What Star Wars teaches us about social advertising

Happy international Star Wars day! What started out as an obscure, low-budget sci-fi film in the late 1970s, has become a movie empire, capturing the imaginations of hundreds of millions of fans worldwide.

A few months ago, when we saw this day approaching in our calendar, we had the thought – the Star Wars story has a lot of similarities with the journey of a social advertiser. Whether you’re still a Padawan, or consider yourself a bit of a social ads Jedi master, let us inspire you to reach new galaxies far, far away!

Coming of age

Much like the Jedi, great social advertisers grow over time to become masters. You’re not born a social media master and neither are you born a Jedi! It takes years of training, years of Facebook Blueprint courses, and years of trial and error! It takes patience (unlike a teenage Anakin Skywalker!) and a willingness to iterate and move with what is a constantly changing discipline. Stick at it long enough and one day you too with be a social ads Jedi!

You have the power – how will you use it?

Just like the Jedi in Star Wars, you as a social advertiser have the power to save the day for your company. Swooping in out of nowhere when all seems lost, you save the day (on a weekly basis) generating leads, building amazing awareness for your company’s products and services and driving action from social media users! You are your company’s Jedi, but how will you use your power?

Here’s a pointer to help you grow the social rebellion in your organisation:

• Bring people along for the ride: in many organisations, your role as a performance marketer might not be well understood. Find out what key drivers your organisation is interested in and actively show them how your work contributes. That way you’re bringing people into the light and training new social media padawan!

Use the force, Luke!

The tools available to social advertisers are like a super power. Great social advertisers know how to leverage the force of automation, analytics and reporting tools to drive the results their organisations are after. For our clients, the Paragone Helicopter view and Automation Center act as guiding lights, leading them to social ads campaign success over and over again. Social Ad Jedi also have the ability to mix gut feeling with testing, continually optimizing and taking their campaigns to the next level. They sense when something in their campaigns is not working and quickly pivot to make the most of new opportunities.

Courage

Much like Luke, Princess Leia, Yoda and Han Solo, great social advertisers take courage in the face of calamity! KPIs not tracking so well this week? Campaigns feeling a little stale? Great social advertisers try something new. They build a new audience or get a little more creative with their targeting (a little like our client Burda Direct Interactive GmbH did in this success story) or try a new innovative ad format (just like our client Social.Lab with carousel ads in Instagram Stories). And what if that courage doesn’t pay off? The social ads Jedi dusts themselves off, regroups and courageously gives it another go!