Why data is a key element to social advertising

With the 82% rise in ad-blocking software, marketers are increasingly re-allocating resources away from digital display ads and drawing their attention to social. If you do have a slice of marketing budget assigned to social advertising, the rewards may very well be fruitful, and it is data that can assist in supercharging this activity.

With effective tracking in place, variable testing to find your top converting channels, campaigns, audiences or content types can happen instantaneously.

Learn from your data

If you ask any digital marketer who specialises in concocting creative social ad campaigns, it is guaranteed that they will see data as the backbone to delivering success.

The beauty of social ads is that behavioural, demographic, performance and spend data is available in real time. As a result, optimisation and decision making can also be made in real time. Within 48 hours, you can get an idea of the best performing ad/social channel/device/content type and re-balance budgets accordingly.

As soon as you notice that one particular audience type, group of keywords or content format is not delivering the desired results, data empowers you to take action. It’s not good enough just to publish one or two ads and leave campaigns to run until your budget is spent. The key here is to test, learn from the data, and making optimisation decisions based on fact.

Human intelligence goes a long way

It’s far too simplistic to measure engagement rates and click-through rates, without knowing the ‘why’ behind your results. If you recognise that Twitter, for example, is more effective in converting leads (compared with LinkedIn, for example) think about why that might be. What else can be done in addition to re-allocating budget? What learnings can be made? Is there a particular piece of creative content that resonates better and is more effective in delivering those highly sought after leads? There is no room for complacency, and always room to learn and excel when it comes to enhancing your social ad campaigns.

When we talk about the importance of data in driving decision-making, it is worth bearing in mind that your audience is more than a click, an impression or a number. It is easy to lose sight of the needs of your target audience, when systematic data analysis and optimisation take place through a tool. That’s why, when mining your data, human intelligence is essential to extracting golden pieces of insight that will inform campaign strategy and ultimately drive conversion.

Latest Posts

The social media landscape has undergone another seismic shift, and brands that fail to recognise the growing trust gap between marketers and consumers risk being left behind – that’s according to Brandwatch’s 2026 State of Social report. Analysing 910 million online mentions, Brandwatch has found that brands…
Read More
Make social the engine room of growth I’m thrilled budgets are shifting to social; I’m less thrilled by the pressure on lean teams. The board isn’t being awkward, they’re being rational. They want growth. If social now commands a bigger slice of spend, the plumbing must match the promise.
Read More
TikTok has just announced the latest round of creators and organisations taking part in its “Change Makers” programme – and if you’re into content that actually makes a difference, this is something worth knowing about. At its core, the Change Makers programme is all…
Read More