What is social media advertising?
Social media advertising is a digital marketing strategy that enables you to run paid advertisements on social media platforms. This strategy involves paying to promote content on social media sites to reach interested leads and get them to check out your business.
One of the biggest benefits of a paid advertising campaign on social media is that it lets you reach a much larger audience than the people who currently follow you. Your ads aren’t just shown to everybody, either (not unless you want them to). Social media networks know a lot about their users:
With that information, social media ad platforms let you target just about anyone you could want within reason. With social media ads, not only are you finding new audiences, you’re finding qualified audiences, the ones that will most likely be interested in your products and services.
What types of ads can I run?
Each of these advertising formats allows you to showcase your products or services in a way that’s most interesting to your audience. You can use video ads to explain your products or carousel ads to show off multiple services. When you combine the variety of ad formats with Facebook’s advanced targeting, it makes this ad platform a great option for your business.
Twitter lets you choose between two main ad formats: Automatic promoted tweets and Twitter Ad campaigns. Automatically promoting your tweets takes the first ten tweets you post in a day and promotes them to user feeds. Twitter Ad campaigns, on the other hand, let you customize your ad promotion and choose from a variety of campaign goals (such as clicks, followers, or downloads) to build brand awareness and boost leads.
Snapchat
What is Social Media Advertising?
Social networks utilize user information to serve highly relevant advertisements based on interactions within a specific platform. In many instances, when the target market aligns with the user demographics of a social platform, social advertising can provide huge increases in conversions and sales with lower cost of acquisition.
1. Run your ad campaigns manually.
Pros
Running an ad campaign manually gives you the freedom to invest 100% of your budget into testing out ads and finding the best ones, rather than spending extra money on ad management tools or agency fees.
Plus, taking charge of your own campaigns will inevitably allow you to develop an eye for advertising so that you can learn and improve your campaigns in the future. Instead of letting someone else do the work, you can become an expert yourself and be able to speak the language, even if you do end up hiring outside advertisers down the road.
Cons
Of course, becoming an advertising expert takes time and commitment, which means that the more time you invest in advertising is lost time in other areas of your business. Especially if you are a business owner, spending hours on end mastering advertising might not be conducive to a busy work schedule.
And just because you invest a lot of time in becoming an advertising expert does not mean that your ads will be successful. Especially if you’re just stepping into the advertising world, it may be a gamble to invest all that time and risk not getting the results you want.
Who it’s ideal for
If you’re operating on a tight budget and simply don’t have the means to hire an advertising agency, running your campaigns manually is your best bet — but unless you’re already a seasoned advertiser, you need to be willing to put in the time and effort to learn.
2. Run your ad campaigns via automated software.
Pros
Sometimes on-site ad managers aren’t the most user-friendly, but third-party tools like AdEspresso or Revealbot can make optimizing Facebook ad campaigns and analyzing results much simpler than using Facebook’s Ad Manager.
Cons
And just like manually running your own ad campaign, automated software still poses the risk of spending the money but not getting the results you want. Plus, since you aren’t controlling the entire campaign process, it might be more difficult to identify where the ads manager is falling short.
Who it’s ideal for
Creating a successful campaign is definitely achievable with automated software and minimal invested time, and for business owners with limited resources, this is likely the best option. However, for those who have the budget and want the best ad campaign possible, the easiest option is to turn to the professionals.
3. Hire a managed service to run your ad campaigns.
While this last option is often the most expensive, it’s also the simplest and will likely reap the most benefits. Rather than relying on your own expertise or automated software, hiring a professional is the most reliable option for achieving the results you want.
Pros
Of course, the most obvious advantage of hiring an advertising professional is that they know what they’re doing — it’s their job. As a result, the chances of you getting your desired results are much higher.
Cons
Who it’s ideal for
For those who have the budget to spend and are eager for immediate sales, hiring a managed service is the most ideal solution. And since social media advertising is easily measurable, if your ads aren’t performing up to your standards, then you know exactly who is responsible, and you can always hire a new and better agency.
Top of the Funnel (TOFU)
The top of the funnel is the awareness stage. This stage reaches the broadest, most general audience. TOFU ads should increase awareness and are likely the first impressions of your brand. At this stage, you are showing users that you can offer a solution to their problems.
Middle of the Funnel (MOFU)
The middle of the funnel is the consideration stage. Here, users are learning which solution or product best solves their problem. In this stage, they check out the options you provide them with and are considering how it can benefit them.
Bottom of the Funnel (BOFU)
The bottom of the funnel is the decision stage. At this point, your audience knows who you are, what solutions you offer, and which solution best fits their needs. At the bottom of the funnel, you need to explain why your product is the best solution that they’re going to find.
Consider all three stages of the funnel when mapping out your ads strategy. The ad copy and creatives should be geared towards the specific audience you are targeting. Within each stage of the funnel, you will need to create multiple variations of each ad creative and ad copy. Testing different combinations within your ad set will allow you to see which one is producing the best results.
If creating multiple variations of ad graphics sounds overwhelming, we have the solution for you. No Limit Creatives offers multiple graphics packages to suit your needs. With unlimited graphics and unlimited revisions, you are sure to get several winning assets that will capture the attention of your target audience and increase conversions. Click here to get started!
LinkedIn advertising costs
LinkedIn advertising: Bidding options
While many businesses focus their ad strategy on CPC, some do use CPS and CPO. If you’re looking to recruit applicants, for example, CPS and CPO can help your business reach top candidates and fill the opening. For lead generation, however, CPC is a go-to choice.
LinkedIn advertising: Professional management
For many companies, advertising on LinkedIn is a new adventure, which is why it’s helpful to partner with a social media advertising agency. With their experience, as well as advertising expertise, they can help your business build a campaign that allows you to hire top candidates, reach valuable leads, and more.
With a talented and award-winning team of more than 450 digital marketing specialists, WebFX removes the uncertainty, stress, and frustration that can come with advertising on social media. Plus, we partner you with a dedicated account manager, ensuring you always have a familiar point of contact.
Twitter advertising costs
Twitter advertising: Bidding options
While CPC works well for businesses advertising on Twitter, CPE also offers value. When people engage with your ad and your company, whether by commenting or retweeting, it demonstrates the importance of your ad campaign.
For example, that initial engagement can generate brand awareness. It can also result in future, organic interactions between your company and that user. As engagement increases, potential customers move through the buying funnel, which can result in a later purchase or new lead.
Twitter advertising: Professional management
While you can now exceed the 280-character limit on Twitter, that doesn’t change the challenge that comes with advertising on the network. If you want a campaign that makes the most of your social media advertising costs, professional management services can help.
With the hands-on approach of our social media specialists, your company receives a campaign tailored to you. Plus, you have a consistent point-of-contact for chatting about your strategy, reviewing your results, and more.
Unlike other social media advertising agencies, WebFX provides you with a partnership. We invest ourselves in your success and measure our performance by your results, which is one reason why our client recommendation score is 488% higher than the industry average.
Self-serving is de stap die veel uitgevers niet durven te zetten
Wat voor mij de essentie van online marketing is is iets wat ze bij social media adverteren heel goed hebben begrepen en uitgevoerd. Voor mij is online marketing namelijk de manier om mensen te helpen zelfstandig tot betere beslissingen te komen. Met social advertising kun je dit omdat je alles zelf volledig in de hand hebt. Je maakt zelf je advertentie, je bepaalt zelf je targeting, je bepaalt zelf hoe en hoeveel je wilt betalen en je bepaalt zelf wanneer je je campagne wilt optimaliseren of wilt beëindigen omdat je zelf de resultaten kan inzien op elk gewenst moment.
Dat is een stap die veel uitgevers niet durven zetten. De transparantie is er niet en daardoor blijven het logge bedrijven waar de commitment dermate hoog moet zijn voordat je instapt dat veel ondernemers kiezen voor het vrijblijvende karakter van social media adverteren.
Social media adverteren uitbesteden
Social media adverteren is keuzes maken. Er zijn zoveel mogelijkheden en daarom is het belangrijk om de juiste keuzes te maken. Wij doen dit al geruime tijd voor vele klanten. Hierdoor weten we exact hoe we het maximale rendement kunnen realiseren. Dit scheelt jou tijd en budget, want je hoeft het wiel niet zelf uit te vinden. Maak gebruik van onze expertise en bespaar op je faalkosten.
Wanneer je social media adverteren aan ons uitbesteed zorgen we er allereerst voor dat we de juiste doelgroep voor ogen hebben. Wanneer dit het geval is gaan we aan de slag met gesegmenteerde campagnes die de juiste snaar weten te raken bij deze doelgroepen. Om te zorgen dat je volledig op de hoogte blijft meten we alles en krijg je hiervan maandelijks een overzicht. Deze bespreken we dan ook gezamenlijk zodat voor iedereen helder is waar we staan en welke stappen we de komende periode gaan zetten.
Over de auteur
Deze blog is geschreven door de eigenaar van Marketing Outlaws. Hij is al ruim 15 jaar actief in de mediasector en kent de klappen van de zweep. Heeft ruim 100 websites opgezet en ondersteunt jaarlijkse vele klanten met advies over online marketing. Heeft diverse opleidingen en cursussen afgerond en certificaten behaald. Onder andere van Google en Nima. Het doel van elke online marketing inspanning is gericht op omzetgroei. Gamertag – Illegal Muffin –
Resources:
https://www.webfx.com/blog/social-media/what-is-social-media-advertising/
https://www.bigcommerce.com/blog/social-media-advertising/
https://nlc.com/social-media-advertising/
https://www.webfx.com/social-media/pricing/how-much-does-social-media-advertising-cost/
https://marketingoutlaws.nl/social-media-adverteren/