to have fun with it. Do you, or could you, have a bit more fun with your brand?

Here are some ideas for having fun with your brand:

• Are you on different social media channels? If you’re B2B you might not think that Instagram is for you, but it can be a great way to demonstrate your brand values by telling a story. Fedex is a great example of this, showing images of their trucks always on the move. This tells a story that they are always delivering and that is the key message we take away.
• Key influencers/bloggers can be a great way to  different types of content and to see how they have fun with your brand (if this is new to you, read our post on the rise of the social media influencer ).
• Instead of posting behind-the-scenes photos at your head office, can you encourage your followers to share their experiences with your brand? Maybe host an event or go out and meet them.

Take your #breakfast bread pudding to the next level with #Nutella ! 😉 pic.twitter.com/k0ko5Nm9iX — Nutella (@NutellaGlobal) May 5, 2016

4. Oreo – Smart content planning and timely delivery

Oreo is another brand that is known for their creative social media marketing. They must have a big design team to produce their content, but it works! They are consistent with their branding and manage to catch onto real time events. We all remember when the lights went out at the Super Bowl and during the half hour blackout Oreo tweeted out:

Power out? No problem. pic.twitter.com/dnQ7pOgC — OREO Cookie (@Oreo) February 4, 2013

This was retweeted over 15,000 times.  Are you thinking outside the box about your brand? Plan ahead for events coming up that you might be able to jump on to.

Do you plan your social media content out? If you’re in B2B and don’t currently create content read here for some B2B content marketing tips to help you get started, or check out our B2B marketing strategy tips ebook for 2021.

It’s always a good idea to prepare content ahead of time. If you can schedule content on a monthly basis – perfect, but if not bi-weekly is great. That way you can check what events are coming up and plan content around them. This gives you time for any ad hoc creative to be done, such as jumping on real-time events like the Oreo blackout example above.

5. Airbnb – Stunning imagery and UGC

What might look like a visual travel blog,  Airbnb ’ s content attracts fans with their visually compelling posts. On Instagram, they post user-generated photos from its hosts and guests. The content embraces their new campaign of ‘Don’t just go there, Live there’ which is captured through real photography. Each post receives high engagement, between 3,000 and 14,000 Instagram likes.

This is a great example of thinking slightly outside the box. Airbnb is all about accommodation. They don’t just post images of the inside of people’s homes. Seeing the culture and images of places all over the world comes with the experience of where you stay and that’s what connects with people. Think about your brand: are you just posting about the product/ service itself? Why not tell your followers a story instead?

Thanks for reading. I hope by reading these five social media marketing case studies it has spiked some inspiration! If you need any help with your social media advertising , influencer marketing , or other aspects of your social media strategy, feel free to contact us .

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How Fujifilm Increased New Contacts by 259%

Having a marketing partner that knows your brand and is with you as it grows and changes can make all the difference. Case in point: Fujifilm instax Australia and Kuno.

Kuno and Fujifilm had a long partnership, assisting with product launches, website refreshes, global campaigns, sponsorships, competitions and events that positively impacted the community.

So, when Fujifilm needed to increase its contact database and attract targeted audiences through social media platforms, it turned to Kuno for help.

Here’s how Kuno helped Fujifilm increase its contacts by 259% using HubSpot, demand gen and paid social ads.

Generating New Leads for the instax Camera

Fujifilm’s instax camera is compact, stylish and portable. The camera is designed to attract younger users with its colors and shapes and ability to instantly print and share photos. Fujifilm Australia wanted to increase awareness of these cameras among certain demographics.

To get the Fujifilm team the leads they needed, the Kuno team used a combination of  demand gen  and paid social ads. The paid social ads contained static images and video and were used on Facebook and Instagram.

The Kuno team created ads that would appeal to each of Fujiflim’s six buyer personas:

• Social butterflies

Because we researched our target personas and created buyer journeys , we knew these primary personas were most active on Facebook and Instagram.

The Strategy

The Kuno team worked with Fujifilm to create a contest campaign. A winner was chosen out of subscribers to receive over $350 worth of prizes and an additional prize to give to a friend. Our team recommended the friend prize add-on to go with the campaign’s message of giving. To promote this, we created 12 ads. We launched one ad initially with the other 11 following five days later.

The Results

That first ad resulted in 500 leads in 12 hours. After three and a half weeks, the campaign brought in over 13,000 new contacts.

Fujifilm’s Facebook page also got over 500 new likes and its posts reached over 600,000 people, up 65% from before the campaign.

The campaign was so successful because, in part, Kuno went beyond providing itemized solutions. Because most of our clients, like Fujifilm, work with us for years, we were able to offer new ways to find new users in the market, target them and pair well-crafted messaging with imagery to pique their interest.

To read more about how this campaign worked, check out the full paid social ads case study .

Lara Nour Eddine

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20 Best Social Media Marketing Case Study Examples

How would you like to read the best social media marketing case studies ever published?

More importantly, how would you like to copy the best practices in social media marketing that are based on real-world examples and not just theory?

Below, you’ll find a list of the top 20 social media case study examples along with the results and key findings. By studying these social media marketing studies and applying the lessons learned on your own accounts, you can hopefully achieve similar results.

Table of Contents

Social Media Case Study Examples

793,500+ impressions for semrush on twitter  – walker sands social media case study.

The case study shows how Walker Sands implemented a premium Twitter microcontent program for Semrush, a global leader in digital marketing software. Semrush needed a strategic social media marketing partner to help distinguish its brand from competitors, drive a higher engagement rate among its target audience, and build brand loyalty. In this case study, you’ll find out how the social strategy focused on three things: using humor, embedding the brand in trending conversations, and focusing on the audience’s interests over marketing messages. The result was an increase of more than 793,500 impressions, 34,800 engagements, and a 4.4% average engagement rate.

Viral Oreo Super Bowl Tweet  – Social Media Case Study

This is a popular case study to learn valuable insights for B2C marketing. During Super Bowl XLVII, the lights went out in the football stadium and the Oreo brand went viral with a single tweet that said “Power out? No problem. You can still dunk in the dark.” Read the historical account of that famous social media marketing moment from the people who lived through it so you can gather ideas on how to be better prepared for future social media campaigns that you can take advantage of in real-time.

Facebook Posting Strategy That Lead to 3X Reach & Engagement  – Buffer Social Media Case Study

In this social media case study example, you’ll find out how Buffer cut its Facebook posting frequency by 50% but increased the average weekly reach and engagement by 3X. Hint: The strategy had to do with creating fewer, better-quality posts, that were aimed at gaining higher engagement.

Achieving a 9 Million Audience by Automating Pinterest SEO  – Social Media Case Study

This is a good social media marketing case study for marketers who use Pinterest. Discover how Chillital went from 0 to 9 million engaged audience members and 268 million impressions. You’ll learn about the step-by-step research process of finding where your audience lives and breathes content, get a detailed analysis of how the author used Pinterest to generate brand awareness, and learn about using community-driven content promotion to scale social media results.

5X Increase In App Installs from TikTok  – Bumble Social Media Case Study

With the use of TikTok on the rise, social media case studies are now being shared about how to get the most value out of marketing on this platform. This one, in particular, is good to read because it explains how Bumble, a dating app, used TikTok more effectively by following the mantra, “Don’t Make Ads, Make TikToks”. This case study in social media marketing resulted in a 5X increase in app installs and a 64% decrease in cost-per-registration.

330% Increase In Reach for the Make a Wish Foundation – Disney Social Media Case Study

Check out this case study to find out how the Make-A-Wish Foundation increased its social media reach, audience, and engagement by partnering with Disney in a Share Your Ears campaign. The strategy was simple: ask people to take a photo of themselves wearing Mickey Mouse ears, post it on social media with the hashtag #ShareYouEars, and a $5 donation would be made to Make-A-Wish. The results were unbelievable with over 1.7 million posted photos and 420 million social media impressions. This led to a 15% audience increase on Facebook and a 13% audience increase on Instagram with a total increase of 330% in social media reach and a 554% increase in engagement during the campaign.

How 3 Schools Used Social Media Advertising to Increase Website Traffic & Applications – Social Media Case Study

This example includes three of the best social media case studies from Finalsite, a marketing agency for educational institutions. It shows the power of social media advertising to increase website traffic and enrollment. One case study, in particular, shows how a limited budget of $350 per month increased website sessions by 515%, more than 2,200 clicks on the apply button for a study abroad application, 2,419 views on the request information page, and 575 views on the application process page.

Client Case Studies – LYFE Marketing Social Media Case Study

LYFE Marketing is a social media management company that helps clients gain new customers, generate sales, and increase brand exposure online. This page includes several of its top social media marketing case studies along with the approach and key results from each campaign. It’s packed with screenshots of the social media posts and engagement metrics so you can understand how each strategy worked for success, and get inspiration for your own campaigns.

3X Leads for a Local Business – Vertex Marketing Social Media Case Study

This is a good case study about finding the right balance between organic reach with social media posts and paid reach with social media marketing ads. You’ll find out how Vertex Marketing helped a local kitchen and bath remodeling business increase the number of leads by 3X. As for the return on investment (ROI) for this campaign, each lead for the client was worth about $10,000. The result was 6,628 audience reach, $12.43 average cost per conversion, and 18 conversions.

235% Increase In Conversions with Facebook Ads Funnel – Marketing 360 Social Media Case Study

This is one of Marketing 360’s case study examples that demonstrates the effectiveness of a Facebook ads sales funnel for B2B marketing. An ads funnel is a series of social media advertisements that target a specific audience at each stage of the buyer’s journey. By mapping out the buyer’s journey and creating a social media marketing ad campaign for each stage, you can guide new leads through the sales funnel and turn them into paying customers. This case study resulted in a 235% increase in conversions for a truck lift manufacturer.

15% Increase In Social Media Followers In 6 Months – Hootsuite Social Media Case Study

This is one of the best social media marketing case studies available online for businesses in the hospitality industry. Find out how Meliá Hotels International incorporated social media directly into its business model, both as a channel for client communication and as a platform to listen and learn about client needs and preferences. As a result, Meliá Hotel’s social media following grew from 5 million to 6 million in six months; an increase of more than 15%.

The Impact of Social Signals On SEO – Fat Stacks Social Media Case Study

This is a good case study for understanding the effect social media can have on SEO. By building links for a web page on social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, etc, the rankings for long tail keywords improved in Google’s search engine.

96 Link Clicks for a Vacation Rental – Maria Peagler Social Media Case Study

As the title of this social media case study example suggests, you’ll learn how Maria Peagler helped a vacation rental get 96 clicks out of 3,274 audience reach on a single Facebook ad; about a 2.9% click-through rate (CTR). What’s most important about this B2C example is those clicks were of the highest quality the client could receive because Maria dug into the analytics to find out the best time during the day to post the ad and the perfect age groups to target while also using specific language to only drive clicks that would more likely convert.

Vienna Tourist Board Uses an Instagram Wall to Attract Tourists – Walls.io Social Media Case Study

Inside this case study, you’ll find out how the City of Vienna uses a simple social media content aggregator to display its Instagram feed on the website. This basic marketing strategy harnesses the power of user-generated content to gain more followers and keep in touch with previous visitors to increase brand awareness and repeat visits.

Complete Instagram Marketing Strategy for Sixthreezero – Vulpine Interactive Social Media Case Study

This is an in-depth case study on social media marketing with Instagram. You’ll discover how Vulpine Interactive was able to turn an existing, unmanaged account into a strong company asset for Sixthreezero, a bicycling company that uses ecommerce to drive sales. There was a lot of strategy and planning that went into growing the account by 39%, increasing website traffic from Instagram by over 300%, and achieving 77,659 total engagements. Inside, you’ll get the complete social strategy, tactics, key performance indicators (KPIs), and results

Twitter Marketing Success Stories – Social Media Case Study

If you’re looking for social media case study examples for Twitter using both organic and paid ads, then this page has everything you need. It includes Twitter’s top marketing success stories for you to get new ideas for your own B2C and B2B marketing campaigns.

How 3 Big Brands Use Pinterest for Marketing – SmartInsights Social Media Case Study

This is a case study page by SmartInsights with an overview of how 3 big brands use Pinterest for marketing. Although it’s a quick read, you can learn some valuable tactics that Nordstrom, Sephora, and Petplan are using to market their brands on this social media platform.

25+ TikTok Social Campaign Results – Chatdesk Social Media Case Study

If you’re looking for the best social media case studies for TikTok, then this list by Chatdesk is an excellent resource. It includes more than 25 examples from big brands like Starbucks, Redbull, Spikeball, Crocs, Guess Jeans, and Gym Shark. Give it a read to find out exactly how these brands use TikTok effectively to scale their businesses.

Reddit for Business: Meet Your Maker – Social Media Case Study

Want to learn how to use Reddit to market your business online? This new social media marketing case study page by Reddit called “Meet Your Maker” showcases the people behind some of the most innovative and creative brand activations on our platform. Examples include campaigns by Adobe, Capcom, and noosa Yoghurt.

How Boston University Uses Snapchat to Engage with Students – Social Media Case Study

With more than 75% of college students using Snapchat on a daily basis, it became clear that Boston University had to make this platform a primary marketing channel. This social media case study outlines all of the top strategies Boston University uses to connect with prospective and current students.

Now, if you’re looking for more digital marketing ideas, then make sure to check out these other related guides:  SEO case studies with data on improving organic search engine optimization, PPC case studies  for paid search examples, email marketing case studies , affiliate marketing case studies , content marketing case studies , and general digital marketing case studies .

What Is a Social Media Case Study?

A social media case study is an in-depth study of social media marketing in a real-world context. It can focus on one social media tactic or a group of social media strategies to find out what works in social media marketing to promote a product or service.

Are Case Studies Good for Social Media Marketing?

Case studies are good for social media because you can learn about how to do social media marketing in an effective way. Instead of just studying the theory of social media, you can learn from real examples that applied social media marketing methods to achieve success.

Summary for Social Media Marketing Case Studies

I hope you enjoyed this list of the best social media marketing case study examples that are based on real-world results and not just theory.

As you discovered, the social media case studies above demonstrated many different ways to perform well on social platforms. By studying the key findings from these case study examples, and applying the methods learned to your own accounts, you can hopefully achieve the same positive outcome. New social media case studies are being published every month and I’ll continue to update this list as they become available. So keep checking back to read the current sources of information on social media.

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Paid social 101: The basics of running effective ads

Written by by Brent Barnhart

Published on  March 29, 2021

Reading time  7 minutes

Getting started with paid social media feels like a big leap for most businesses.

That’s because we’ve become so used to social being totally free.

The reality, though? A staggering three-fourths of all marketers run paid social campaigns. Even for small and solo businesses, social ads have largely become a matter of “when” and not “if.”

From raising brand awareness to driving traffic and leads, a well-crafted campaign can produce immediate results for your business.

Consider this your guide to paid social 101 to cut through the noise and break down exactly how.

Why paid social media is “worth it”

Just like email or SEO, social media represents a marketing channel. As is the case with most channels, “free” will only take you so far.

It’s important for businesses to understand that paid and organic social media isn’t a matter of either-or. In fact, paid campaigns can support your organic social media efforts in the long-run.

How so? Whether you’re skeptical yourself or you need buy-in from your coworkers, consider the following benefits of investing in paid social media.

Paid social gives your business guaranteed reach

This is the big one.

Today’s social media algorithms are tricky. If you ever feel like some of your posts blow up while others get buried, you’re definitely not alone. No matter how much you optimize your posts, reach isn’t guaranteed.

On the flip side, paid social media ensures that your campaigns get seen. You’re essentially paying for your audience’s undivided attention.

Consider that 28% of consumers discover new products directly through social media, with that number skewing higher for millennials and Gen Z . If nothing else, ads are a surefire way to introduce your brand to new customers and grab the attention of former ones without being restricted by an algorithm.

Paid social allows you to target your most relevant customers

Piggybacking on the last point, social ads today have seriously smart targeting.

For example, you can set up campaigns to only serve followers of a specific income level or people living in a particular area. You can likewise create campaigns that only target followers, previous customers or people who’ve bounced from your website.

Since you get to set the parameters of your ad targeting, you also benefit from making sure your ads are served to folks that are most likely to click on them. In short, you’re in control (see an example from Facebook’s ad targeting options below).

The widespread use of paid social has also pushed networks to make the process of targeting less complicated. For example, Facebook’s automated ads are designed to do the heavy lifting for businesses in terms of who to target and when to run.

Paid social teaches you a ton about your target audience

Most native social analytics leave a lot to be desired.

However, the insights from paid social go seriously in-depth. Ad campaigns can provide you firsthand insights on the social media metrics that matter most for your business. You can also learn:

• Which types of promotions result in the most engagement
• What your social media audience looks like demographic-wise (see the example below from Facebook)
• How your social ads perform versus your organic social

The takeaway? Testing the waters with paid social also means stepping up your social media reporting , and can teach you more about your target audience. Even if you run a few one-off campaigns and don’t invest in paid social regularly, you can use these insights to inform your organic social strategy moving forward.

When is the right time to start with paid social media?

Fair question! Although there is no correct answer here, there are a few points to consider before diving into a paid campaign.

Before you start: Make sure you have an established following and understanding of the network you’re looking to run ads on .

This might be obvious, but it can raise suspicion when a brand runs ads but has a totally silent organic page. Having an established presence signals that you’re a legitimate business. Plus, the opportunity to serve ads to existing followers is a nice added bonus since people that already know you are more likely to engage.

After you’ve laid the groundwork for your organic presence, allocate an appropriate budget to your campaigns to ensure the best results .

We get it: creating a budget for social media can be a challenge. How much your ads end up costing depends on a ton of variables, including your industry, CPC (cost-per-click), necessary creatives, and how long you’re looking to run a campaign.

As a business, you should be ready to commit to your paid campaign with the right amount of cash to spend. If you’re running “value” campaigns that don’t actually reach your target audience, you aren’t going to see much of an ROI. You need to be able to commit to your goals and take full advantage of the targeting and visibility paid social provides.

You should also tie your social ad campaigns to bigger-picture business initiatives . Whether that’s a product launch, time-sensitive promotion or holiday special depends on your business. The takeaway is that you should never run ads “just because.”

If you can stick to these principles, you’ll overcome many of the most common challenges related to paid social media.

Paid social 101: 5 keys to running a successful first campaign

Let’s say you’re itching to get started with ads. Great! Below is a basic breakdown of the five must-dos when running a first-time paid campaign.

1. Pick the social platform(s) you’re going to prioritize

According to the Sprout Social Index™, Edition XV: Empower & Elevate , the potential reach of a platform is the most important factor in determining whether to invest in it. The same rings true for ads.

As noted earlier, you should invest in social platforms that you’re familiar with and have an established audience on. We recommend sticking with a single platform initially, ideally where you’re scoring the most direct customer interactions.

The takeaway here is not to cross-publish your ad campaigns or try to do too much at once. Different networks involve different goals, not to mention creatives and ad specs. The exception to this is Facebook and Instagram (which share the same ad platform), but even then you’ll likely want to feel things out before trying to juggle two paid campaigns.

2. Establish goals and desired outcomes for your paid campaigns

Simply put, you need to figure out what you want to get out of your social ads prior to running them.

Looking to build brand awareness? Drive sign-ups and sales? The choice is yours.

Modern ad platforms make it a cinch to pick a particular goal and build a campaign around it (see Instagram’s goal options below).

Your goal will ultimately inspire your campaign and its creatives. Goal-setting also ensures that you’re tracking the right metrics and KPIs associated with your campaigns.

3. Look for inspiration from successful campaigns

Chances are you’ve seen some stellar social ads. You’ve probably seen some stinkers, too.

Researching competing ads is a crucial piece of paid social 101. Specifically, make a point to research ads from smaller competitors and not just big box brands and corporations. Comparing ads that a local business or cafe runs versus, say, Sephora or Starbucks, is apples and oranges.

You can look up businesses directly via the Facebook Ad Library or spend some time browsing social to get served ads yourself. Take note of what sort of creatives you like and how “good” ads talk to customers.

4. Research appropriate creatives, copy and targeting

There’s a lot of work that goes on behind-the-scenes of any given paid social campaign.

Thankfully, ad platforms today are pretty good about walking first-timers through the process step-by-step. As a refresher, take the time to familiarize yourself with:

• Ad specs and sizes to make sure you have the right creatives for your campaign(s)
• Call-to-action phrases and marketing messaging so your ads actually land
• Your target audience and their demographics

Expect to have to do a bit of fine-tuning with your first ads, particularly when it comes to targeting. As you go through the initial stages of any given campaign, you can make appropriate tweaks. Doing so speaks to the need to not only do your homework but also to have a proper budget available for these adjustments.

5. Track your paid efforts with analytics

Determining whether or not your campaigns were a success really boils down to your analytics.

Between your ad analytics and platforms like Sprout, you can take a deep-dive into your campaign’s performance. Beyond engagement metrics and clicks, analytics can help you understand:

• How your organic social media performs versus paid social media
• Whether you saw an ROI for your paid campaign(s)
• Opportunities to optimize future campaigns

Having these answers and reports available does double-duty of improving your campaigns while also reporting your results to colleagues.

If you’re satisfied with your performance, you can refine your targeting and budget accordingly in the future. If not, you can uncover opportunities to make changes or put more energy into organic social media (or vice-versa).

And with that, we wrap up our guide to paid social 101!

Looking to go beyond paid social 101? No problem

Now that you have an understanding of the basics of paid social media, you can work toward your first campaign with a much-needed sense of confidence.

And sure, there’s a lot to cover. That said, the wealth of paid social ads and success stories today speak for themselves.

Need help with buy-in from your coworkers when it comes to social ads? We’ve got you covered. Make sure to check out our guide breaking down how to make a business case for social media.

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Top 3 Social Media Case Studies to Inspire You in 2024

Discover three successful social media case studies from top brands and learn how to create one. Benefit from their strategies and mistakes to ensure the success of your next campaign.

Social media is every marketer’s safe haven for branding and marketing.

And why not?

More than 50% of the population is active on social media, and more are signing up with every passing second.

In a recent poll by HubSpot, 79% of the respondents have made a purchase after seeing a paid advertisement on social media .

This isn’t just a happenstance.

It’s the constant efforts that these brands put behind their dynamic presence on social media, that counts.

But how do they captivate their customers’ attention for this long despite the budding competitors?

Well, that’s something that we’ll reveal in this blog.

We shall assess 3 different social media case studies by top brands who are best in their niches. Their game is simple yet effective.

How effective? Let’s take a look.

Social Media Case Study 1: Starbucks

Starbucks and social media are a match made in heaven. Being one of the sensational brands online, they are stirring the social media world with their strong presence.

They brew the right content to elevate the experiences of their coffee lovers. But how do they nail marketing with perfection every single time? Let’s find out.

Starbucks in Numbers

Starbucks mastered the advertising transition from offline fame to online undertaking. They use each social media with a varied goal to target pitch-perfect reach. Drawing in more customers than ever before, they strike the right balance in content across multiple platforms.

Key Takeaways

Though not every company has a Starbucks budget to promote and spend lavishly on social media marketing, here are some quick takeaways that will undoubtedly help.

1. Chasing Trends

Be it any event, brands must take the advantage to showcase their viewpoints and opinions. Successful brands like Starbucks jump into the bandwagon and leave no stone unturned to make their voice count in the trending list.

Here’s one such social media campaign example from Starbucks.

Starbucks is a firm believer in LGBTQ+ rights. When the pride wave surged, Starbucks came forward and reinstated its belief through the #ExtraShotOfPride campaign.

Starbucks joined hands with the Born This Way Foundation to raise $250K to support the LGBTQ+ community. Throughout the social media campaign, they shared quotes and stories of various Starbucks employees cherishing the pride spirit.

2. Less is More

Social media is not about quantity but quality. Starbucks follows the “less is more” principle to maintain the quality standards, even in the caption. Spamming followers’ feeds with constant posting is a big no-no. Starbucks shares 5-6 posts per week on Instagram and 3-4 weekly posts on Facebook .

Creative and crisp! That’s what defines a Starbucks caption. This post with 111+k likes is no exception. Nothing is better than a minimalist post with a strong caption.

3. User Generated Content is the King

Ditch the worry of creating content every day when you can make use of user generated content. Starbucks makes sure to retweet or post its loyal customers’ content. User generated content postings starkly improve brand credibility.

Look at this Facebook post made out of customers’ tweets. The new Oatmilk drink got the appreciation shower by some, and Starbucks couldn’t resist but share it with others. It saved them efforts on content brainstorming, plus they got free PR.

4. Building Rapport

Building rapport with the audience is an unsaid rule to brand fame. Social media has now taken the onus of dispensing quality service by aiding brands in prompting faster replies .

Starbucks is always on its toe to respond to customers actively solving concerns, expressing gratitude, or reposting. That kind of proactive service definitely deserves love and adoration.

5. Loads of campaigns

Starbucks is known for its innovative social media campaigns. Be it a new product launch or any festivity around the corner, Starbucks always turns up with a rewarding campaign.

In this social media campaign example, Starbucks introduced #RedCupContest with prizes worth $4500 during Christmas of 2016. A new entry came every 14 seconds.

The grand total of entries was a whopping 40,000 in just two days. Indeed Starbucks knows how to get the most out of the festive fever.

6. Content mix

Last but not least, the content mix of Starbucks is inspiring. They create tailored content for every platform.

The official youtube channel of Starbucks comprises content in varied hues. From recipes to even series, Starbucks is the ultimate pioneer of experimenting.

Even on Instagram, they use all the features like Guides, Reels, and IGTV without affecting their eye-popping feed. Starbucks also follows the design consistency for its aesthetic content mix.

Starbucks has proved time and again to be a customer-centric brand with their unrelenting efforts.

Social Media Case Study 2: Ogilvy & Mather

Ogilvy & Mather needs no introduction. Founded by David Ogilvy, the ‘Father of Advertising’ in 1948, the agency continues the legacy of revolutionizing marketing long before the advent of social media.

The iconic agency helps several Fortune 500 companies and more make a massive impact on their audiences worldwide.

Ogilvy & Mather knows its game too well and never fails to astonish. Not just high-profile clients, Ogilvy nails its marketing with perfection every single time.

Keep on reading.

Ogilvy & Mather in Numbers

They use social media to target pitch-perfect reach. Drawing in more hype than ever before, they know how to strike the right balance and bring out emotions with their heart-warming campaigns.

Not every company has David Ogilvy’s legacy or even affluent clients to boast of, but here are some quick takeaways that will undoubtedly help you become a pro marketer.

1. Integrating Values

Ogilvy stands apart from the crowd, creating trends. They leave no stone unturned to communicate values.

Proud Whopper is one such social media campaign by Ogilvy that was an instant hit on the internet. People were offered whoppers in rainbow-colored wrappers, with a note that said, “Everyone’s the same on the inside.” This was to reinstate the importance of LGTQ+ rights.

The campaign got 1.1 billion impressions, $21 million of earned media, 450,000 blog mentions, 7 million views, and became the #1 trending topic on Facebook and Twitter.

Ogilvy made a remarkable #Tbt video to honor this momentous event showcasing their supremacy in creating impactful campaigns.

2. Quality over Quantity

Ogilvy believes in the “ Quality supremacy ” to maintain their high standards, even in post captions.

Arbitrary posting isn’t a part of their agenda. They share 5-7 posts on Instagram and Facebook weekly.

Direct and very precise. That’s what defines an Ogilvy caption. This post is no exception. They have exhibited the success of their client work by describing the motive behind the campaign and sharing the ad they created for raising awareness.

3. Adding Credibility

Won awards? It’s time to boast! Because that’s the most authentic way of establishing trust among your clients. It bears proof of your excellence.

Look at this pinned Twitter post. Ogilvy won the Global Network of the Year by the very prestigious London International Awards. It also earned Regional Network of the year for Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Europe.

What better than this to give its audience an idea about Ogilvy’s roaring success and undoubted potential?

4. Being Innovative

Building rapport with the audience is an unsaid rule to brand fame. And that’s why you need to tell stories. Social media has become an indispensable medium to spread your stories far and wide.

Ogilvy shares its historical tale of existence and how it has adapted to the challenges of the changing world. The team extensively talks about their adaptation to the latest trends to stay on top always.

5. Brainstorming Uniqueness

Being unique is what propels you on social media. People are always looking for brands that do something different from the herd. So your task each day is undeniably brainstorming unique content.

KFC wanted more of its customers to use its app. Well, Ogilvy and KFC decided to hide a secret menu in the app, which was a mass invitation for the download without being salesy at all. Results? Downloads up by 111% at launch!

6. Inspire Your Peeps

Inspiration is everywhere. But how do you channelize and mold it as per your brand guidelines? The renowned brands move their audience, filling them with a sense of realization. Who doesn’t seek validation? We all need quotes and inspiration to live by.

Ogilvy has dedicated its entire Pinterest profile to inspiration. The profile has numerous insightful infographics that encourage you to pursue marketing when your spirits run low. And that’s how it brings out the very essence of being the marketing leader: by inspiring its followers.

Got some good ideas for your branding? We have created templates and tools to help you execute them hassle-free. Tread on further and download the Trending Hashtag Kit for 2024 to get into action.

Social Media Case Study 3: PewDiePie

YouTube king with 111 Million subscribers on PewDiePie Channel, Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg, has defied all norms. One of the most prolific content creators of the decade, Felix was on the list of World’s 100 Most Influential People by Time Magazine in 2016.

Needless to say, he is still relevant to this day and has a massive following on social media. Not just for branding, the Swedish YouTuber leveraged social media to give himself a new identity and opened doors to fame and a successful career.

What was the cause of this extraordinary trajectory?

Let’s find out.

PewDiePie in Numbers

PewDiePie likes to keep his social media raw and unfiltered. That’s why subscribers love to have a glimpse of his everyday life and follow him on other social media platforms as well. Here’s a quick snapshot of that.

Felix took the early bird advantage and started creating content when it wasn’t even popular practice. We can’t go back in time, but we can definitely learn a lot from his social media success.

1. Start Now

If you are still skeptical about making the first move, then don’t. Stop waiting and experiment. It’s better late than never.

Social media is in favor of those who start early because then you create surplus content to hold your audience . You quench their thirst for more quality content.

PewDiePie started creating videos in 2011 and live-streamed his gaming sessions with commentaries. It was something new and completely original. Ever since, he has continued to make thousands of videos that entertain his audience.

2. Gather Your Tribe

Being a content creator, PewDiePie knows his act of engaging his audience very well. He strives to build lasting connections and encourages two-way communication. As a result, his followers like to jump onto his exciting challenges.

Felix treasures his gaming community. He frequently asks his followers to take screenshots and turn them into funny memes . He gives them tasks to keep them engaged and amused .

3. Collaboration and Fundraising

Once you reach the stage and gain popularity, people want to see more of you with their favorite personalities. That’s what Felix does.

He collaborates with multiple YouTubers and brands and puts out exclusive content for his followers. He also goes for multiple fundraising campaigns to support vital causes and social wellbeing.

Here’s one such social media campaign example. PewDiePie supported the CRY foundation and raised $239000 in just one day to bring a positive impact for children in India. He thanked all for their contribution and taking active participation towards a noble cause.

4. Keep it Real

Felix likes to keep his content fluff-free. You get to witness raw emotions from an unfiltered life. This instantly appeals to the audience and makes the posts more relatable .

Apart from that, he also uses storytelling techniques to narrate his experiences, adding a very personalized touch to each of the videos.

Here’s a video of Felix where he and Ken from CinnamonToastKen discuss what can be possibly done with a million dollars around the world. The topic is quite intriguing.

More than 3.8M people have watched it and 216K of them liked it as well, proving that you need not always sweat to create complex content. Even the simplest ones can make the cut.

How to Write a Social Media Marketing Case Study

Many small businesses struggle when it comes to social media marketing. But guess what? Small businesses can slay the competition with a powerful tool: the social media case study.

These social media case studies are success stories that prove your hustle is paying off. Here’s how to weave a case study that showcases your small business wins:

Building Your Brag Book

• Pick Your Perfect Project:  Did a specific social media campaign drive a surge in sales? Highlight a product launch that went viral. Choose a project with impressive results you can showcase.
• DIY Interview:  Don’t have a fancy marketing team? No worries! Record yourself talking about your challenges, goals, and the strategies that made a difference.
• Data Dive:  Track down social media analytics! Look for growth in followers, website traffic driven by social media, or engagement metrics that show your efforts are working.

Now that you have all the ingredients, it’s time to cook a brilliant case study

Crafting Your Case Study

• Headline Hunt:  Grab attention with a clear and concise headline. Mention your business name and a key achievement (e.g., “From 100 to 10,000 Followers: How We Grew Our Bakery’s Social Buzz”).
• Subheading Scoop:  Briefly summarize your success story in a subheading, piquing the reader’s interest and highlighting key takeaways.
• The Business Struggle:  Be honest about the challenges you faced before tackling social media. This will build trust and allow other small businesses to connect.
• DIY Social Strategies:  Share the social media tactics you used, such as engaging content formats, community-building strategies, or influencer collaborations.
• Numbers Don’t Lie:  Integrate data and visuals to support your story. Include charts showcasing follower growth or screenshots of top-performing posts.
• Simple & Straightforward:  Use clear, concise language that’s easy to understand. Bullet points and short paragraphs make your case study digestible and showcase your professionalism.

Remember: Your social media case study is a chance to celebrate your achievements and build businesses. So, tell your story with pride, showcase your data-driven results, and watch your brand recognition soar

Social media campaigns are winning hearts on every platform. However, their success rates largely depend on your year-round presence. That’s why being consistent really does the trick.

We’re sure you must have learned a few things from the above-mentioned social media case studies .

To excel further at your social media marketing, use our FREE Trending Hashtag Kit and fill your calendar with everyday content ideas.

On downloading, you get 3000+ hashtags based on each day’s theme or occasion. You also get editable design templates for hassle-free social media posting.

What are you waiting for? Download now.

Frequently Asked Questions

🌟 How do I start a social media campaign idea?

Here’s how you can start a social media campaign:

• Finalize your campaign goals
• Brainstorm personas
• Pick a social media channel
• Research your competitors and audience
• Finalize an idea that’s in trend
• Promote the campaign
• Start the campaign
• Track the performance

🌟 What are the different types of social media campaigns?

Different types of social media campaigns are:

• Influencer Campaigns
• Hashtag Challenges

🌟 Why is social media campaign important?

Social media campaigns have various benefits:

• Boost traffic
• Better Conversions
• Cost-effective Marketing
• Lead Generation
• PR & Branding
• Loyal Followers

🌟 What are some of the best social media campaign tools?

Some of the best social media campaign tools are:

• SocialPilot

🌟 What are the top social media sites?

The top social media sites are:

About the Author

Sparsh Sadhu

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The power of organization and scaling: Navigating challenges to ensure Success

Paid social advertising, the challenge, our collaboration commenced with a client deeply entrenched in the jewelry industry, overseeing a diverse portfolio of brands, all dedicated to the burgeoning world of e-commerce. however, the challenge at hand was formidable. the client presented us with a staggering workload, churning out 40 to 60 campaign builds each month, requiring meticulous attention to detail. what indeed intensified the challenge was the short time frame, with an unrelenting 1-2 week turnaround period. in this fast-paced environment, we routinely confronted roadblocks such as creative delays and recurring issues with audience mix-ups., the solution, in response to this formidable challenge, we devised a comprehensive solution that focused on rapidly scaling our team's capacity. this involved augmenting our resources and enhancing our operational efficiency to ensure every project was completed on time and met the highest standards of quality. with an unwavering commitment to detail and organization, we established a rigorous system without room for oversight. our team's ability to seamlessly manage multiple projects while maintaining quality control ensured that everything would stay intact., the results of our collaborative effort were nothing short of remarkable. by implementing our solution, we not only met but consistently exceeded the client's expectations. the client witnessed a remarkable improvement in project delivery times, substantially reducing creative delays and audience mix-ups. the increased efficiency allowed for a significant uptick in the number of builds, ultimately resulting in enhanced revenue and customer satisfaction for our client. furthermore, our meticulous project management ensured that all projects were executed flawlessly, positively impacting the client's brands in their competitive market., reduced project delivery times, slashed creative delays, targeting triumph: finding the perfect audience, the challange, the client came to us with a pressing concern – their campaigns were performing poorly, and they sought our expertise to address this issue. as we went deeper into their campaigns, we pinpointed the problem. it became evident that the targeted audience, crucial for campaign success, was not optimized for the specific brand and the creative content., to tackle this challenge, we devised a strategic solution. we analyzed the existing targeting, the promoted products, and the specific creative we had available to craft a new and refined audience, drawing from the existing one and infusing our insights and experience. this involved the creation of lookalike audiences (lals) and tailored custom targeting options, carefully designed to align with the brand's objectives and the campaign's messaging. the aim was to unlock the audience's full potential, aligning it perfectly with the brand's identity and message., the impact of our solution was transformative. the newly optimized audience played a pivotal role in elevating campaign performance. our campaign met and exceeded expectations, outperforming industry benchmarks by 88%. it soared to become the top-performing campaign within the client's portfolio. the positive results were a testament to the power of strategic audience optimization and the effectiveness of our tailored targeting strategies. this success translated into increased engagement, conversions and ultimately contributed to the brand's overall marketing triumph., outperformed the benchmark, increased campaign roi, increased er.

Case Studies

How matchnode helped bicycle health double its meta lead volume and lower cpl by 20% without tracking pixels, seabums achieves 3x to 6x roas on its first nft with matchnode, the united center achieves 4x roi in four months with matchnode, the arizona coyotes achieve sustained 6x roas with matchnode, how matchnode helped the what if syndicate group of restaurants achieve a 10x return on social ad spend, a 215% increase in ticket revenue from digital advertising, how matchnode helped 1440 achieve a 20x increase in lead acquisition, true strategic growth, e-commerce facebook & instagram ads measured by return on ad spend.

Paid Social Media: Where Should You Advertise? [Data + Case Studies]

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• content marketing strategy
• increase traffic
• social media

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Research shows that over half of B2B businesses, and three quarters of B2C businesses, are using paid social media advertising as part of their content marketing activities.

Over half of B2B businesses, and around three quarters of B2C businesses, are using paid social media advertising.

But just look at how it’s grown in the space of a year. As the following charts illustrate, paid advertising usage on social media has shot up sharply for both B2B and B2C .

For B2B businesses, usage of social ads rose 6% year on year, whereas usage of promoted posts grew by 24%.  (Data sources shown above).

Paid social advertising grew even more strongly for B2C businesses, with social ad usage growing 23% and usage of promoted posts growing by 29%.  (Data sources shown above).

But with so many social networks available, it’s confusing where to start. There’s no  one-size-fits-all social advertising solution. Different networks will suit different businesses and advertising approaches.

This post reviews 10 different social networks that provide paid advertising opportunities. I share the demographics of each network (including network size) and the advertising options available.

Plus, so you can see what can be achieved, I share successful case studies for each platform, along with real data wherever possible.

Table of Contents

LinkedIn, acquired by Microsoft in 2016, continues to grow, with 450 million users  across 200 countries.

Pew Research Center shows 25% of adult Internet users are on LinkedIn, particularly those of working age and with relatively high income levels. Nearly half of college graduates use the platform. Usage rates tend to be higher for those aged 30 or over.

According to  MarketingMojo :

• The site has a slight male bias.
• Three quarters of users work at companies with over 1000 employees
• Around half of users are in a decision-making role.

LinkedIn’s data shows the majority of users are in the US. However, for marketing purposes it’s more relevant to look at the proportion of a country’s population that uses LinkedIn:

The proportion of the population from various countries that use LinkedIn. Top 21 countries, ranked in order of declining proportion.

As you can see from the graph above:

• 40% of the population of the US use LinkedIn.
• A third of populations in countries like Canada, Denmark and the UK use the platform.
• Usage drops to a fifth or less for many European countries along with New Zealand and the UAE.

Advertising costs are higher on LinkedIn than on other social networks. However, the quality of traffic tends to be much higher. In other words, for the right offer, visitors can prove easier to convert and can have higher customer values.

Their advertising  tends to be best suited to B2B companies with relatively high average customer values, such as SaaS offerings.

LinkedIn offers five different types of ad:

Sponsored Content

Sponsored inmail, dynamic ads, display ads.

These are briefly described below.

Analytics allow you to monitor KPIs such as click-through rate, conversion rate and cost per conversion.

You can sponsor content from your Company Page on LinkedIn so it reaches more people, similar to  Boost Post on Facebook.

LinkedIn provide a number of targeting options to help you define exactly who you want your content to reach. This includes location, specific companies, job title, gender and age.

You can also use their  Direct Sponsored Content  feature to sponsor content that isn’t published on your Company Page (similar to Facebook’s  Dark Posts ).

Send internal LinkedIn messages to your target audience.

To help increase engagement, messages are only sent when the user is on LinkedIn.

Target people based on location, specific company, industry, company size, job title, job function and seniority.

For example, you might wish to message marketing executives on a specific list of companies. This type of ad allows you to do that.

Designed to increase the follower count for your Company Page, these ads allow you to personalize the creative for the individual who sees the ad. For example, the ad uses their name and image.

These ads show in the right-hand column of LinkedIn.

They are designed primarily to help brands and larger media buyers reach Linked’s professional and relatively affluent audience.

Text ads are LinkedIn’s pay per click (PPC) ad option, enabling advertisers to drive people through to their websites and landing pages.

You can also choose to use the cost per impression (CPM) option rather than PPC if you prefer.

For PPC, you define the maximum you want to pay per click, as well as a daily budget to help control costs.

Ads are created via LinkedIn’s self-serve advertising platform, enabling easy accessibility for all businesses. It’s recommended to include a 50×50 image with the ad to boost response.

Ad targeting includes the usual options such as location, job title, company size, and so on.

The minimum cost per click bid is $2, with a minimum daily budget of $10.00.

Case Studies

Case study 1: axway.

Axway  began using LinkedIn Ads as an alternative to Google Adwords, where they found conversion costs rising and other issues.

Using LinkedIn’s targeting options, they specifically targeted people in the Healthcare industry. They optimized by testing over 30 ads, and built conversion pages specifically designed to appeal to LinkedIn users.

Their advertising generated a 25% conversion rate, with the lowest cost per conversion they’d ever achieved. They also found the generated leads to be high quality.

Case Study 2: Bizible

Bizible , a B2B SaaS company, used sponsored content to reach highly targeted job roles on LinkedIn. In fact, the audience size was just 2,000 users, and they only spent $20 on the ad.

The ad brought in two new customers, worth a total average customer value of $12,000.

While a frequent complaint from marketers is that LinkedIn ads are “too expensive”, the real issue is either that what they offer doesn’t match LinkedIn’s audience in the right way, or that their average customer values are too low to return a positive ROI.

Twitter has 313 million monthly users, with 79% of them outside the US .

The site is still growing, though growth has slowed considerably  in comparison  to other social networks:

Graph from Statista

Research shows  23% of all adult Internet users use Twitter. It’s most popular amongst urban dwellers, and those aged from 18 up to 50. More men than women are on the platform.

Most earn at or above average incomes, so are relatively affluent.

Twitter ads work on a cost per action (CPA) basis. In other words, you only pay when the required action, set as the objective for a campaign, has been achieved (e.g. a click).

The actual price you pay is based on your budget and bid. In terms of bidding, you can choose from:

• Automatic bidding: Twitter auto-optimizes your bids based on your objective and budget.
• Maximum bidding:  set how much the required action (lead, click or engagement) is worth to your business. The price you actually pay will mostly be lower, based on a second price auction (i.e. just enough to beat the second place advertiser).

Campaign types available include:

• Website clicks or conversions:  attract click-throughs to your site or pay for actual conversions.
• Followers: acquire followers for the specified Twitter account.
• Tweet engagement: for example, advertise for retweets via a Promoted Tweets.
• Leads:  for this type of campaign, Twitter users are invited to leave their details in response to a call to action (e.g. an offer for a suitable lead magnet ). These leads can then be retrieved for follow up.
• Video views: attract views of a video within a Tweet.

Twitter provide sophisticated targeting options.

To start with, you can target your audience based on options such as location, interests, gender and device used.

Twitter-specific targeting allows you to also target advertising for:

• Your own followers, and/or users similar to your followers.
• People searching for, or tweeting with, specific keywords.
• Users with interests similar to followers of specific accounts. For example, you could enter the Twitter handles of prominent Twitter accounts within your industry, and market to their followers and followers like them.

Another option is to upload a list of email addresses or Twitter handles, and then advertise to them directly. For example, this allows you to:

• Advertise to leads on your list.
• Upload a list of handles from influential Twitter accounts, and then promote Tweets to them. This could help those Tweets reach a much wider audience, as well as potentially build profitable relationships with key industry figures.

Twitter also provide a  retargeting option (the ‘Website visitors’ option shown above). This allows you to show Tweets to people who have recently visited your site, or purchased or downloaded something. Retargeting is an increasingly important and effective way to communicate with prospects without relying on email.

Other options include:

• TV targeting.
• Behaviours: this uses data from partners, with categories such as household income, marital status and type of products bought.
• Event targeting.

Their campaign dashboard  gives you analytics such as impressions, clicks, engagement rate, and cost per result.

Finally, Twitter provide conversion tracking . As well as conversions, it can record those who respond so you can target them as an audience in future.

Case Study 1: Greenhouse Software

Greenhouse Software ( @Greenhouse ) provide a recruiting and onboarding software platform for companies looking to hire. They used Twitter ads to help build their list, using a website conversions campaign.

They achieved a 62% lead conversion rate. This was likely down to a mixture of well-chosen targeting for the ad, and on-site factors.

In one month, they increased their subscriber count by 15%.

Case Study 2: Digital Marketer

Ryan Deiss and his team at DigitalMarketer achieved a 198% ROI on a campaign that brought in $7,937.85 in revenue.

They set up ads on Twitter that drove traffic to blog posts that were primed with calls to action  that built their list, and put leads into a sales funnel for a specific product.  (I wrote a separate post on how to convert blog traffic into leads that you can read here ).

Rather than pay per click on the link, they paid per  engagement . In other words, they paid for follows, likes and retweets as well as clicks. This brought down costs, with retweets inviting further (organic) clicks and engagement from other Twitter users, as well as building future value.

The blog posts were also share-worthy in themselves, leading to shares on other networks such as Facebook and LinkedIn.

The result of their campaign (see the full case study here ) is summarized as follows:

• 359,000 impressions
• 9,710 engagements
• Overall spend was $2,663, with a cost per engagement of $0.27
• Revenue earned was $7,937.85, giving a 198% ROI.

Facebook is of course huge, with 1.71 billion  monthly active users (June 2016), dwarfing other social networks. Over 80% of them are outside North America. The average American spends 40 minutes a day on the network.

Users are predominantly in the 20-29 age bracket , with the majority of users under 50 years of age. Around a third only use their mobile for Facebook.

More women than men use Facebook. There is also a higher proportion of less-affluent users on Facebook than on the other major networks.

Generally speaking, B2C tends to perform better on Facebook than B2B. But there are still plenty of B2B businesses who use Facebook advertising successfully when approached in the right way.

Facebook is the largest and most sophisticated social media advertising platform, thanks to the sheer size of its user base and the amount of data they are able to collect.

They provide many different ad types, including the following:

• Boost Post: attract people to like, comment on and share posts.
• Promote Page: advertise for people to like your Page.
• Website Clicks:  drive traffic direct to your website, such as a list squeeze page.
• Video Views:  attract views of a video advert.
• Lead Adverts:  create contact forms within an advert that’s pre-populated with the contact’s information.
• Retargeted Ads: showing ads to people who have visited a particular page or taken a particular action on your site (e.g. joined your list).

Ads on Facebook typically show on the right-hand side and in the main news feed.

Ads are created via their self-serve platform from within Facebook, with their Power Editor providing more sophisticated ad management functions.

Targeting, as you would expect, is very sophisticated and provides options for:

• Demographics
• Connections
• Other targeting options based on data from third-party partners

They provide  conversion tracking  to effectively measure the success of your campaign. Conversions for a campaign might include people browsing your site, signing up to a list or buying something.

As with most advertising platforms, creating a successful ad campaign on Facebook requires a lot of testing of different creatives, offers and targeting options before finding a mix that works.

Generally, you start with a lower amount as you test different creatives. Once you find a winning mix, you then ramp up that expenditure. However, changing the campaign budget also often alters the effectiveness of the ad, making it more challenging.

Ads also rapidly go stale. In other words, response drops as your audience becomes familiar with an ad. For best effect, rotate several winning ads over time.

Case Study 1-2:

Convince and Convert list a number of successful Facebook advertising case studies from clients. Here are just a couple:

• An attorney who spent a few hundred dollars on Facebook advertising, and in return got a case worth $100k.
• A cloud hosting company who got leads for between $29 and $74. Obviously for many businesses, this type of lead cost is very high. But cloud hosting customers have high values, and means positive ROIs are still achievable.

Case Study 3:

As detailed here , Market Square Jewelers advertised on Facebook and achieved a 40% increase in sales. Ads were targeted at female users who had already demonstrated an interest in engagement rings.

They achieved 25,653 clicks from an ad spend of $1,495.88, working out at a cost per click of just $0.06.

Is Reddit a social network? It can certainly be considered  as one. In fact,  some refer to it as the original social network.

Reddit has a sizeable user base of over 234 million people. There are over 10,000 active communities, with users casting more than 21 million votes a day.

Users of the platform are generally young and male, and tend to be fairly liberal in political outlook. They also tend to be well educated and to be heavy users of the Internet (Reddit users are often seen as geeky ).

One key characteristic of Reddit users is that they enjoy engaging, and debating and discussing topics. They’re smart, intelligent, thoughtful and tech-smart.

It’s this culture that marketers try to tap into, but often fail to do so successfully.

Another key characteristic of so-called Redditors is that they generally loathe marketing and promotion, and aren’t afraid to let you know. That means you’ve got to approach advertising on Reddit in a different way to other platforms.

Use of impersonal  marketing-speak – “Buy Now for [X]% Discount” – will get you nowhere. Instead, get to understand the culture and tap into the same mindset as closely as possible. That generally means being honest, transparent, open and helpful, and inviting Redditors to converse and engage.

Even then, expect a few harsh responses:

It’s enough to make a lot of marketers turn and run. But it doesn’t mean the platform can’t be used for profitable advertising.

You can still for example offer discounts. But you need to do it by adding value to Reddit and acknowledging users’ sense of belonging to the Reddit community.

For example, brands like Newsweek, Atari and Penguin Random House advertise on the platform. But with a minimum spend of just $5, it’s really open to businesses of any size.

It’s also got a lot of spare ad inventory, making advertising far cheaper than most other platforms. Rather than paying per click, you pay on a CPM (cost per thousand impressions) basis.

You run a campaign by posting an ad on a single, specific subreddit (a Reddit community). A subreddit is very targeted for a specific topic, e.g.  reddit.com/r/Entrepreneur/.

Alternatively, you can target a collection of similar subreddits.

The only other targeting available is to only show the ad within a specific geographical location (see example ad below).

An ad consists of the copy, the text or link you want to promote, and a recommended 70×70 thumbnail image.

Ads can be one of two types:

• Link: when you want to drive traffic to a specific landing page.
• Text: includes an embedded text box with a message of unlimited length which can include links to your site. This can help drive conversation, rather than just a straight click-through.

Start by creating a username. If you already have one, it’s best to run it under a completely different one to keep things separate.

The text for the ad should generally be conversational, as if you’re writing to a friend. Redditors appreciate the human touch, rather than to feel they’re being marketed  at  with zero real engagement.

When setting up the ad, you can disable the ability for Redditors to comment on it. But doing so is generally against the spirit of what Reddit is about and may not engender much warmth from Redditors.

Instead, while some comments may be less than friendly, they do allow you to tap into your marketplace in a unique way.

After creating the ad, you set the total budget for the campaign ($5 minimum), set a start and end date for the campaign, and set how much you want to pay per 1,000 impressions (CPM).

Ads can take a while to appear compared to other sites, but usually within 1 business day. For example, if you set up an ad late Friday, it’s unlikely to be shown on the site until Monday.

Reddit provide a full tutorial on setting up ads on the site and some helpful tips on connecting effectively with Reddit users.

After your ad is live, you can see impressions, clicks and other data via their analytics dashboard.

Be watchful of comments so you can respond and engage as appropriate.

Case Study 1: Nate Shivar

Digital marketing consultant, Nate Shivar, spend $100 on some recent advertising on Reddit, for purposes of comparison with an earlier campaign he ran in 2013. He achieved click-through rates of 0.46% and low CPCs of $0.28.

He gained several new email subscribers for what would seem to be a few dollars each (based on the stats he shares), and believes the traffic (and email addresses) were generally good quality.

Case Study 2: Ryan Luedecke

Ryan runs a ‘gourmet beef jerky club’, and uses Reddit to bring in new customers. He states  he has:

• Run 30 ads on Reddit.
• Spent $400.
• Brought in over $2,200 dollars.

That’s an impressive  ROI of some 450%.

28% of adult Internet users use Instagram. It’s most popular with young, adult, non-white people, the vast majority under 30 years old. As with Facebook, there are more female than male users.

The network has over 500 million monthly active users , who share over 95 million photos a day. As with Facebook and Twitter, around 80% are based outside the United States.

The majority live in urban or suburban areas.

Around 50% of companies with 100 employees or more use Instagram for marketing. This is expected to grow to over 70% in 2017.

One reason it’s so popular with brands is that Instagram users are generally more brand-friendly than other networks, with more than 50% following brands on the network (compared to e.g. 44% on Facebook).

Popular brands like Nike segment Instagram users by having multiple accounts that focus on particular interests or demographics. For example:

• @nikewomen – 5.2 million followers
• @nikegolf – 638,000 followers
• @nikefootball (soccer) – 22.5 million followers

You advertise on Instagram through Facebook, either through the normal ad manager or the Power Editor (see #3 Facebook, above).

To do so, it’s easiest to first sign up for a Business Manager account if you don’t already have one. Then, from within Business Manager:

• Connect an Instagram account via  Business Settings > Instagram Accounts on the left-hand side.
• After adding, click on the Instagram account in question, click  Assign Ad Accounts , and select the ad accounts listed that you want to be able to assign Instagram ads from.

You then create Instagram ads in the same way you create Facebook ads (above), with the following differences:

• The objective you choose for your ad must be one that supports Instagram .
• In the  Ad Preview section, ensure you check the  Instagram option. (If using the Power Editor, instead choose Instagram in the Placements section).

Case Study 1: SocialInsight.io

Ethan posted a 31-day live blog sharing his experiences of setting up and using Instagram ads.

His primary goal was to increase signups for his Instagram tool, aiming for 2,000 users with a cost per lead (CPL) of $1.25.

While some technical issues with the ad platform stopped his ads being served towards the end of this period, he still achieved 1,591 users with a CPL far below his target at just $0.91.

Case Study 2: Bloom & Wild

UK-based mail order florists,  Bloom & Wild,  used their existing email list to create a lookalike audience.

Using a small test budget, they discovered videos gave them the best conversion rates.

As an unknown brand, Instagram ads increased their bouquet orders by over 60%.

Over 100 million people use Snapchat daily , reaching 41% of all 18 to 34 year-olds in the United States on a daily basis. On average, those users are spending 25-30 minutes on the platform.

It’s very popular among Millennials (see Special Report: The Rise of the Millennials ), ranked the third most popular social app behind Facebook and Instagram. It’s #1 among teens , illustrating its predominantly young user base.

Snapchat provide a number of ad creatives , primarily aimed at larger brands and businesses:

• Snap Ads:  a full screen video ad. Snapchatters can swipe up to see related content such as a longer video or article.
• Sponsored Geofilters:  displays art to the Snapchatter when they are in specific location(s), overlaid on the current photo.

• Sponsored Lenses:  an interactive ad, enabling Snapchatters to engage with the brand by ‘playing’ with the ad. For example, raising their eyebrows might prompt an animation on the screen.

To use these ads, larger businesses need to contact Snapchat directly.

However, the  Sponsored Geofilters has recently become available for people and smaller businesses to use, and are referred to as  On-Demand Geofilters .

The process is straightforward:

• Design the artwork in line with their guidelines, and upload.
• Pick a time and location(s) (what they call a Geofence ) for the geofilter to run.
• Submit, and wait for approval from Snapchat within one business day.

You can’t however include links, handles or email addresses in the artwork, so opportunities to use the filter as a call to action are more limited than with other ads.

Pricing depends on the size of the  Geofence,  which must be a minimum of 20,000 square feet, and up to 5 million square feet.

You can expect to pay upwards of $5.

Case Study 1: Gary Vaynerchuk

Gary Vaynerchuk spent $62.98  to target the location of a book event he was doing.

In return, he got 229,713 impressions, working out at $0.27 CPM.

Case Study 2: Tyler Smith

Founder of Go-Getter, Tyler Smith, used custom filters to help with recruiting.

At a cost of $40 to run the ad for 3 days, within a 26,000 square foot area. In terms of results:

• His existing employees loved it, using the custom filter they created 130 times.
• It reached 3,176 people.
• It attracted at least one new potential recruit , as well as boosted employee morale and team cohesion.

Tumblr has 550 million monthly users, who are generally seen as young and creative in nature.

Their user base is evenly split between men and women, and are predominantly non-white adults. They are mostly under 30 years of age, tend to be city dwellers and are relatively less affluent and less well-educated than other networks.

Tumblr offers the following advertising options :

• Sponsored Posts:  make your posts more visible, targeting your audience by gender, location and interest. You can also syndicate the content to Yahoo.
• Sponsored Video Posts:  the same as Sponsored Posts , but for video posts. You also get additional analytics on views, looping and engagement.
• Sponsored Day:  Pin your logo and tagline to the top of Tumblr for a whole day, linking to a page full of content you’ve selected.

They provide a full analytics platform to track performance.

Ads are run through an account manager and are for larger businesses with campaign budgets upwards of $25,000.

The online fashion retailer, ASOS, used Tumblr advertising for a campaign centred around a t-shirt design contest . They wanted to engage with creative individuals in the fashion and design communities on Tumblr.

The content focused on asking artists to design a t-shirt for ASOS that would then be put up for sale. They used Sponsored Posts to attract entrants.

As a result, ASOS received 900 designs, which they whittled down to four to sell in their store. All the designs sold out within 10 hours, and the campaign was regarded as very successful.

Wait a minute. Is YouTube a social network?

Many people think so, and with sound argument.

Users follow what they’re interested in (video channels), indicate whether or not they like videos, comment and share.

On YouTube’s home page feed, users are presented with videos based on who they are following (in other words, channels they are subscribed to) and what they have indicated their interests to be.

To all intents and purposes then, it is a social network. Agreed?

In fact it’s a bigger social network than Facebook.

As the second biggest site in the world, you can practically guarantee your market is on YouTube. For example, comScore data shows the platform reaches 81.2% of Internet users in the United States.

In terms of the male/female divide, while the site attracts an even split , data shows males generally spend longer on the platform.

Younger visitors also spend more time on YouTube, with the dominant age demographic 25-34 years old.

Age demographics on YouTube show visitors 25-34 are most dominant, but YouTube appeals across the board (source: Digiday )

Advertise on YouTube through your Adwords account. There are a number of different ad formats available:

• Display ads:  banner ad (300×250 or 300×60) that appears on the right-hand side of YouTube.
• Overlay ads: semi-transparent ad (468×60 or 728×90) that appears over the top of the lower 20% of videos.
• Skippable video ads:  also referred to as TrueView ads, these allow people to skip the ad after watching it for five seconds. In other words, it’s in the interests of the advertiser to target the ad effectively and to engage the viewer as rapidly as possible.
• Non-skippable video ads:  viewers are forced to watch the ad before watching the video they’ve selected.
• Bumper ads:  non-skippable ads of up to 6 seconds in length that show before the main video.
• Sponsored cards:  displays content relevant to your video.

Video ads are also often referred to as  in-stream advertising or  pre-roll ads.

YouTube provide help on creating video ads you can use, including a  YouTube Director app, and opportunities to work with a professional filmmaker.

For the ad to display on YouTube, select the  Display Network option within Adwords, select the  Placements option under  Use a different targeting method , and then choose YouTube.com.

The full process would require a blog post by itself. Maybe I’ll create one in future, but for now Neil Patel provides a useful tutorial  to follow.

Case Study 1: RealTruck.com

RealTruck.com achieved a ROI of 646% using  skippable video ads. 

Over a period of several months, they spent $10,651.27, and achieved revenue of $79,410.51, with a cost per conversion of $36.60.

Case Study 2: Financial Investment SaaS

A company providing a financial investment SaaS product created a 30-second video commercial, advertising with  skippable video ads .

Over three months, they received over 1.2M impressions, 121k video views, over 7k clicks and an undisclosed number of leads.

Just over 30% of online adults use Pinterest, a network that has predominantly attracted female users, often with young families . They range in age anywhere between 18 and 50 years old, and tend to be reasonably well educated with good levels of income.

There’s a roughly even mix between people living in urban, suburban and rural areas.

The demographics of Pinterest users mean they are generally shopping-friendly, often looking for ideas of things to buy and to connect with brands in a creative way.

The platform has 100 million monthly active users.

Pinterest advertising is available to Pinterest business accounts based in the US, Canada or the United Kingdom.

Ads on Pinterest work via  Promoted Pins.  Similar to  Boost Post on Facebook or  Sponsored Content  on LinkedIn, a  Promoted Pin simply means your selected Pin will be seen by more people based on your targeting options.

There are two types of advertising campaign you can run:

• Engagement Campaign:  You pay for engagements with the Pin. Engagements include a closeup, repin or click. Bid based on cost per engagement.
• Traffic Campaign:  Pay for clicks to your website. Bid based on cost per click.
• Awareness Campaign:  Pay for views of your Pin. Bids are based on CPM, with a minimum bid of $5.

Any Pins you promote must already exist within your profile.

For each campaign, set a start and optional end date.

When setting up the campaign, choose between a daily or a lifetime budget. There is no minimum cost.

If you add multiple Pins to a campaign, Pinterest optimizes for you automatically, showing what it considers to be the best-performing Pin more frequently.

Alternatively, run a single Pin campaign(s) to optimize and test manually.

Target Promoted Pins based on options such as interests, keywords and location.

For location, you can target people in the US, Canada and UK, including specific localities within those countries.

You can also target based on language, device, and gender.

Similar to other networks, Pinterest also allow you to run retargeted ads, to create an audience based on a list you upload, and to target an ‘actalike’ audience.

Once submitted, Promoted Pins take up to 24 hours to be approved.

Case Study 1: BoomByCindyJoseph.com

Ezra details how  he spent $775.50 on Pinterest advertising, and generated over $40,000 in revenue for his BoomByCindyJoseph.com ecommerce store.

Pinterest users are by nature  shoppers and this is what Ezra’s results confirm. Rather than a lead generation campaign , his campaign was mainly to generate immediate sales.

But rather than sending traffic direct to a product page, instead he sent them to an article that engaged the reader in his brand and products. From there, they clicked through directly to purchase products.

Compared to Facebook ads traffic, he found visitors from his Pinterest campaign were spending 3 times longer on his site and converting 5 times better.

He also found people were remembering his ad, finding his site again via Google or going directly, and purchasing products there too.

Case Study 2: Adore Me

Adore Me sells stylish lingeries by monthly subscription.

They used Promoted Pins to attract new customers, achieving:

• A 4000% increase in revenue from Pinterest.
• A 3700% increase in purchases coming from Pinterest.
• A 2600% increase in traffic from Pinterest.

They also found the CPA on Pinterest was 10-50% lower than on other advertising channels they used.

StumbleUpon

StumbleUpon is a social network on which users share links with other users, and vote on content to indicate whether or not they like it. It can also be described as a “web discovery engine”.

Of course, it’s not as prominent as other social networks, but is regularly pegged as one of the top social traffic referrers . However, a frequent complaint is that the traffic is ‘hit and run’. In other words, visitors coming through StumbleUpon tend to have a higher bounce rate than those from other sources.

StumbleUpon is used by over 35 million people worldwide, and users are generally interested in seeing new content they wouldn’t have otherwise come across.

Content that does well on StumbleUpon tends to be similar to the type of content you find on BuzzFeed. Nothing too heavy, but fun posts that are immediately and easily digestible.

There are more female than male users, and they tend to be less well educated than users of some other platforms.

For advertising with StumbleUpon to work, you should generally use it to build awareness, build shares across other social networks (and therefore increase social proof), and attract subscribers for long-term nurture.

When you advertise on StumbleUpon , you are not displaying a banner or other form of ad creative. Instead, you are paying for your site to appear more often for StumbleUpon users. In other words, for more people to  stumble upon  your website.

The only difference between a promoted stumble and an organic one, is the display of a  Sponsored label in the StumbleBar.

Users interact with the promoted page in the same way as any other, sharing, thumbing up or down, adding to lists and commenting on it.

This means, with the right type of content, you don’t just get the initial stumble, but potentially far more stumbles too. Voting can mean your content is shown frequently via their organic recommendation engine, and this can continue well after the initial paid campaign.

You can target your audience based on age, gender, device, location and interests.

Your page is then optimized for you automatically, shown to stumblers most likely to be receptive to your content.

They provide a dashboard that gives you analytics on:

• The number of stumbles, whether paid, unpaid or earned.
• The campaign score, based on a ratio between thumbs-up and thumbs-down.
• Average time spent on the page.
• Social sharing activity.

This data can be broken down by age, gender, location, interest, device and date, which can give you some key insights into the type of audience who are most receptive to your content. This information can then help with your targeting with other social media advertising.

Pricing is based on cost per visit, ranging between $.10 to $.50. StumbleUpon recommend a bid price which you can adjust as required. There is no minimum spend requirement.

Stefan Maescher  details how he uses StumbleUpon ads as a profitable and scalable traffic source for his business.

He achieved:

• 1,298 paid visits
• 58,977 earned visits
• 60,275 total visits

With expenditure of $129.80, it works out at a cost of just $.02 per visitor.

But the important point is, what was this traffic worth to his business?

Here’s his data:

• 85 direct sales, earning $366.
• 200 email opt-ins.

The best bit is, this was achieved with a sub-optimal setup.

For example, he only had a product on the website two months into the 12-month campaign, he didn’t have an opt-in form on his blog post until four months in, and changed this to a direct sales pitch after nine months.

To Conclude

The most successful sites in the world are using paid social media to advertise and drive traffic to their websites. This often has a knock on effect of driving up organic traffic too, for example through adding social proof, increasing inbound linking opportunities, and more.

The traffic potential is huge and growing.

Social media advertising allows businesses to scale in ways that would have been far more difficult to achieve just a few years ago.

The best bit is you can start with a very small budget. With many it’s as little as $5, and you can work up from there.

Once you have it working, it’s like a money making machine. Spend $5, and get $10, $15, $20 or more back.

However, as I’ve detailed above, not every network is suitable for every type of business.

Start by focusing on just one that seems the best match for your business. Try lots of different things to make it work for you. Once you’ve found a winning formula that brings you a positive ROI, carefully scale it up while keeping an eye on your KPIs.

With one platform working and bringing in increasing revenues and profit, invest in getting another social network working for you in the same way.

Share This Story, Choose Your Platform!

About the author: steve shaw.

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Great information about the traffic potential of StumbleUpon and Pinterest. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you. This is a very helpful summary of the options.

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Three Social Media ROI Case Studies to Light a Fire Under You

Written by Anna Sonnenberg

Last modified Apr. 10 2023 · 13 min read

Table of Contents

Want to receive the best of our blog every single month?

Whether you handle paid or organic social media marketing, you need a way to quantify the results you’ve achieved. Instead of sharing social media metrics like clicks or engagement, focusing on the value you provide often makes a much bigger impact.

When you know the value of your work, you can partner with your boss or your agency clients to make smarter decisions about scaling campaigns or prioritizing tasks. With this data in hand, you can also make a better case for increased compensation or more responsibilities.

So how do you prove the value of your social media marketing efforts? You need to know the return on investment ( ROI ) of your work. Get up to speed on ROI, and check out a social media return on investment case study (or three) to light a fire under you.

What Is Social Media ROI?

Social media ROI is a metric that measures how much value your marketing efforts create. It essentially compares how much you spend on your efforts to how much you earn from them.

ROI is typically expressed as a percentage, revealing how much you’ve gained from a campaign or during a time period. Once you know your ROI, you can easily determine the monetary value of your efforts.

Social media ROI formula

To calculate social ROI, first define the campaign or the time period. Next, add up everything you’ve spent on paid and organic social media. Then add up everything you’ve earned from your efforts. Plug those numbers into this simple formula to figure out your social media ROI:

Social Media ROI = (Profit / Investment) x 100%

Social media ROI factors

It’s easy to add up what you’ve earned from a campaign, especially if you use the right tracking tools (more on that below). But adding up all your costs can be a little tougher. If you’re not sure what to include in your ROI calculation, think about costs, such as:

• Ad spend for paid Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, or YouTube campaigns
• Photo and video shoots
• Influencer partnerships
• Freelance contractors
• Landing page software

Four Reasons Why Social Media ROI Matters

Not sure if it’s worth the time and effort to track and calculate social media ROI ?

Here are a few reasons why social media ROI matters to your business.

1. Track metrics that matter

Deciding which social media metrics to monitor can be tough. For example, it’s tempting to track the followers and comments you get from each campaign. Yet these metrics don’t often translate directly to revenue—which can make them vanity metrics .

In contrast, when you track ROI, you focus on value and other metrics that matter . That means you can avoid wasting time on vanity metrics and devote resources to understanding what you’re getting out of your campaigns instead.

2. Pursue successful strategies

If you don’t know how much value your social media marketing campaigns generate, you can’t really know if they’re successful. That means you may be making decisions based on irrelevant metrics.

For example, you may opt to replicate a social media campaign that generated a ton of revenue. But if the campaign had disproportionately high costs, it may not be as good of a choice as you thought.

When you take the time to track ROI, you can identify which campaigns are best to pursue. Then you can build a successful marketing strategy that helps you reach your business goals.

3. Allocate budgets effectively

When a campaign generates a lot of clicks, leads, or revenue, you may feel compelled to scale the spend. But how can you be sure that scaling is the right move?

When you monitor social media ROI, you can easily identify your highest-value campaigns. Then you can make data-driven decisions about adjusting budgets and scaling spend—now or for the future.

4. Demonstrate your value

Whether you manage agency clients, handle freelance clients, or take charge of your company’s campaigns, your work creates value. By tracking social media ROI, you can quantify what you bring to the table.

Using this data, you can make more effective pitches. For example, you may be able to make the case for a bigger budget or a new team member. And if you provide a high ROI, you may be able to convince clients to hire you instead of another marketer.

Three Social Media ROI Case Studies to Inspire You

Ready to see the social ROI that some real-life brands have generated? Take a look at three case studies that explore the value social media campaigns can create.

Social media return on investment case study #1: Galaxy Theatres

Galaxy Theatres partnered with Bright Age to promote its chain of luxury movie theaters. The agency designed a Facebook and Instagram campaign to drive ticket sales and increase awareness of the brand.

For more than 20 years, Galaxy Theatres has established a strong presence via multiple locations across the western United States. However, the theater chain wasn’t leveraging social media to the fullest.

For example, the company didn’t have a unique social property for each location. It also lacked location-specific social media content that would encourage customers to follow and engage. As a result, the theater chain wasn’t communicating its offerings effectively.

First, the agency established separate Instagram accounts for each theater location. Then the agency developed an organic content calendar for each account, featuring location-specific content.

Due to the new accounts and additional content, the theater chain generated significantly more engagement and reviews. The agency provided social listening and community management to address these results.

In addition, the agency developed a schedule for boosting organic posts. With sponsored posts, the theater chain could reach local audiences to promote special offers and unique events.

To continue growing the theater chain’s Facebook following, the agency ran page like ads. The agency also ran traffic and conversion ads to increase ticket sales for the theater chain.

As a result of these paid and organic social media campaigns, the agency increased the theater chain’s ticket sales by 72%. The campaigns also contributed to a better social media ROI in other ways. For example, Instagram followers increased by more than 200%, while Instagram likes increased by almost 400%.

Social media return on investment case study #2: Ashland University

Ashland University partnered with VividFront to market its master of business (MBA) program. The agency implemented a marketing campaign incorporating social media, email, and search engine optimization (SEO).

Ashland University’s MBA program has awarded graduate degrees for more than 40 years. However, the university needed to attract more applicants, which meant expanding its pool of applicants beyond the local area.

That also meant establishing the program’s credibility more widely, a goal that an increasingly competitive industry made challenging. In addition, the university needed a more streamlined application process for potential students.

First, the agency developed three responsive websites tailored to the university’s programs and prospective students’ interests. Each site clarified program benefits, discussed degree options, and included SEO-focused content.

The sites also included built-in forms for applications and lead generation. The agency streamlined the form navigation, so prospects would be able to submit them efficiently.

To drive traffic to these targeted sites, the agency developed an integrated marketing campaign. The agency used paid social and search engine marketing (SEM) to reach prospective students on search engines like Google and on social media platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn.

Altogether, the agency worked with the university for one academic year. During that time, the campaign generated more than 2,500 leads, which reflected an almost 50% increase from the prior year.

So what about social media ROI ? The campaign drove a 3133.63% return on ad spend (ROAS), creating ample value for the university.

Social media return on investment case study #3: Retro Kids

Retro Kids partnered with The Good Marketer to increase the return on its paid social campaigns. The agency worked with the retro-style toy company to streamline its advertising strategy and improve campaign results.

Retro Kids has a relatively diverse customer profile, as its toys and decor are designed to appeal to both adults and children. The company also has a relatively large product line, making it challenging to advertise all available offerings.

In the past, the company’s paid social campaigns had resulted in high cost per action (CPA). The company also had relatively low visibility on social media, making its ad campaigns less efficient. To resolve these issues, the agency sought a lower CPA and an increased ROAS.

First, the agency reviewed the brand’s buyer persona and Facebook advertising audiences. The agency determined that lookalike audiences would be most likely to drive conversions and began targeting Facebook users similar to the company’s current customers.

In addition, the agency launched Google ad campaigns to reach a wider audience. To advertise the widest possible range of products, the agency chose Google Shopping campaigns over search.

To leverage increased customer shopping and spending, the agency recommended scaling the campaigns during the holiday season. The agency ultimately scaled these ad campaigns by 15% to reach more people and drive more conversions.

The agency succeeded in increasing ROAS and lowering CPA, even considering the additional holiday season spend. Altogether, the campaigns drove 4.27 ROAS and over 200% more sales during the holiday season.

Over the course of three months, the agency reduced Retro Kids’ CPA by 31%. And on Facebook, the campaigns increased reach by 51%, increasing the brand’s visibility dramatically.

Ways to Optimize Your Social Media ROI

Concerned that your return from an average campaign is too low? With the ideas below, you can start optimizing the ROI of your paid and organic campaigns.

Check your tracking tools

If you’re tracking social media ROI manually, you could be wasting tons of time or leaving money on the table. Fortunately, you can streamline the process with Agorapulse. Our social media management solution can automatically track the revenue your campaigns generate.

All you have to do is connect your Google Analytics account to Agorapulse. Once you do, Agorapulse can pull in your site’s e-commerce and conversion data. That includes all the goals you’ve set up to track activity throughout your sales funnel.

While Google Analytics tracks conversions from all sources, Agorapulse focuses on the ones that come from social media. That means you can see the visitors, transactions, and revenue from your social channels with a quick glance.

You can also dig deeper into the data by viewing social media metrics by social channel. That means you can easily identify the channels that are driving the most website visitors or the highest e-commerce ROI .

Agorapulse also tracks ROI metrics by landing page and campaign. With this landing page data, you can quickly determine the layouts and designs that work best for your audience. With the campaign data, you can learn which offers create the highest ROI.

Split-test campaign elements

Once you’ve set up social media ROI tracking tools, you can analyze campaign results more effectively. Have you noticed that one of your campaigns is underperforming? Running an A/B test can help you identify and resolve the problem efficiently.

For organic Facebook posts, the process is simple. First, use Meta Business Suite to create an A/B test with up to four versions of your campaign post. In the link section for each post version, add a URL with unique UTM parameters .

You can create them with Google Analytics Campaign URL Builder . Let the A/B test run, and then review the results.

For Facebook ads, create an A/B test when you first publish a campaign or once it’s live. First, choose the variable you want to test—including creative, audience, or placement.

Then pick the metric to determine the winner—such as cost per click (CPC) or cost per purchase. When the test ends, consider scaling spend on the winning version.

Build a smarter sales funnel

Are your campaigns consistently generating low social media ROI ? The problem might be something bigger than your social media copy or creatives. Instead, your funnel may need some work.

To sell on social media, you typically need to lead potential customers through three stages.

• Awareness: Introduce your brand to potential customers and keep your brand top-of-mind with informative content.
• Consideration: Urge people to consider your brand by guiding them through your solutions or showing them how to use your products.
• Conversion: Encourage customers to make a purchase by offering them a discount or gifting them a free trial.

Does your social media content address all three of these stages effectively? If your social media content mainly focuses on conversion-related content like sales and coupons, it may be helpful to create more top-of-funnel content to warm up your prospects first.

Test new types of offers

Do you have a solid funnel but relatively low ROI? If potential customers engage with your awareness and consideration content but drop off after viewing your conversion content, your offer may be the problem.

Fortunately, there are plenty of offer types you can consider:

• Discounts and coupon codes
• Free trials and product demos
• Downloadable lead magnets
• Webinars and virtual events
• Free items with purchase

Test out the offer types that align best with your brand and your customers’ needs. You can use Agorapulse’s campaign tracking tools to monitor the results. When you create an organic post, open the tracker and configure the UTM parameters.

Once the post publishes, you can view results for the campaign on the ROI tab in your Agorapulse dashboard.

Update your target audiences

When you run organic campaigns, you can typically expect to reach some of your followers.

If they share your content, you may reach their friends, too. But when you run paid social campaigns, you get a lot more control over who you reach.

To optimize social media ROI, review your target audiences regularly to keep them fresh. For example, LinkedIn Campaign Manager has several options for retargeting people who have engaged with your content in various ways.

You can retarget people who interacted with your company page, your events, your ads, or your website. Have you been collecting leads on social media? You can also upload your lead list to LinkedIn so you can send targeted offers to prospects. Campaign Manager also supports lookalike audiences that allow you to reach more people similar to your best customers—which is a great way to boost ROI.

Wrapping Up What We Learned About Social Media ROI

Social media ROI is a critical metric to track. Whether you want to make better business decisions or prove the value of your work, ROI is key. Use the social media return on investment case study options above to develop a data-driven strategy and run more successful campaigns.

Check out our free trial of Agorapulse to help you get started on tracking your social media ROI. 

More from the blog

Social Media ROI Case Studies That Will Get You Excited About ROI

Kaspersky Streamlines Its Social Media Management With Agorapulse

Quimby Digital’s Shift From Sprout Social To Agorapulse

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Win More Clients

Case Studies: How Successful Advertising Agencies Win Clients

Updated January 2024.

Is your ad agency struggling to get leads? Advertising agency case studies are an excellent way to demonstrate your best work to prospective clients to generate more consultation requests.

Case studies not only demonstrate your expertise as an agency, but also provide potential clients with helpful details about what they can expect from working with your company.

In this article, I will explore what an advertising agency case study is, why it’s important and how you can create one that effectively communicates your agency’s value and expertise.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

What is an advertising agency case study, 1) single grain’s nextiva case study, 2) halo waypoint’s gears of war  gaming case study, 3) single grain’s twenty20 case study, 4) infidigit’s myntra seo case study, 5) inflow’s facebook advertising paid ads case study, benefits of advertising agency case studies, what to include in creative agency case studies, how to prepare your creative agency case study, last word on the advertising agency case study.

Their expertise has helped Nextiva grow its brand and overall business

A marketing agency case study  is a detailed analysis of an advertising campaign that an agency has developed and executed for a client. It typically includes information on the client’s business, goals and challenges, as well as the agency’s creative approach.

The case study may also discuss the challenges that the agency faced during the campaign and how they overcame them. They can provide valuable insights into the agency’s process and approach, as well as demonstrate the agency’s ability to deliver results for clients.

Advertising case studies are instrumental in your marketing kit, on your websites and for the sales team when they meet prospective clients.

5 Best Examples of an Advertising Agency Case Study That Rocked It

There are many great ad agency case study examples that showcase the effectiveness of different marketing campaigns, such as PPC ad strategies or content marketing strategies. Here are the best ad agency case study examples:

Nextiva provides robust IT solutions for businesses of all sizes. And though they were attracting leads, they wanted to optimize their ads for greater ROI — decreasing ad spend  while generating more qualified leads. They came to us at Single Grain for help with their social advertising.

Here are the strategies that Single Grain  implemented:

• Worked with Nextiva to determine what lead would provide optimal down-funnel performance
• Identified the most cost-efficient audience segments
• Created messaging and design specifically to appeal to the target audience
• Used their “best of test” methodology for optimizing Google Ads

With the help of our marketing agency, Nextiva was able to reduce their cost per lead by 41.37% year over year on Google Ads.

For CEO  Eric Siu , the pursuit of innovation is relentless. We’re continually exploring new frontiers in lead gen and other marketing strategies to ensure that what works wonders for us also delivers exceptional results for our clients.

Here he discusses how newsletters are awesome if you want to have an ‘owned’ audience and they’re great for driving paid ads to:

Sure, newsletters can be great if you are looking to sell ads. Plenty of examples with Morning Brew, The Hustle, etc. Sure they sold for ~$75M and ~$20M respectively but… Most people aren’t going to have the volume that they have in terms of subscribers. Here’s a different… — ericosiu (@ericosiu) November 26, 2023

Key takeaways:

• The portfolio presented the results in big fonts to make it easier for potential customers to read the achievements. Plus, the significant growth numbers were highlighted in bold for an easier understanding.

• Single Grain kept a minimalistic logo and a bolded headline that focused on the results.

Just want someone to do all the hard work for you? Single Grain’s advertising experts  can help.👇

Microsoft Game Studios hired Amp Agency  to develop and execute a digital marketing strategy for the launch of Halo 5: Guardians.

Amp Agency had a goal to prevent gaming enthusiasts from defecting to other competitors and engage them in playing Halo and Gears of War longer. Here are the strategies that Amp Agency used in the case study:

• Dedicated Website:  Amp created a new website specifically for Halo 5: Guardians , which was a hub for all of the game’s marketing materials. The website featured trailers, screenshots, other promotional content and links to pre-order the game.
• Social Media Campaigns: Amp Agency next ran several campaigns to build excitement around the game’s release. These campaigns included Twitter sweepstakes, where fans could win prizes by tweeting about the game; and a Facebook poll, where fans could vote on their favorite Halo character.
• Influencer Marketing:  Amp partnered with popular YouTubers and Twitch streamers to promote Halo 5: Guardians  to their audiences. The influencers  created gameplay videos and other content showcasing the game’s features and encouraged their followers to pre-order it.

The game sold over five million copies in its first three months, generating over $400 million in revenue. The social media campaigns created by Amp Agency were particularly successful, with the Twitter sweepstakes generating over 100,000 entries and the Facebook poll receiving over one million votes.

• The customer story insights featured the main product in the background to help readers understand the client’s product in great detail.

• The case study included stunning images, screenshots and graphics throughout the content for easier understanding of how the campaign was implemented.

Twenty20 disrupted the crowded stock visual media space with a major twist on a tried-and-true mode. They hired Single Grain to focus on the pillars that truly differentiate them from their competitors. Single Grain designed a powerful marketing process, including a robust content marketing strategy.

With the help of Single Grain, Twenty20 received more traffic volume  with the same consistency in revenue per session. They also witnessed an exponential growth in free trial volume with a significant reduction in their advertising cost.

• They added a video in the case study featuring Micah Cohen of Twenty20, who shared his opinions on the great work done by the Single Grain’s team.

• They also shared numbers and stats that emphasized the importance of the digital marketing service that Single Grain offered.

• The case study also featured a prominent CTA button for increasing the conversion rates.

The Infidigit SEO case study  for the Indian e-commerce store Myntra is another great example of an SEO campaign case study. By conducting comprehensive SEO audits and implementing SEO strategies at scale, Infidigit helped Myntra achieve a 187% increase in organic revenue and a 150% increase in organic visits.

• The case study website features a hero image with a smiling face, which is known to increase conversion rates.

• They effectively added internal links to other case studies from the right sidebar to lower the bounce rate of the page and to drive people to more pages on the site for maximum conversions.

• They added exact screenshots of the target keyword and the SERPs, which displayed the keyword ranking at the top of the organic search.

• They used bright orange-red as the CTA button color in a bid to attract more clicks.

Dive Deeper: We Refreshed 15 Posts on 3 SaaS Blogs – And Increased Organic Traffic on All

B2C brand Seltzer Goods approached Inflow  to market their service. Inflow used Facebook  as an advertising investment channel to promote their service. With intelligent ad targeting, the brand was able to acquire a 9.68x return on ad spend and a 785% increase in monthly revenue. Moreover, they achieved a $4.87 cost per customer acquisition, which was exceptional.

• They published the case study as a blog post, which helped to attract social shares.

• The post is comprehensive and explains the entire strategy and technology that they used to attract potential prospects and scale the brand’s growth. They leveraged data at every point to make it easier for the readers to understand how their campaign worked.
• They added actual ad creative screenshots to tell readers exactly how they used the branding and logo to engage the customers.

Inspired by these case studies but just don’t have the time to create a killer ad campaign? Single Grain’s advertising experts can help!👇

Case studies are vital in building your brand trust, as customers nowadays want to know about the first-hand experience of your services before hiring you. Here are the top benefits of ad agency case studies.

Assists the Sales Team

Case studies on the website are a significant help for the sales team as they can offer your business services to clients without great effort. There’s nothing like seeing the results of an ad campaign on paper, a document that prospects can read over and over again. Once the customer is satisfied with the case studies, it becomes easier for the sales team to close the deal, significantly enhancing your business productivity.

Showcases Proven Results and ROI

In the world of marketing and advertising, clients are inherently results-oriented, and they want to see tangible evidence that their investment is paying off. Case studies provide precisely that: They are data-driven examples showing improved ROI .

By presenting real-world examples of successful campaigns — complete with quantifiable data on increased leads, conversions or revenue — you’re no longer simply telling clients what you can do … you’re showing them. When a client can see the concrete impact of your work, they can more easily envision the benefits for their own business.

Builds Trust and Credibility With Potential Clients

In today’s ultra-competitive market, few things make a bigger impact on your ability to land new clients than trust. Remember, it isn’t just money you’re asking clients to hand over — it’s the very reputation of their company itself.

A few well-crafted case studies can go a long way in instilling potential clients with the confidence that their reputation is in safe hands. Meanwhile, being able to show genuine results with genuine clients also helps clients trust that you’re legitimate.

Enhances Brand Reputation and Authority

Sticking with the subject of reputation for a moment, the best case studies can play a crucial role in bolstering your own credibility and establishing authority in your field.

In a marketplace saturated with choices, a strong brand reputation is an invaluable asset. Not only is it useful for influencing a would-be client, but it can also make other companies in your industry sit up and take note, opening new doors for collaboration, rewards and peer recognition.

Provides Insights Into the Agency’s Problem-Solving Abilities

Those campaigns that may throw you a curveball or put up unforeseen obstacles can provide just as much good material for a compelling case study as those where everything runs smoothly. At least they do as long as your agency rises to the occasion.

Highlighting your ability to navigate challenges and still deliver effective solutions, a case study can serve to showcase your creativity, strategic thinking and ability to adapt. Ultimately, this can further reinforce that all-important sense of client trust, resulting in more leads and happy, long-term clients .

Acts as a Valuable Tool for Internal Training and Onboarding

Beyond their external benefits, your advertising agency case study examples provide a real-world, documented playbook that can be used to train new hires and continually educate existing team members.

Ultimately, this helps new employees to quickly grasp your agency’s approach and methodologies, while also ensuring that long-tenured members of your team stay on top of current best practices, successful strategies and how your company capitalizes on evolving trends .

Attracts Potential Talent by Showcasing the Agency’s Impactful Work

Going public with your case studies spreads the word about your agency’s creativity, effectiveness and innovation, helping you to catch the attention of top marketing and advertising talent.

Advertising professionals are drawn to agencies that can demonstrate not only a proven track record, but also a creative vision that aligns with their own. So, when you showcase that through a case study, you’re ultimately taking steps toward assembling an elite force of creative and skilled individuals who are motivated by the prospect of contributing to impactful projects.

Facilitates a Better Understanding of Market Trends and Client Needs

Case studies serve as more than just success stories; they also provide a valuable window into emerging market trends and the evolving needs of clients.

By examining the data and results showcased in case studies, you can identify patterns, emerging trends and shifts in consumer behavior, all of which help your team take a proactive approach to staying ahead of the game in an ever-changing market.

Serves as a Reference Point for Future Campaigns and Strategies

Case studies provide a documented record of what worked and what didn’t in previous campaigns, serving as a valuable resource for advertising strategists and creatives alike. Using an advertising case study as a learning tool can help you identify which strategies and techniques to deploy in future and which mistakes to avoid at all costs.

Dive Deeper: * 9 Examples of Storytelling Marketing to Inspire Your Next Campaign * The Complete Guide to Brand Building (Must-Read for Digital Marketers) * How to Conduct Smart Competitor Research for Better Customer Acquisition

Here are the key elements to include in your case studies to persuade your potential customers to choose your brand over others.

• Title: Begin with a strong yet concise and results-orientated title that outlines what you did and who you did it for. The goal here is to captivate your audience and compel them to dive into your case study. So, think about who you’re trying to attract with this work and what would appeal to them.
• Client Overview: Provide a brief introduction to the client, including their industry, size and any relevant background information. This is crucial as it helps potential clients see themselves in your past clients, making it easier for them to relate to the story being told and recognize your company as the right fit for their specific needs and challenges.
• Challenge: Next, explain the specific problem that your client faced. This sets the stage for the reader to not only understand the onset of the case study, but also further helps a potential client to empathize with the issues they’re currently up against in their own business.
• Objectives: Here, you need to be talking about the client’s desired results. Why did they hire your services? What goals and outcomes did they want to achieve? What were their expectations and how did you plan to meet them?
• Strategy:  Once tasked with your objective, your next task is to devise a strategy to achieve it. You can use this next part of your case study to describe precisely what that was, detailing the creative and tactical steps you planned to take to overcome obstacles and achieve results.
• Execution: The execution portion of your case study should provide a step-by-step account of how your agency executed the campaign. Be sure to include details about any challenging circumstances you encountered and how you overcame them, along with the reasoning behind your methodology.
• Results:  Results are what matter most to clients, so it’s important to get this step right. Present the quantifiable results of your campaign using accurate, verifiable figures to detail how the campaign performed against your KPIs.
• Testimonials: By now, you’ve talked a lot about your company and what you did, but readers are yet to hear from your clients. Address this by including feedback from the client on their experience of working with you. An authentic testimonial can provide a huge boon to your agency’s credibility and could well be the factor that seals the deal with a potential new client.
• Lessons Learned: As you begin to wrap things up, take some time to reflect on the challenges faced during the campaign and the lessons that you and your team learned, noting how it improved the way you provide your company’s services and made you a better agency that is well equipped to meet the needs of new clients.
• Visuals: As with any kind of content marketing, visuals such as images, infographics, charts and videos help to break up the content and make it easier to digest, while also reinforcing the important messages running throughout your case study.
• Internal Links: As you work your way through your case study, pay attention to opportunities to link to other work on your website. Not only does internal linking help boost your website traffic, it also gives you an ideal way to provide further evidence of your experience and expertise.
• Call to Action: If the whole point of your case study is to serve as a compelling lead magnet, it makes sense that you’ll need to end it with an equally compelling CTA that encourages readers to follow up by getting in touch with you for a free consultation.

More Posts About Case Studies: * 4 Facebook Ads E-commerce Case Studies that Increased ROAS * 7 Amazon Advertising Case Studies that Showcase Top Strategies * Best Programmatic Advertising Case Studies for Exceptional ROAS

Creative agency case studies are instrumental in enhancing sales and maximizing conversion rates. They efficiently provide readers with real-life examples of how your agency helps clients achieve their business goals.

Here are the steps to create an exceptional case study for your business.

• Identify a Successful Campaign or Project: The first step in creating a compelling case study is to identify a successful project where your agency could showcase its expertise. The project should showcase your agency’s creativity, problem-solving abilities and results achieved for the client (the more impressive, the better).
• Obtain Client Permission to Feature Their Case: Some campaigns immediately stand out as being ideal for a case study, but you’ll need to achieve the client’s consent before you can begin bragging about the amazing work you did for them. Make your request clear and concise, explaining the benefits of featuring their company in your case study while also addressing any concerns they may have with regard to confidentiality and branding.
• Define the Main Challenge or Problem Faced by the Client: A good case study should read like a story , and for any story to be truly gripping, its protagonists (in this instance, your agency and the company you worked for) need a challenge to overcome. So, use this opportunity to detail what that challenge was and why your client chose you to overcome it.
• Outline the Objectives Set for the Campaign: Here, consider the goals and metrics your clients wanted you to focus on. What outcomes were they looking for? What specific requirements did they provide you with that made this campaign particularly interesting or unique?
• Describe the Strategy Developed to Address the Challenge:  At this stage, saying “So, we devised a strategy to achieve that objective” isn’t going to cut it. Be specific in describing the strategy you devised, the reasoning behind key decisions and creative ideas, and why you believed this to be the best approach for the brands you work with.
• Detail the Execution of the Campaign or Project: Providing as much value as you can about the actions you took to execute a campaign gives readers an insight into the way you work, helping them to understand if your agency is a good fit for them while also demonstrating your ability to overcome challenges.
• Gather and Analyze Results and Outcomes: Collect as much data as possible about the project, including the client’s brief, your agency’s strategy and approach, the creative process and the results. Speak to both your client and employees involved in the project to gather their insights and feedback.
• Collect Testimonials or Feedback From the Client: Strong testimonials serve as solid, first-hand validation of your agency’s ability and a reflection on what it’s like to work with you from the client’s perspective, both of which make a big difference when it comes to converting case study readers into qualified leads.
• Highlight Your Unique Selling Points:  In your case study, you should highlight your agency’s unique selling points and what sets you apart from competitors. Focus on the specific strengths demonstrated in the project, such as your creativity, strategic thinking or ability to deliver results.
• Incorporate Relevant Visuals and Graphics: Eye-catching visuals not only make your case study more attractive and easier to read, but they can also illustrate key points and help you put your campaign results front and center.
• Write and Structure the Case Study Content: A well-structured case study should include the following sections: introduction, problem statement, strategy and approach, creative process, results achieved and conclusion. Use a clear and concise writing style, and make sure to include visuals such as images, graphics or videos to support your story.
• Review and Edit for Clarity and Accuracy: By now, you’ve invested a lot of time and energy in creating your case study, so the last thing you want is for all that hard work to be wasted due to a few overlooked mistakes that threaten to tarnish your reputation. Reviewing and editing the case study for clarity and accuracy ensures that the content is concise, error-free and easy for readers to comprehend.
• Publish and Promote the Case Study on Relevant Platforms : Once your ad agency case study is live on your website, your next task is to identify the most effective channels to get it in front of your target audience. Whether that’s social media, your email list or a blog post, the more you can do to maximize the reach of your case study, the more potential clients you can reach and the more likely you are to get the leads, website traffic or brand recognition you were hoping for.

Learn how to write a case study with this detailed guide: How to Write a Case Study that Converts Prospective Buyers into Customers

To produce a successful creative agency case study, it’s important to focus on the key elements that will make it engaging and informative. This includes providing a clear overview of the client and the challenges they faced, outlining your thought-process tactics and presenting your results in a compelling way. Most importantly, don’t just present dry facts and numbers; tell the client’s story .

If you’re ready to level up your business with ads that convert with the best ROAS, Single Grain’s advertising experts  can help.👇

Advertising agency case study faqs.

Here are the steps involved in writing a case study for a marketing agency:

• Choose a client and a project.
• Collect information about the project.
• Create a structure for the case study.
• Write the case study, emphasizing your company’s strengths and expertise.
• Include quotes from the client to highlight their satisfaction.
• Edit and proofread the case study thoroughly.
• Publish and promote the case study to illustrate the company’s expertise.
• Tailor the case study to your target audience, using visuals and language that resonate with them.

An exceptional case study that refers customers and generates more leads includes:

• A brief introduction
• Strategies used in the case study

To choose the right advertising agency for your business, consider the agency’s experience, expertise, track record and client portfolio. Look for an advertising company with experience in your field that can demonstrate its ability to deliver results.

Working with an advertising agency can offer several benefits, including access to expertise and resources that may need to be available in house, the ability to develop and execute effective marketing campaigns, and the potential to save time and money by outsourcing marketing functions.

Case studies can come in various forms across different fields, each providing an in-depth analysis of a specific instance, event, individual, group, or organization. Here are some examples:

• A study of how a small company successfully entered a competitive market using innovative marketing strategies.
• An analysis of a major corporation’s turnaround from financial struggles to profitability, highlighting the management and operational changes made.
• Detailed documentation of a patient’s rare medical condition, treatment plan, and outcomes to contribute to medical knowledge.
• An examination of a public health intervention in a community that led to significant changes in health behaviors.
• A study of an individual’s unique behavioral or mental health condition, providing insights into psychological theories or disorders.
• An analysis of social dynamics within a specific community following a major event or change.
• A case study on the implementation and impact of a new teaching method or educational technology in a classroom or school.
• An investigation into the long-term effects of early childhood education programs in different socio-economic groups.

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IN Advertising Best Social Media Platforms for Advertising (It’s Not What You Think) BY Eric Siu Explore the best social media platforms for advertising this year, with insights on ROI and strategic ad placements for maximum impact. Read Article

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35 Content Marketing Statistics You Should Know

Stay informed with the latest content marketing statistics. Discover how optimized content can elevate your digital marketing efforts.

Content continues to sit atop the list of priorities in most marketing strategies, and there is plenty of evidence to support the reasoning.

Simply put, content marketing is crucial to any digital marketing strategy, whether running a small local business or a large multinational corporation.

After all, content in its many and evolving forms is indisputably the very lifeblood upon which the web and social media are based.

Modern SEO has effectively become optimized content marketing for all intents and purposes.

This is when Google demands and rewards businesses that create content demonstrating experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (E-E-A-T) for their customers – content that answers all of the questions consumers may have about their services, products, or business in general.

Content marketing involves creating and sharing helpful, relevant, entertaining, and consistent content in various text, image, video, and audio-based formats to the plethora of traditional and online channels available to modern marketers.

The primary focus should be on attracting and retaining a clearly defined audience, with the ultimate goal of driving profitable customer action.

Different types of content can and should be created for each stage of a customer’s journey .

Some content, like blogs or how-to videos, are informative or educational. Meanwhile, other content, like promotional campaign landing pages , gets to the point of enticing prospective customers to buy.

But with so much content being produced and shared every day, it’s important to stay updated on the latest trends and best practices in content marketing to keep pace and understand what strategies may be most effective.

Never has this been more true than in 2024, when we’re in the midst of a content revolution led by generative AI , which some feel represents both an opportunity and a threat to marketers.

To help you keep up, here are 35 content marketing statistics I think you should know:

Content Marketing Usage

How many businesses are leveraging content marketing, and how are they planning to find success?

• According to the Content Marketing Institute (CMI), 73% of B2B marketers, and 70% of B2C marketers use content marketing as part of their overall marketing strategy.
• 97% of marketers surveyed by Semrush achieved success with their content marketing in 2023.
• A B2B Content Marketing Study conducted by CMI found that 40% of B2B marketers have a documented content marketing strategy; 33% have a strategy, but it’s not documented, and 27% have no strategy.
• Half of the surveyed marketers by CMI said they outsource at least one content marketing activity.

Content Marketing Strategy

What strategies are content marketers using or finding to be most effective?

• 83% of marketers believe it’s more effective to create higher quality content less often. (Source: Hubspot)
• In a 2022 Statista Research Study of marketers worldwide, 62% of respondents emphasized the importance of being “always on” for their customers, while 23% viewed content-led communications as the most effective method for personalized targeting efforts.
• With the increased focus on AI-generated search engine results, 31% of B2B marketers say they are sharpening their focus on user intent/answering questions, 27% are creating more thought leadership content, and 22% are creating more conversational content. (Source: CMI)

Types Of Content

Content marketing was synonymous with posting blogs, but the web and content have evolved into audio, video, interactive, and meta formats.

Here are a few stats on how the various types of content are trending and performing.

• Short-form video content, like TikTok and Instagram Reel, is the No. 1 content marketing format, offering the highest return on investment (ROI).
• 43% of marketers reported that original graphics (like infographics and illustrations) were the most effective type of visual content. (Source: Venngage)
• 72% of B2C marketers expected their organization to invest in video marketing in 2022. (Source: Content Marketing Institute – CMI)
• The State of Content Marketing: 2023 Global Report by Semrush reveals that articles containing at least one video tend to attract 70% more organic traffic than those without.
• Interactive content generates 52.6% more engagement compared to static content. On average, buyers spend 8.5 minutes viewing static content items and 13 minutes on interactive content items. (Source: Mediafly)

Content Creation

Creating helpful, unique, engaging content can be one of a marketer’s greatest challenges. However, innovative marketers are looking at generative AI as a tool to help ideate, create, edit, and analyze content quicker and more cost-effectively.

Here are some stats around content creation and just how quickly AI is changing the game.

• Generative AI reached over 100 million users just two months after ChatGPT’s launch. (Source: Search Engine Journal)
• A recent Ahrefs poll found that almost 80% of respondents had already adopted AI tools in their content marketing strategies.
• Marketers who are using AI said it helps most with brainstorming new topics ( 51%) , researching headlines and keywords (45%), and writing drafts (45%). (Source: CMI)
• Further, marketers polled by Hubspot said they save 2.5 hours per day using AI for content.

Content Distribution

It is not simply enough to create and publish content.

For a content strategy to be successful, it must include distributing content via the channels frequented by a business’s target audience.

• Facebook is still the dominant social channel for content distribution, but video-centric channels like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram are growing the fastest .  (Source: Hubspot)
• B2B marketers reported to CMI that LinkedIn was the most common and top-performing organic social media distribution channel at 84% by a healthy margin. All other channels came in under 30%.
• 80% of B2B marketers who use paid distribution use paid social media advertising. (Source: CMI)

Content Consumption

Once content reaches an audience, it’s important to understand how an audience consumes the content or takes action as a result.

• A 2023 Content Preferences Study by Demand Gen reveals that 62% of B2B buyers prefer practical content like case studies to inform their purchasing decisions, citing “a need for valid sources.”
• The same study also found that buyers tend to rely heavily on content when researching potential business solutions, with 46% reporting that they increased the amount of content they consumed during this time.
• In a recent post, blogger Ryan Robinson reports the average reader spends 37 seconds reading a blog.
• DemandGen’s survey participants also said they rely most on demos ( 62% ) and user reviews (55%) to gain valuable insights into how a solution will meet their needs.

Content Marketing Performance

One of the primary reasons content marketing has taken off is its ability to be measured, optimized, and tied to a return on investment.

• B2C marketers reported to CMI that the top three goals content marketing helps them to achieve are creating brand awareness, building trust, and educating their target audience.
• 87% of B2B marketers surveyed use content marketing successfully to generate leads.
• 56% of marketers who leverage blogging say it’s an effective tactic, and 10% say it generates the greatest return on investment (ROI).
• 94% of marketers said personalization boosts sales.

Content Marketing Budgets

Budget changes and the willingness to invest in specific marketing strategies are good indicators of how popular and effective these strategies are at a macro level.

The following stats certainly seem to indicate marketers have bought into the value of content.

• 61% of B2C marketers said their 2022 content marketing budget would exceed their 2021 budget.
• 22% of B2B marketers said they spent 50% or more of their total marketing budget on content marketing. Furthermore, 43% saw their content marketing budgets grow from 2020 to 2021, and 66% expected them to grow again in 2022.

Content Challenges

All forms of marketing come with challenges related to time, resources, expertise, and competition.

Recognizing and addressing these challenges head-on with well-thought-out strategies is the best way to overcome them and realize success.

• Top 3 content challenges included “attracting quality leads with content” ( 45% ), “creating more content faster” (38%), and “generating content ideas” (35%). (Source: Semrush’s The State of Content Marketing: 2023 Global Report)
• 44% of marketers polled for CMI’s 2022 B2B report highlighted the challenge of creating the right content for multi-level roles as their top concern. This replaced internal communication as the top challenge from the previous year.
• Changes to SEO/search algorithms ( 64% ), changes to social media algorithms (53%), and data management/analytics (48%) are also among the top concerns for B2C marketers.
• 47% of people are seeking downtime from internet-enabled devices due to digital fatigue.
• While generative AI has noted benefits, it also presents challenges for some marketers who fear it may replace them. In Hubspot’s study, 23% said they felt we should avoid using generative AI.
• Another challenge with AI is how quickly it has come onto the scene without giving organizations time to provide training or to create policies and procedures for its appropriate and legal use. According to CMI, when asked if their organizations have guidelines for using generative AI tools, 31% of marketers said yes, 61% said no, and 8% were unsure.

Time To Get Started

As you can clearly see and perhaps have already realized, content marketing can be a highly effective and cost-efficient way to generate leads, build brand awareness, and drive sales. Content, in its many formats, powers virtually all online interactions.

Generative AI is effectively helping to solve some of the time and resource challenges by acting as a turbo-powered marketing assistant, while also raising a few procedural concerns.

However, the demand for content remains strong.

Those willing to put in the work of building a documented content strategy and executing it – by producing, optimizing, distributing, and monitoring high-value, relevant, customer-centric content, with the help of AI or not – can reap significant business rewards.

More resources:

• 6 Ways To Humanize Your Content In The AI Era
• Interactive Content: 10 Types To Engage Your Audience
• B2B Lead Generation: Create Content That Converts

Featured Image: Deemak Daksina/Shutterstock 

Jeff has been helping organizations manage, measure and optimize their Web presences for over 20 years. He has deep knowledge ...

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