Today, the digitalization of marketing is seeing one of its (if not its greatest) greatest peaks. Businesses need to use several techniques to ensure that they get the word out on these streets about their product/service. While many succeed in doing so, many also witness failure.
This is because one of the biggest challenges in digital marketing – social media has become more complex than ever. In fact, we may be witnessing a time when people can no longer ramp big numbers unless they need extra help.
The extra help being paid ads, of course.
Now, if you’re among the many brands that want to get your name known, it’s essential to know about paid ads and how much potential they hold. The good news is that we’re here to help you with it. We’ll cover the concept of social paid ads, the different types of social media ads you can use, and how you can maximize their potential by creating consistent branding with social media design services like Superside.
What Are Social Paid Ads?
Just as the name suggests, social paid ads are a simple service that platforms such as Facebook or Twitter provide wherein your brand’s ad(s) are shown to an audience.
Why do I have to pay them then? Can’t regular posts work? Like creative ads promoting a brand?
Excellent question! The thing is, there can be thousands of posts created online, and the chances of your specific audience (nevertheless many other users) viewing them can become relatively low.
While posting regularly can possibly solve this and give you a good boost in the algorithm, the sheer effort (and money) needed to do all of it may not appeal to everyone.
Paying social networking platforms can help your ads be shown to an entirely new audience, increasing organic traffic to your page. The more spotlight someone wants, the more they have to pay to get it. Understanding the kind of users on every platform can be helpful, too, to reach your target audience quicker. Take this study by the Pew Research Center, for example.
The chart shows the different types of people who use specific platforms. This way, you’re not spending money on platforms that do not have your people of interest.
The Different Types of Social Paid Ads
Facebook Ads: Photos, Videos, and Stories
Facebook is home to thousands of marketing campaigns. It fulfills three main aims:
- Brand Awareness
- Traffic
- Sales
Facebook ads allow users to showcase their brand identity and build a community. Then the goal is to keep them engaged via communication and expand their user base.
Because of this, Facebook is the primary choice for social media marketing like these latest trends from Envato show. With over 2.45 billion active users, you can find a range of diverse people varying in age or gender. You can direct your target audience toward your website if you know how to optimize these ads to drive traffic.
Video
Facebook video advertisements are quite popular with various format options. Also, the length limits are pretty flexible, but it is best to keep these videos short. In all, they effectively convey the originality of your product/services that seems compelling yet contemporary.
Photo
A massive number of users get driven to a site or product through photo ad design. You can even insert engaging content with catchy headlines that widen the scope of creativity. The best part is the addition of Shop Now or Download Now buttons that quickly redirect to landing pages.
Stories
Facebook photo stories last 6 seconds, whereas videos are 15 seconds long. The templates are quite mobile-friendly and thus, seem attractive to younger audiences. However, you cannot post them directly on Facebook; it goes to a possible placement section.
A key benefit is to showcase limited-time offers, new product arrivals, or back-in-stock notifications to bring traffic. Remember that stories are only available for 24 hours, so you must be straightforward with your message.
Messenger
DMs or messenger ads are the most underrated form of marketing which is why it is easy to dominate them. According to Facebook’s study, messenger ads outperform other ad types on their platform! As unbelievable as it sounds, it is accurate, and the reason is simple- direct interaction with customers.
Slideshow
A slideshow ad is a compilation video of photos that is an excellent alternative to video ads. So, if you are unsure about running video ads, you can opt for a slideshow. Also, a good plus point is that you do not need to add professional photos. Instead, you edit stock photos.
There are other options, such as carousel or collection ads, that you can also explore.
Twitter Ads
Twitter is one of the most popular platforms and a great marketing channel. Through twitter ads, your content has a greater reach and results in comparison to other platforms. Not only will Twitter ads help in effectively attaining your business goals and objectives, but the results would show up considerably faster.
To break it down for you, Twitter ads mainly consist of the following:
Follower Ads
Just like the name, these types of ads are more focused on increasing visibility, expanding the reach, and boosting the followers of the client. Such ads are shown to specific groups of people who don’t already follow these accounts but may be interested in them.
Promoted Ads
These ads work the same way as regular tweets, where users have the option of retweeting or liking the content. The promoted tweets consist of various options such as text, image, video, moment, or carousel ads. Highly targeted toward a relevant and particular audience, these ads are generally seen at the top of the search results, timeline, and other areas.
Twitter Amplify
This format is about extending your reach and doing so by aligning your content to premium video publishers. Here your creative ads would be displayed on the publisher’s video. There are also different types of Amplify ad formats to choose from, including Amplify Pre-roll and Amplify Sponsorships.
Timeline and Trend Takeover
We saved the best type of Twitter ads for the last cause these types garner the most attention. Timeline Takeover, in all sense, takes over the Timeline page, making your ad reach the top of the page. At the same time, Trend Takeover will display your ad besides the Trending page, which is also an extremely happening and high-impact space.
LinkedIn Ads
LinkedIn ads are all about meeting the advertiser’s goals and objectives. Through optimization of these endorsements, businesses can drive quality B2B leads, increase visibility and awareness of their brand, bring user traffic, etc.
Since LinkedIn is business-oriented, unlike other channels, it is a perfect platform to spread the word about your brand story and proactively display them in your broadcasts. Coming to the ad formats, there are a total of 10 endorsements types to choose from. Some of the popular ones are as follows:
- Message Ads
- Follower’s Ads
- Video and Image Ads
- Carousel Ads
- Text Ads
- Job Ads
While video and image ads are suitable for posting compelling commercials, on the other hand, text ads can bring B2B leads. Also, LinkedIn is a space where you can smoothly promote thought leadership, company goals and achievements, positive customer feedback, and convey your brand story.
Instagram Ads
We obviously have Instagram on our list, and this platform is aligned with Facebook since Meta owns them. So, Instagram is a popular social media channel used by Millennials, Gen Z, and Gen X. Thus, it is an ideal space to share sponsored content with youth.
Similar to Facebook, Instagram also has four main types of ad formats. The key difference between the two is the addition of Reels and IGTV. Both are influential endorsements to bring traffic, but since Reels is still new, there is no paid promotion feature. However, businesses utilize them to post engaging videos for organic traffic.
Maximizing the Potential of Social Paid Ads
Down to the last straw, let’s take a good look at how you can maximize the potential of your social paid ads.
Setting Goals
As a business, you cannot afford to go wrong multiple times. Social paid ads can be costly, and using them to their full potential should be a priority. Ask yourself, who exactly do you want this ad to be seen by? Is it teenagers? Adults? Senior citizens?
Depending on the audience you wish to show your ads to, you can set social media ad campaigns on specific platforms and gain more success rather than spreading your budget across all social networks.
Use Posts That Your Audience Love
If you’ve set up social media accounts already, chances are your team posts consistently. Head over to your social networks and look at posts your followers engage in more than others. This will allow you to understand what aspect of your brand customers love. These engaging posts can usually make the best candidate to become an ad!
Keep Your Ads Mobile Friendly
How often have you scrolled down Instagram on your phone and seen ads that do not fit the screen? Yes, we’ve all been there. The main problem isn’t even the fact that it does not look good (nor professional), but that it doesn’t even convey your message to the audience.
No one can understand an ad design with half of its text disappearing. With billions using mobile phones to use social media platforms, keep your ads mobile-friendly.
Using Analytics
This comes as a given, but in case you’re new to the world of digital marketing, analytical data is a great ally to have on your side. Use analytics to check which ads of yours receive more engagement and which do not appeal much.
This will be helpful in not only understanding current trends but also in shifting your marketing approach or assisting in bringing changes to your ad design.
The Bottom Line
In a nutshell, social networking platforms have enormous potential to channel or market your company if done right. The key is bringing traffic and attracting your target audience through paid commercials on social media.
However, you will need to identify which social networking channel is the best for your niche audience before running marketing campaigns on the popular ones. Remember that the goal is to optimize ads through data collection, consumer demographic and behavior analysis. Both paid and organic traffic is the way to make your strategy successful!
About the Author
Paul Posea is a Social Media and SEO enthusiast working in Marketing, while in his free time he can be found writing about drones and sustainability.