Donor recruitment is always a top priority at blood centers. But you only have so much money to spend on your marketing and advertising campaigns. Should you focus on traditional media like billboards or radio ads, or turn to digital campaigns like social media marketing?
You may call us biased, but at Incept Saves, we believe in the power of digital marketing for blood centers. Using social media and a multi-channel strategy can help you bring in more donors and do more with your budget. Let’s get into the details and discuss why targeting social media is more effective than using traditional media to recruit new blood donors.
You Can Target Your Audience With Laser Focus
Traditional media has some audience targeting potential. For example, you could put a billboard up on a college campus if you wanted to recruit students. Or, if you wanted to target a certain area of your town, you could put an ad in a local magazine or newspaper.
But when it comes to targeting specific demographics, social media blows traditional media away. Social media platforms collect tons of data about their users, and you can use this demographic data to recruit donors with unbeatable precision. Let’s just take Facebook as an example. They allow you to set who sees your ads based on dozens of parameters, including but not limited to:
Age
Location
Gender
Education level
Language
Income level
Relationship status
Hobbies
This means that you can identify the exact audience that you want to reach with your ads – reducing unnecessary ad spend and increasing the effectiveness of your marketing campaign.
Another benefit is that you can easily design ads and content for different demographics and age groups. For example, you can easily create two different ad campaigns. One could be served to Gen Z donors, while the other could target an older audience like Baby Boomers.
Targeting Multiple Social Platforms Helps You Expand Your Reach
Social media isn’t “one size fits all.” There are lots of platforms you can use to recruit new blood donors. And beyond that, there are different types of ad campaigns you can run – paid ads, sponsored content, native ads, promoted posts, influencer partnerships, video ads, and more.
Again, this gives you lots of ways to hone in on the right audience. Gen Z and younger millennials, for example, are more likely to spend time on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram. On the other hand, older social media users are more active on X (Twitter) and Facebook.
You’ll Be Able To Measure (And Improve) Each Campaign’s Success Rate
When it comes to measuring the success of a billboard or radio ad, there’s only so much you can do. It’s hard to collect firm data about the ROI of traditional marketing methods. Surveys are an option, but survey response rates are usually between 10% and 30%, and running surveys can be complex and expensive.
This is not the case with social media. Today’s social media platforms include tons of tools that help you track consumer behavior. For example, Meta Pixel lets you automatically track when a potential donor visits your website from a Facebook or Instagram post. It also lets you collect information like how long they spend on your site, which pages they click, and more.
With today’s social media tools, it’s easy to collect data like conversion rates, total impressions, ROI, and other data-driven metrics. In turn, this information lets you see how your current campaigns are doing – and make changes that will make future ads and promoted posts even more effective.
You’ll Pay Pennies On The Dollar Compared To Traditional Media Buys
The final benefit of social media marketing is that it’s a lot cheaper. We understand that blood centers don’t always have a huge marketing budget. It’s important to make the most of your money and stretch your dollar as far as you can. Social media marketing is ideal for this.
According to one study, the CPM (cost per 1000 impressions) of social media ads is about $3. In contrast, the CPM for a low-priced radio ad is between $25-$30. Of course, these numbers can vary based on your market and ad type, but the fact remains that social media allows you to reach more potential donors for a lower overall price.
Do More Good With Your Marketing Budget – Incept Saves Can Help
At Incept Saves, we’re experts in digital marketing for blood donation centers. If you’d like to step up your social media marketing efforts but you’re not sure where to start, our team is standing by to guide you. So don’t go it alone. Contact us now to schedule a consultation and see how we can help you attract more donors to your facility.