Mastering Ads from Audience to Analytics

Dr. Kellie Emrich

Welcome to <em>The Social Prof Podcast</em>. <em>I’m </em><strong><em>Dr. Kellie Emrich</em></strong><em>, The Social Prof, and this podcast is designed to help you learn social media marketing. Now, let’s dive into today’s lesson, which is all about paid advertising on social media and how to get started and optimize your ads. First off, </em>for the love of a marketing budget, don’t just hit the “Boost” button and hope for the best. You gotta be strategic about what you spend money in social media. In todays, episode we will talk about the key steps for setting up paid ads. They include selecting an ad objective, selecting the audience, creating the ad, budgeting, utilizing analytics, and how to test your ads. I also have Jean, my Entrepreneur and small business marketing expert, who has used paid ads for years and will help us go through her strategies for paid ads. So Jean, get us started by telling us about setting the ad objective for these social media paid ads.

Jean Lamb

Sure, and I find that many people overlook this step or do not think it is important. So, the first step when creating an ad is to choose the ad Objective. Social media ad objectives are really the foundation. You’ll commonly see three big categories: awareness, consideration, and conversion. If you’re just introducing your brand or rolling out, say, a brand-new product, you want to pick “awareness”—your goal is getting in front of new eyes. With “consideration,” you’re nudging people to look closer—maybe getting them to watch a video, engage with a post, or fill out a lead form. And conversion is when you want people to take real action—such as a purchase, a download, or registering for an event. The important thing here is to pick the objective that aligns with your actual goal for the ad.

Dr. Kellie Emrich

So, if you’re trying to sell out your online yoga class and you pick “awareness,” you’ll get a lotta eyeballs and zero registrations. Been there, lost money on that. Ok, great, so really take time to be strategic about picking your ad objective. Now lets talk about finding the right audience. If you think your audience is “everyone,” your ad’s gonna flop, period. Seriously, you wouldn’t serve steak at a party full of vegetarians, right? Know who’s coming to your party! This is a critical step for all marketing strategies and my students hear me talk about specific target markets or buyer personas. Check out my podcast on target markets or buyer personas for specifics. If you do not yet have a target audience, define it before starting paid ads.

Jean Lamb

It’s common to think that casting a wide net means catching more customers, but targeted precision is much more cost-effective. For paid ads, each platform provides tools for defining audiences: demographics like age and location, interests and behaviors, and even people who’ve already engaged with your brand—like website visitors or email subscribers. Saving those audiences helps maintain consistency across campaigns. I also have to mention that now with AI, many platforms can find your audience for you . If you see this offered, I recommend testing it; everything I have heard so far indicates that AI-selected audiences can be very effective.

Dr. Kellie Emrich

Absolutely, Jean. Now that we know what we want—awareness, leads, sales—and we know how to find audiences, it’s time to build the ad content to catch attention and drive action. Think of each ad as a mini-billboard: you need a punchy headline, eye-catching visuals, crisp copy, and one very clear call-to-action. Your copy and visuals should always, always tell a consistent story that ties back to your brand values. That kind of alignment builds both trust and conversion. Every ad should focus on <strong>one action</strong>—not five. Begin your ad copy by speaking directly to your audience’s challenge, need, or desire. For example, instead of “We offer professional social media services…” Try “Struggling to get engagement on social media?” People stop scrolling when they feel <em>seen</em>.

Jean Lamb

Yes! and most people don’t read ads—they scan <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="http://them.Best">them. The best practices I have seen are, 1. </a>Short paragraphs 2. Simple sentences 3. One main idea per ad adn 4. Front-load important information. If your copy feels long, it probably is.<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="http://money.Now"> </a>I keep asking myself “Why should the audience care?”

Dr. Kellie Emrich

Thank you and these strategies are so important! I like to say focus on Benefits not Features. Features describe <em>what</em> you offer. Benefits explain <em>why it matters</em>.

Dr. Kellie Emrich

<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="http://money.Now">Time to talk about the money and budgeting! Many people panic here, </a> “How much should I spend?” Start small. Five dollars a day can teach you a lot and your first ads are <em>data collection</em>, not perfection. If you’re new, you do <strong>not</strong> need hundreds of dollars a day. Five to ten dollars per day is enough to: Test your message, See how your audience responds, and learn what works before scaling. Think of your early budget as <strong>tuition</strong>, not profit. I also see that beginners often want results <em>fast</em>, but speed is expensive. Daily budgets give you: More control, Time to make adjustments, and Fewer costly mistakes. I suggest running ads for 6-10 days tog et started. Campaign budgets are fine later—but when you’re learning, control beats automation.<strong> And Never Spend Your Entire Budget on One Ad. </strong>This is a big one. Always split your budget across: At least two ad creatives, or two audiences, or two headlines. Why? Because you don’t know what will work <em>until you test it</em>.

Jean Lamb

Yeah, and I love that you can measure all of this in real-time. When a headline flopped, we swapped it fast, and didn’t have to just!—waste time guessing. Alright, so you got awesome creative, your budget’s under control, now it’s time to get nerdy with the numbers. I love data and believe data is real power for marketers. I take time to analyze all my marketing efforts and made adjustment as needed. Because social media is real time and paid ads provides real time feedback that data is important. When I run an add I am constantly keeping an eye on it.

Dr. Kellie Emrich

Thats right. In paid social ads: even the smartest marketers never “set it and forget it.” Testing and analytics are where you earn your ROI. Start by running A/B tests—change just one variable at a time, whether it’s a headline, your image, or the CTA button. An <strong>A/B test</strong> (also called <strong>split testing</strong>) in social media advertising is a method used to compare <strong>two versions of an ad</strong> to see which one performs better. That single change lets you clearly see what works. Let the ads run simultaneously to the same audience and give them enough time to actually collect meaningful data. Turning your ad off after 24 hours doesn’t tell you much.

Jean Lamb

Totally, and you don’t need fancy tools to see wins. Focus on reach, engagement, click-through rates, conversions, and return on ad spend. Watch those numbers, not just the “likes.” Honestly, I used to obsess over likes till Dr. Emrich made me look at Views or conversion rates—thanks for that, by the way! You need to ask: Are people taking action you wanted them to? Are you getting leads? If not, tweak and try again. People get scared of tweaking—I get it, you want to believe in your first try, but data never lies.

Dr. Kellie Emrich

That’s right, Jean. And here’s something often overlooked: ongoing optimization. Even our best campaigns sometimes plateau. I remember a campaign where, just by adjusting ad copy and visuals after reviewing the metrics, we improved lead generation by 25%. So don’t fall for the myth that you set things up once and walk away. Audience preferences, platform algorithms—they’re all moving targets. Check your data frequently, pause or revise what’s not working, and use those winning elements in your future ads.

Jean Lamb

Couldn’t say it better! Success comes from staying curious, not “hoping and praying” your ads will work. So, if you’re listening and thinking, “But what if I mess up?”—good! Messing up means you’re testing, learning, and getting smarter each time. That’s how you build real results. And Dr. Emrich I always hear you say, "If you always do what you have always done, you always get what you have always got.

Dr. Kellie Emrich

Absolutely. Remember, optimization is continuous—there’s no final destination, just new opportunities to learn and improve. Social media marketing works, and together, we can make it work for you. At the end of the day, smart budgeting isn’t about spending more—it’s about spending <em>intentionally</em>. When you start small, test often, and let the data guide you, paid ads become far less scary—and far more effective. Thanks, Jean, and everyone for learning with me today. That is a wrap for now. Remember learning social media marketing isn’t about getting it perfect—it’s about understanding why things work. Keep learning, keep testing, and most importantly, enjoy building your skills. I’m Dr. Emrich, Until next time.