Social media advertising can open new doors for your business
Eyeballs. The goal of marketing has always been to get the products or services in front of the highest possible number of eyeballs to increase chances for success.
If you’ve been thinking about ways to grow your business, social ads may be worth considering. There are now 4.2 billion active social media users, that’s 8.4 billion eyeballs! There’s even better news. On average, each of those users will spend 2 hours and 25 minutes on social channels every day. Which basically means there is a 2.5 hour period when your prospects are ready and available to connect with your brand.
Social media has become a critical marketing channel for businesses of all sizes. A recent study found that over half of small-to-mid-sized businesses post on social media at least once a day, with 71% using it to market themselves. Social media provides businesses with a cost-effective way to reach out to potential and current customers, and its popularity will continue to grow. Statista predicts global social media users will reach 5.85B by 2027.
Reach More Customers
Attracting new customers is a difficult task for any business owner. If you don’t market your product or website, all the time you spent crafting it will be for nothing. Small businesses now have a level playing field with large companies when it comes to attention on social media. Like many other successful brands, you can encourage people to purchase from your brand by creating and posting interesting and engaging content on social media platforms.
Increase Brand Awareness
It’s been proven over and over again; a well-executed social media marketing strategy can lead to increased visibility for your business. When you create interesting, relevant content, people will share it with their followers, which will increase your reach and exposure. The more your brand is shown online, the more chances you have of people becoming familiar with it and eventually making a purchase.
Monitor Your Competition
Monitoring your competition is an important part of any business strategy. It helps you better understand the industry, see what kinds of marketing campaigns are working for other companies, and learn from their mistakes. Social media platforms make it incredibly easy for you to stay on top of your competitors’ marketing and communication efforts.
You should begin by taking an inventory of what platforms they are, and are not active on. Then, simply follow your competitors’ social media accounts on their most popular platforms. That way you’ll constantly be aware of what they are posting and how customers are reacting (or not). This is the perfect opportunity for you to learn from their successes, while improving your marketing efforts at the same time. Figure out what your competition is doing to succeed, and determine how you can do it better. If your competition is engaging with customers by using a lot of videos, try creating some videos yourself! You should also review the social platforms they are not on, and determine if there are any untapped opportunities for your business on these channels.
Owned, Earned, and Paid
Your business needs a holistic social media marketing plan that includes a strategic plan for communicating through your company’s owned, earned and paid social audiences. There are three types of social media audiences: those that are owned by the company, those that are earned through engagement, and those that are paid for through advertising. Each type of audience has its own set of benefits and drawbacks that should be considered when developing a social media strategy.
A comprehensive social media marketing plan helps you create goals and objectives for your social media communications, and determine which channels will work best for your company. Your plan should also include a content strategy that aligns with your overall marketing goals, and a way to measure success.
Cost-effective, Targeted Ads
Social media advertising can be a powerful way to reach your target audience and grow your business. They can help you generate leads and sales through social media, which is great for businesses that don’t have the budget for more traditional advertising methods. But social media platforms also make up a diverse, complicated, ever-changing landscape.
If you’re thinking about using social media for advertising, it’s important to understand the options available to you and how each approach can help or hurt your business.
TikTok
One way you can expand your reach is by advertising on one of the newest and hottest social media platforms, TikTok. TikTok is a social video platform that allows users to post videos of themselves lip-syncing and dancing to popular songs. The platform has already had over one billion downloads from the Google Play Store (and Apple’s App Store) alone, so there’s no doubt that this app isn’t teeming with eyeballs. It’s a great place to advertise if you’re trying to reach young adults and teens who are into singing and dance videos.
Starting back in 2020, more older users began to flock to the platform, but TikTok is still largely favored by Gen Z. A total of 31% of the platform’s users are 24-to-34-year-olds, according to Statista. While the 35-to-44-year-old demographic makes up about 13.1% of the TikTok audience.
There are several types of ads you can run with the TikTok ads platform, including in-feed video ads that appear among the native news feed of TikTok users on the “For You” page.
A brand takeover is an ad that allows you to dominate users’ opening screens with full-screen, high impact ads. These ads are very impactful because your message takes over the whole screen, although it only lasts for a few seconds.
An in-feed video ad then appears. TikTok rolled out Spark ads in 2021, giving brands the ability to sponsor popular organic content that relates to their products. Brands can place image ads in videos that appear via TikTok’s news feed apps: BuzzVideo, TopBuzz and Babe. Full-screen video ads that range from 5 to 60 seconds in length appear in a user’s “For You” feed. The Pangle video platform also integrates with TikTok to offer video, native, and banner ads. Carousel ads appear in TikTok’s news feed apps and can include up to 10 images.
Rewarded Video Ads are just as they sound — you pay for an ad, and when someone watches the whole thing, they can earn a reward. The rewards vary depending on what you choose them to be, but they usually range from in-app currency to extra lives in a game (like those found in Candy Crush Saga). Rewarded Video Ads are great for small businesses that want to capture people’s attention in order to sell them something like an extra life in a game or coins in Candy Crush Saga.
Facebook and Instagram
When you’re running a small business, it can be hard to stand out in the crowd. You may feel like you’ve exhausted all the traditional marketing options, and you may not be sure where to go next. Facebook and Instagram are two of the most popular social media platforms that businesses can use to advertise. Both platforms have millions of users, and with the right marketing strategy, you can reach the right audience for your business.
Facebook Ads
First let’s take a look at Facebook Ads, and see if it lives up to its reputation as a great way to reach target audiences. There are many different types of Facebook ads that your business can use to reach target audiences, but you can’t just pick any ad. Different ads are designed to present content in ways that are likely to lead to the desired conversion.
Some of the most popular types of Facebook ads include boosted posts, video ads, and carousel ads. Boosted posts are a great way to reach a larger audience with your content, and video ads are a great way to engage potential customers. Carousel ads are a great way to showcase multiple products or services in a single ad, and they can be very effective in driving sales.
Facebook image ads, also known as photo ads, include a still image, text or copy and a call to action (CTA). You can also turn an organic image post into an ad by paying to boost the post, or you can make dedicated ads for Facebook image ads. Image ads are popular because they are easy to create, and can also be eye-catching and quite effective at driving conversions. To create a successful image ad, select an engaging image that is relevant to your product or service and include a strong call to action.
Overall, video ads have been proven the most effective way to advertise on social media and this holds true for Facebook. Video ads can be used to educate and engage prospects, for a variety of products, services, and brands.
While video ads are eye-catching and can be very engaging, unfortunately, if you don’t know what you’re doing, video ads can also be very costly. Before you jump into video ads you should make sure you have a handle on the production and also understand how to target your audience correctly.
Instant Experience ads allow businesses to create ads that are designed to look like the business’s website or app, providing a seamless experience for users. This is a great way for businesses to promote their products or services on Facebook, and to reach a wider audience that’s readily available on the platform.
Facebook Instant Experiences are full-screen, multimedia ad types that deliver rich content to audiences. Instant Experiences combine several features and capabilities from multiple Facebook ad types, for instance users can swipe through carousels, watch videos, view images, click through to tagged products, and even tilt or pan their mobile device to view images and videos at different angles.
Facebook poll ads are a great way to engage with your audience and get feedback on your products or services. You can use poll ads to survey your customers on their buying habits, or to get feedback on a new product or service. Poll ads can also help to build brand awareness among new potential customers.
Carousel ads are a type of Stories ad that allows businesses to showcase multiple products or services in a single ad. Carousel ads are an effective way to promote multiple products or services in a single ad unit, and can be used to drive traffic to a business’s website or online store.
Facebook carousel ads are a great way to promote a product collection. With up to 10 images and/or videos in each carousel, each with its own unique link, carousel ads provide a format that users can click through to learn more about your products.
Slideshow ads are on the rise, with more and more businesses using them to promote their products and services. Slideshow ads are effective because they are eye-catching and can be easily shared on social media. Facebook takes your image ads and gathers all the files together in a slideshow video format. This Facebook ad type can help you leverage the power of video without requiring the extra budget to produce more videos which can save you time and money.
Collection ads are a new ad format that allows businesses to showcase a product catalog. Collection ads are available to all advertisers in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and France. Collection ads are a new way to reach potential customers on Facebook and Instagram.
Facebook collection ads can help you turn Facebook browsers into buyers. Facebook collection ads are designed to showcase multiple products in a single ad. Collection ads have a main featured image or video, and three smaller preview images that are shown beneath. If a user clicks on a collection ad, they will be taken to an Instant Experience.
Facebook lead ads can help your business collect leads from people who express interest in your products or services. Lead ads make it easy for people to sign up for your business’s newsletter or email list, request a quote, or sign up for a free trial – all without leaving the comfort and familiarity of their Facebook feed. Your prospects’ form fields are often prepopulated with correct info, and forms are designed to be completed quickly and easily. This makes it easy to collect leads and grow your list.
Dynamic Ads are a new way to advertise on Facebook. They allow you to show different ads to different people based on their interests and what they have already seen. This makes your ads more relevant to the people who see them, and more likely to get clicked on.
Connecting your store’s product catalog with your Facebook Events Manager and Facebook pixel via Facebook dynamic ads is a great way to increase your store’s visibility and potential sales. The same products that someone was looking at on your website will be featured in an ad when they log into Facebook. This makes the user feel as though the ad they see is incredibly personalized and relevant.
Messenger ads allow businesses to reach out to people directly, making it a powerful tool for marketing and customer support. Facebook Messenger ads are shown between Messenger Stories as well as in users’ chat tab. After clicking on your Messenger ad, a user will be taken to your chosen destination (your website, app, or a direct message to your Facebook page).
Facebook Stories ads show up in users’ Story feed. Before you say no way – check out these numbers. 73% Of US users say Stories help them experience new things, and 62% plan to use Stories more in the future. There are presently about 4 million advertisers using this option to connect with 500 million daily users. TBH, we find them a tad annoying but according to Facebook, people love Stories.
Remember a few years ago when Facebook made the huge announcement about acquiring the virtual reality platform, Oculus VR? Since that time, Facebook has unveiled an augmented reality interface that provides an interactive experience that combines computer-generated content with real-world images, video and sound. Facebook’s augmented reality ads are a new way for you to create immersive ad experiences for mobile users. When a user sees your augmented reality ad taps it, they receive instructions on how to interact with hotspots in the ad. Users can interact with ads to view and virtually explore products from new angles, providing a virtual version of the in-person shopping experience.
Instagram Ads
Instagram has three types of ads:
- Photo Ads. Create an image with a call-to-action button that users can click to learn more about your business.
- Video Ads. Create a video with a call-to-action button that users can click to learn more about your business.
- Carousel Ads. Create a series of photos or videos to tell a story or highlight different products or services in one ad unit.
Nearly every tip in this article regarding Facebook advertising can also be applied to Instagram advertising. Afterall, both platforms are owned by Meta. However, Instagram Shopping is one tool that is worth mentioning especially for eCommerce businesses and online stores.
A whooping 44% of Instagram users shop weekly on the platform. When your business adds the Shop tab to your Instagram profile, you’ll be able to create a shoppable product catalog on Instagram that you can link to from your posts, Stories and other content.
Twitter Advertising
Most people have heard of Google AdWords and Facebook advertising, but many aren’t familiar with Twitter Ads. It’s time to get up to speed! One of the best things about the Twitter platform is that it is actually very simple to use, and you can start your first campaign in just minutes.
Twitter Basics
Twitter is a platform for sharing short messages with anyone who follows you. Your tweets are like blog posts, so the goal is to get new followers and keep them engaged for as long as possible.
Twitter Ads, on the other hand, are a way to promote your business through sponsored posts. They’re similar to Facebook ads in that they are a form of pay-per-click advertising. Unlike Facebook ads, they’re seen by all kinds of people: existing customers who are logged into Twitter and active users on Twitter who follow you or your competitors.
Pinterest is a great platform to advertise on. It has a large user base and it is free. You can also create your own board or use one that already exists for your ad campaign.
There are two main ways to advertise on Pinterest:
- Promote an existing pin
- Create an ad with a link to your website or eCommerce store
With the right strategy and approach, Pinterest can be a powerful marketing tool for your business. It’s important to understand how Pinterest works and what makes it different from other social media platforms before you start advertising on it.
Conclusion
If you’re reading this article, you’re probably wondering: Is social media advertising right for my business? Social media advertising can be an effective way to reach your target audiences on personalized and engaging platforms. It’s also a cost-effective option if you want to reach new customers and boost sales.
Social media advertising can be beneficial for almost any type of business. It’s especially useful if you’re looking to:
- Attract new customers by targeting specific demographics
- Increase brand awareness and visibility
- Boost sales by targeting the right people at the right time
But, social media advertising is not right for every business.
Here are some questions to help you decide whether social media advertising is right for your business:
- Is my product or service unique?
- Is my product or service something people want?
- Do I have an existing audience of people who want what I’m selling?
- Can I afford it? (This includes both the cost of ads, production and placement expenses, and the time needed)
If your target market is on social media, then yes, social media advertising is right for your business. If not, then no — unless you have a plan to change that. For example, if you’re a restaurant owner who wants to reach diners with coupons or discounts, then Facebook and Instagram are good options because those channels are popular among foodies. But if you’re a dentist who wants to promote general health care tips and dental-related content, then Twitter might be better suited since it’s popular with millennials who want more information about their health than just teeth cleaning and fillings (although there are plenty of dentists on Twitter!).
If your target audience uses social media regularly (at least once a week), social media advertising can become a very effective marketing channel for your business. If your target audience does not use social media at all — or only occasionally — then no, it probably won’t be effective for reaching them through ads. But, you shouldn’t be quick to assume your target audience is not on social media. According to DataRepotal, 63.7 percent of the population, an estimated 210 million Americans, aged 13 and above say they use Facebook.
Social advertising can be daunting for even the most experienced social media marketers. It is no wonder. It’s a complex and intimidating marketing channel that requires a significant investment of time and energy to utilize correctly.
An experienced digital marketing agency will help you make the most of your advertising budget, while avoiding the common pitfalls that spell disaster for most businesses. An experienced agency will know how to maximize your budget to get the most results from social media marketing, which is a great way to reach out to potential customers.
