Sportsworks Paid Social Media Campaign
This case study outlines the steps I took to design and structure a paid social media campaign for Sportworks in Facebook Ads Manager. Through this process, I explored how small businesses can use paid advertising to expand their reach and strengthen audience engagement.
The Problem
The Solution
Small businesses often struggle to maximize the effectiveness of paid social media campaigns due to limited budgets, a lack of platform expertise, and difficulty targeting the right audience.
Sportworks is a small, single-location business with limited brand awareness beyond its immediate community. They needed a cost-effective way to reach new customers and increase website traffic.
I created a paid campaign framework for Sportsworks in Facebook Ads Manager. The framework defines clear objectives, identifies a precise target audience, and optimizes budget allocation to maximize impact.
1. Defining Objectives
Drive website traffic to increase brand awareness and introduce more potential customers to their sporting goods
Increased traffic means more potential sporting goods shoppers, leading to higher engagement and, ultimately, more sales
2. Identifying Target Audience
Households within 20 miles of Duxbury
Middle- to high-income families with student athletes (middle school through college)
Interests: skiing, baseball, tennis, running, and other sports
Behaviors: shopping for sports gear, engaging with local athletic organizations
3. Budget Strategy
Monthly budget: $500–$1,000
$15–$35 per day, which means an average of $20 spent per day of the campaign.
Designed for cost efficiency while testing creative variations
4. Success Metrics
Cost per landing page view goal: ≤ $2
CPC goal: $0.50–$1.50
CPM goal: $8–$15
5. Ad Placements
Last but not least, it’s time to determine the ad placements of the social media campaign. Sportwork’s ads should be posted on both Meta platforms (Facebook and Instagram) to reach the most success.
Facebook: Parents and coaches (ages 30–55)
Instagram: Athletes and younger users (ages 18–34)
By using both platforms, Sportworks can target decision-making parents on Facebook and trend-conscious athletes on Instagram.
Here is a sample ad preview of what a Sportworks ad would look like on Facebook and Instagram. Since the campaign has an objective to drive traffic to the website, a link to the Sportworks website will be displayed on all ads.
Next Steps
Looking ahead, Sportworks has several opportunities to strengthen and expand its paid social media efforts. By introducing retargeting campaigns, the brand can convert engaged website visitors into paying customers.
Testing new ad formats such as video, reels, and carousel ads will help boost engagement and capture attention in different ways. As performance data accumulates, Sportworks can gradually increase its budget toward the audiences and placements that deliver the strongest results.
Building lookalike audiences from existing website visitors and engaged users will also allow the business to extend its reach beyond the Duxbury community.
Finally, once consistent traffic is established, Sportworks can shift from traffic-focused campaigns to conversion-focused objectives, enabling them to directly drive sales and measurable return on investment.