Advertisers are spending their money where the overwhelming majority of users are spending their time on soical media, survey of media buyers, a resounding 86% of those who intended to advertise in social media.

Some 39% and 36%, respectively, planned to advertise on Twitter and YouTube. LinkedIn was in the ad budgets of 21% of media buyers, while Google+ attracted spending from just 18%.

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• Allocate 90% of your budget to core strategic platforms and 10% to “test and learn.” Tests are at the heart of successful marketing innovation, but too much test-and-learn on second-tier networks is the kiss of death, Unless you establish clear budget guidelines, you’ll waste time and squander your attention on a crowd of small, “me too” social platforms with no ability to really move the needle. They simply don’t reach enough people, and whatever reach they offer is seldom unique; it’s easily duplicated on major platforms. Be disciplined, set limits for how much money and time you’ll spend on small platforms, and you’ll never fall victim to social media “shiny object syndrome.”

• Establish quantifiable goals. Before rolling out an ad-supported social media campaign, state your objectives up front: we expect 12,000 new Facebook fans, say, and 10,000 contest sign-ups, of which 9,000 will opt into our e-mail program. We expect 100 new buying customers, or leads tracked directly from social media links, and X number of brand impressions from news-feed activity and retweets. Every campaign has its vital signs; they could be votes, poll responses, game-plays, dollars donated to a cause, customer-uploaded content, tell-a-friend referrals, free sample requests. With experience, you’ll learn what to expect for ad cost, clickthrough, and conversion rate. You’ll be able to establish benchmarks for efficient cost per fan, cost per lead, and cost per order metrics. You can also set less tangible but still trackable goals: survey-driven customer satisfaction levels or brand awareness and usage, positive sentiment, brand mentions—before, during, and after the campaign.

Dollar you spend on social media advertising will come out of ome other marketing “bucket.” By setting up a fixed budget, establishing clear oals, tracking results, and redirecting funds based on performance, you’ll never e caught off balance by these three innocent questions from your boss:

• What are we spending on social media ads?
  *What are we geting for our money.
• Is that good?

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