Paying for Advertisements that People Actually See?
What is Paid Social?
I swear every time I say I am considering getting a product, I log into Facebook and the product pops up in an advertisement. Crazy! In my last blog we introduced Organic social media with the example of Peloton, today we are introducing Paid Social media. Paid social media is a method of displaying advertisements or sponsored marketing messages on popular social media platforms such as Facebook and targeting a specific sub-audience. Some examples of this is pay-per-click advertising, branded or influencer-generated content, and display ads.
Every social media channel is different. Twitter offers short-form content, Instagram focuses heavily on visual-based content, Facebook has its own marketplace, and LinkedIn is the home of networking professionals. Each company should figure out what paid marketing channel is best for their target audience. Paid social media on each platform differs, depending on the campaign and audience. A paid social media strategy involves using the ad tools native to social media channels to create, schedule, and post targeted ads that will reach your intended market. Strategies might look a little different based on the target market.
Why Should businesses Invest in Paid Social?
Organic reach on social networks is great but sometimes it doesn’t reach the right audience or isn’t producing results that parallel your goals, paid social media advertising should be Iamain advocate for companies. Businesses of all sizes are converting to change their social media strategies to include paid media. I will be listing 5 ways paying for social media advances your business.
- Amplifies Your Reach: Advertising on social media gives your brand instant visibility. Posts from friends and family now receive priority, so organic reach for brands on social media is decaling suddenly. Paid ads are guaranteed a place in the user’s feed. Despite the noise of the larger social platform, this gives you a direct window to drive leads, website traffic, and sales.
- Fits in Any Budget: Paid social media advertising is a cost-effective way to promote your business. Each platform uses the pay-per-click (PPC) payment model. This means that you pay only if the user takes the action you want. Unlike conventional advertising, this lets you engage with niche markets at a discount.
- Enhance Your Targeting: Paid advertising on social media gives you complete control over who sees your ad. Each platform offers a surplus of targeting tools. Beyond basic user demographics, you can choose from psychographic factors such as interests, hobbies, personality types, and more. Uploading a list of contacts to target or create a lookalike audience that resembles your existing contacts. This is a powerful way to both expand and engage your ideal audience at once.
- Boost Brand Awareness: Social media advertising is a cost-effective way to create exposure for your brand. If your business appears in the news feed regularly, people will start to recognize you. Recognition will enhance your credibility, plus drive engagement and purchasing behavior. When generating awareness, paid ads that are both informative and memorable.
- Maximize your Content Marketing: Social media is an ideal way to distribute your best content. According to Sprout Social,
73.4% of users follow a brand because they’re interested in its product or service.
Promoting the curiosity of your followers with educational content that will transform them into qualified leads. Ads for content will help you to drive web traffic, boost engagement on social media, and much more.
Describing the Difference Between Core, Custom and Lookalike Audiences
One of the best parts of Paid Social is the ability to set specific audiences. Defined by Facebook there are different audiences that you can reach: Core Audiences, Custom Audiences, and Lookalike Audiences.
Core Audiences is defining an audience based on criteria like age, interests, geography and more. With Core Audiences, you set the rules for where your ads are delivered. Adjust your target audience to be as broad or well-defined as your company would like.
Custom Audiences is an ad targeting option that lets you find your existing audiences among people who are on Facebook. You can use various data sources to build your audiences, such as contact lists, website visitors, and App users.
Lookalike Audiences help you find people on Facebook who are similar to your customers or contacts. You can use an existing data source or a Custom Audience to build a Lookalike Audience. Facebook identify the common qualities of the people in it (for example, demographic information or interests). Then, we deliver your ad to an audience of people who are similar to (or "look like") them.
Facebook Ad Examples
I wanted to show you an example I made up to demonstrate paid social. I went into the Facebook Ad Manager to create a couple of ads in order to demonstrate the ways Paid Social could be used in the real world. My example was a pet cleaning company named Sudsy Fuzzy Doggo. Like most local business, word of mouth and social media goes a long way. I specifically just focused on Facebook because I feel that my target market would be families with furry friends, and the best way to get to that target market is through the parents. My mom and dad both love social Facebook, while I only use it to say happy birthday to my grandma.
The first ad I made was one that should promote the page and gain leads. The post just presented a picture of one of the dog grooming stations and our caption was out mission statement. This would be an example of a beginning post where we are just trying to promote that page and gain more customers. I would recommend using a Lookalike Audience in an attempt to find new users. Once we've reached these new people, our page would spread through their networks as them and their Friends like and share our page. Combining both paid social media and organic with word of mouth.
The next ad I created was to reach out to locals about a common problem in Bellingham, rain and mud puddles. This ad allows the customer to relate to the content and maybe engage with to come in and clean their pet. I would use Core Audience as the target because it is targeting people in Bellingham based on location. You can adjust the ad for your target audience to be as broad or well-defined as Sudsy Fuzzy Doggos would like.
Sooner or later everyone will have to embrace social media advertising. I would advise maximize your budget by targeting your audience with the right format and campaign type. What do you think?
Works Cited
“Business Help Center.” Facebook Business Help Center, www.facebook.com/business/help/164749007013531?id=401668390442328.
“Business Help Center.” Facebook Business Help Center, www.facebook.com/business/help/164749007013531?id=401668390442328.
“Facebook Advertising Targeting Options.” Facebook for Business, www.facebook.com/business/ads/ad-targeting#core_audiences.
Hartshorne, David. “A Short but Comprehensive Guide for Advertising on Social Media.” Sendible, www.sendible.com/insights/advertising-on-social-media.
“Log into Facebook.” Facebook, www.facebook.com/ad_center/create/websitead/?entry_point=www_consolidated_promote_button&page_id=102479768534067.