Choosing your Marketing Objective

When setting up a social media ad campaign, one of the first steps is choosing your objective. This simply means deciding what you want your ad to achieve. Picking the right one makes all the difference.

Awareness – Use this if you’re brand new and just want people to know you exist. For example, a start-up dog grooming service could run an awareness campaign to introduce itself to local pet owners.

Traffic – Perfect if your goal is to drive people to your website, blog or online shop. A handmade jewellery brand might use this to bring potential customers to its Etsy store.

Engagement – Great for building community and sparking conversation. A yoga studio could use this to promote a free class event and encourage likes, shares and comments.

Leads – Choose this if you want to collect contact details. A mortgage advisor, for example, might run a lead campaign offering a free consultation in exchange for sign-ups.

Sales/Conversions – This one’s about action: purchases, bookings or sign-ups. A business selling used motorcycle parts could use conversion ads to turn browsers into buyers.

Match your objective to your actual business goal, not just what looks good on paper.