Whether it is for clicks, video views, page likes, or post engagements, cost per outcome – CPO – is an important measurement of the effectiveness of your marketing dollars associated with your objective. The closer your CPO approaches $0.01, the more value your dollars are bringing to your marketing efforts. Here are four ways to keep your cost down as you set out to start your campaign:

1. Market research

Performing a quick business assessment ahead of time will provide you with a clarity of purpose that will make creating your campaigns a much easier task later. Some questions to ask:

  • What is it about my business that attracts customers? What are my strengths and my weaknesses, and how can I emphasize my strengths in a way that will interest customers and set me apart from my competitors?
  • What are the opportunities and threats in my market? What are my competitors doing to engage their potential clients? Are they effective?

2. Segment targeting

It will take less time to create a single campaign that targets your entire audience. In this case, slow and steady wins the race – avoid targeting your entire audience and instead launch separate campaigns for each market segment. By segmenting your audience, you can tailor your content in a way that will be engaging and meaningful.

Your market can be segmented in two ways:

  • Demographics such as age, gender, location, or occupation.
  • Psychographics such as purchasing behavior, world views, or interests.

3. Multivariate testing

Multivariate testing – also known as A/B testing – is a great way to measure delivery for future campaigns. Within each campaign, create slight variations to the same content. Some examples include swapping out one image for another, making adjustments to the title copy, or replacing an image with a video.

4. Performance adjusting

Social media marketing does not lend itself to fire-and-forget tactics. Check your campaign on a regular basis that makes sense for your campaign’s duration. For example, if your campaign is active only for one day, check it hourly. If your campaign will be active for a week or more, check its daily performance.

If you’ve cast your line and there doesn’t seem to be any fish biting, reel it back in, make adjustments to your bait and tackle, and cast again.