Your Guide to Paid Social
Social media isn’t what it was 10 years ago and it won’t be what it is now in 10 years. It’s constantly evolving to keep up with emerging technologies and consumer demand.
Social media users evolve with their favorite platforms, causing Social Media Marketing to adapt accordingly. But you know what’s never going to change?
The value of Paid Social. So long as these social networks are free to use, they’ll be supported by ads. People tend to invest in Paid Social for one of two reasons. Either to:
?? enhance their organic social media efforts
?? diversify their PPC initiatives
Either way, Paid Social is a great way to reach just about any audience, so I figured I’d make a comprehensive guide for all of the major social networks.
The Principles of PPC Advertising
The Principles of PPC (Pay-Per-Click) Advertising remain the same, whether you’re running ads Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn whatever! What sets the value of each social network apart often comes down to the:
???♂? types of consumers using them (think Instagram vs LinkedIn)
?? ways consumers are using them (think Instagram vs LinkedIn again)
?? degree of features available
Let me be clear.
There is no one-above-all Paid Social avenue. They all have pros and cons. Whether a particular Paid Social platform is right for your brand depends on your strategy, so for each major social network, I’ll be breaking down the following.
The Pros/Cons: what professionals generally like/dislike about each Paid Social platform
Contextual Rundown: how each social network is most commonly used, along with some of the more prominent demographics among users.
Placement Options: the different kinds of ads you can run
Targeting Options: all available targeting parameters
If you’re not sure if Paid Social is the right investment for you, read this first ??
Ads Manager (Facebook + Instagram)
The Pros
Ads Manager is incredible because it encompasses Facebook AND Instagram, which means you get an extensive pallet of data at your disposal. More data means more:
?? in-depth targeting parameters
?? advanced behavioral learning
Campaigns with Ads Manager often yield low CPC (Cost-Per-Click), relative to other Paid Social platforms.
?? Facebook AVG CPC = $1.50
?? Instagram AVG CPC = $0.85
The dashboard is also super convenient and easy to use.
The Cons
The quality of traffic obtained isn’t always of the highest quality. So while you can yield lower CPC, a larger percentage of that traffic is often composed of bot traffic. The more you advertise with Ads Manager, the less of an impact this will have.
Contextual Rundown
Most Facebook users are on it to connect with friends and family.
Sure, you’ll find a lot of politically-motivated content and old memes. But for the most part, people are just trying to scroll their timelines and catch up with each other.
With that said, people aren’t going on specifically using Facebook to shop (unless they’re on Facebook Marketplace), but because they use it more for down time, they might be willing to.
Distribution of Facebook users as of April, 2020 ??
Instagram is known most for brand-oriented lifestyle content. With that said, lifestyle brands and eCommerce sites tend to do really well here.
Distribution of Instagram users as of April, 2020 ??
Placement Options
News Feed - where most users are scrolling
Stories - appears on Facebook Stories
Marketplace - where Facebook users are shopping
Video Feeds - appear in between organic videos
In-Stream Videos - appear on approved Facebook Live Streams
Right Column - appear on the right-hand column on desktops
Messenger - ads are sent to users’ inboxes
Search - appears next to relevant Facebook search results
News Feed - where most users are scrolling
Stories - appears on Instagram Stories
Explore - served to users looking for new content
Targeting Options
Targeting parameters are broken into three categories.
Core Audiences
Location - by user location
Demographics - by age, gender, education, job title, etc
Interests - by types of pages users follow and/or engage with
Behavior - by consumer behaviors, like past purchases or device preferences
Connections - by people (or friends of people) following your page
Custom Audiences
Contact Lists - by email address or data from your CRM (Customer Relationship Manager)
Site Visitors - by users who have visited your website
App Users - by users that have installed and use your app
Lookalike Audiences
You can utilize Ads Manager’s extensive pool of data by targeting people with similar behavioral traits to existing saved or custom audiences.
This is an awesome way to scale your advertising efforts.
Pinterest Ads
The Pros
There’s virtually no ambiguity when targeting Pinterest users. With such a defined niche, Pinterest Ads allow you to easily position your ads effectively.
The Cons
You can’t save audiences, which is really annoying.
Contextual Rundown
Pinterest users are looking for:
? creative inspiration (crafting, home decor, etc.)
?? educational tutorials (workout guides, recipes, etc.)
?? motivational content (positivity + inspiration)
For Pinterest user demographics ??
Placement Options
Promoted Pins - appears on users’ home section, featuring a single image with copy
Promoted Video Pins - appears on users’ home section, featuring a single video with copy
Carousels - appears on users’ home section, featuring a carousel of images, great for eCommerce
Promoted App Pins - appears on users’ home section, featuring a single image and “Install” button
Targeting Options
Interests - based on the types of boards people follow
Audiences - based on individual user behavior
Keywords - based on specific keywords users punch in (you can choose up to 30)
Keyword match types include: Broad, Phrase, Exact, Negative, Negative Exact
*keep in mind Pinterest people use the search bar A LOT*
Campaign Manager (LinkedIn)
The Pros
People using LinkedIn are in a professional mindset, so you know any B2B-oriented ads will always have a degree of relevance. This results in a relatively high quality of traffic.
The Cons
LinkedIn Ads are expensive.
With CPC ranging from $4-$8 (sometimes more), it’s easy to exhaust even healthy budgets.
Contextual Rundown
LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional social network. People use it for:
?? job searches
???♂? recruiting employees
? catching up on industry news
For LinkedIn user demographics ??
Placement Options
Sponsored Content - appear on targeted users’ news feeds
Message Ads - appear in targeted users’ inboxes
Text Ads - appear on various page headers on desktops
Targeting Options
Targeting parameters are broken into two categories.
Marketing Solutions
Demographics - by location, age, gender, etc.
Company - by company name, size or industry
Job - by title, function or seniority
Education - by skills, schools, degrees or fields of study
Member groups - by groups joined
Matched Audiences
Website Retargeting - by past website visitors
Contact Targeting - by email address
Looking to take your Paid Social to the next level? Check out this article on remarketing ??