Ads Between the Memes: Using Paid Social Media

So, there's pay-per-click advertising, but what about paid social media? Well, paid social media has everything to do with those sponsored posts we see while scrolling our way through social media. This is a method used by firms to better home in on their target audience in a more deliberate fashion as opposed to organic social media posting. By creating and displaying advertisements or other sponsored messages on social media platforms such as Meta, Instagram, Twitter (X, ??), Snapchat etc., firms can better place their message in front of the right peoples' eyes.

Who are the 'Right People'?

Just creating a sponsored post and sending it out to the masses isn't enough in paid social media. Finding people who are the most receptive to your message and product is the most important step in the paid social journey.

So, how do we figure out who these 'right people' are?

Companies can use market research to understand who their audience is and what they want to make sure they are efficiently adverting and more importantly, not wasting money on useless promotions to people who aren't going to care. Understanding the marketing funnel and where certain users fall within it is crucial to effectively market to them through paid social. Search Engine Journal mentions three types of audiences that help firms distinguish how to interact with certain users to best communicate to them:

• Those who have never heard of their brand.
• Those who have previously engaged with their brand.
• Those who are ready to purchase.

By compartmentalizing a general audience into smaller segments, firms can best use their capital and resources on advertising in the right way to the right people to minimize their spending and maximize their performance.

How does Paid Social differ from Organic?

Using social media is a great and inexpensive way to communicate to an audience but using paid social media is a bit different. There are a few key points of difference that sets paid social apart from organic:

• Cost - duh, paid social is... well paid.
• Reach - while organic posting is mostly limited to followers, paid can reach a much larger audience even within certain segments.
• Metrics - paid social can provide detailed numbers around the performance of posts and other ads.

In the case of Future Motion, the creators of the OneWheel

Future Motion is the firm known for their unique Personal Electric Vehicle (PEV) the OneWheel which has already garnered its fair share of attention simply because of its differentiation from any other PEV's. They can be seen posting organically on multiple platforms but for the most part, are really more 'heard of' than really 'known about'. Well, what can they do to boost their viewership and ultimately their sales? Well, it's best for them to understand what exactly it is that they're selling and to whom. The Onewheel serves two main purposes: commuting and recreational riding. It seems that its best for them to market to those who either commute or love to ride board sports.

They could better gain attention through paid social media by creating curated messages to different segments of their target audience. For their audience who may use it to commute, they could create messages around how it makes commuting cheaper, faster and more fun. On the other side, they have the Onewheel racing league which caters to their recreational and competitive riders by bolstering a community of those who use Onewheels. Certain major events such as product sales, new releases and races are great opportunities to let people know through paid social media.

• New releases may grab the attention of those who have engaged previously.
• Sales/Discounts can reach those who are ready to buy.
• Races can introduce people who've never heard of the Onewheel to their products and the value they provide.

Another side to paid social media that is very effective is Influencer Marketing. This is something most of us have seen before from Kevin Hart in Chase Bank's promotions to Travis Scott having an entire concert in Fortnite. How Onewheel could and should use this strategy is by featuring a big name in the board sports community such as Shaun White or Tony Hawk in their promotions using and talking about the Onewheel to showcase its capabilities and shine it in a great light to viewers. This could not only boost their current viewership but invite many followers of those influencers who don't know about the OneWheel to better understand what it is and how it can help them either commute, have fun or both.

All in all,

Paid social media is a great tool for businesses to reach and communicate to their audiences it can and has helped companies stay on the map in the eyes of the public and will help many others do so in the future. They can boost performance among promotions in an efficient way while tracking metrics and helping businesses make informed decisions. Using paid social is helpful for finding new customers, retaining existing customers and ultimately driving sales because as marketers, we are obsessed with conversions.