Social media has grown to become the leading marketing channel for many businesses, with several platforms reaching over a billion users. Millions of people use social media daily, and as a business owner, you can take advantage of it by advertising on these sites. Social media is an excellent place for businesses to reach their target audience.
Social media advertising is also cost-effective compared to other channels like television or print. You won’t need to spend big bucks - you can spend as little as $20 per day on ads across all relevant social networks. That’s not even much cash considering how effective this strategy can be.
When you consider that your potential customers spend hours every day on social media, you can see why it would be a wise investment. Here are top 5 reasons why you should advertise on social media:
People are constantly on social media
Social media users spend, on average, two hours every day on their favourite platforms. That is a huge amount of time, and it is even more significant when you remember that people use these sites on a daily basis. This means that they are constantly coming into contact with your ads – even if they don’t realize it!
Social media is also used by people of all ages, genders and in all different professions. This means that you can reach a diverse audience of potential customers, allowing your ad to be seen by the people that matter. If you want to reach a wide audience, social media could be your best bet. It has the potential to reach almost everyone who has an internet connection.
It’s relevant for your audience
The best way to attract customers to your product or service is to speak to them in terms that they understand and relate to. You can do this on social media by creating ads that are relevant to the culture and content of each platform.
The ad’s visual content should be relevant to the platform where it is posted. By creating relevant ads, you’ll be able to speak to your target audience more effectively. It will also help you to avoid annoying your potential customers with irrelevant ads.
Consumers prefer ads on social media
Social media users are frequently exposed to advertising, but they aren’t always thrilled about it.
However, most consumers actually prefer to be advertised to on social media over any other format. The majority of social media users prefer visual ads to written ads, with 89% preferring image-based ads. Visual ads also have higher completion rates compared to written ads. This could be due to the fact that visual ads are easier to understand than written ads. Consumers are also more likely to trust visual ads compared to written ads.
You can be discreet and targeted
Social media is a discreet way to advertise your product or service. If you’re worried about appearing overly promotional or spammy, you have the option to post short and concise ads.
You can also target your ads to specific users. This means that you can show your ad to people who are most likely to buy your product or service. You can be very focussed on particular segments because you can filter by sex, age, job, location, family stage, interests....the list goes on. No other platform gives the same ability to target to such a granular, focussed degree meaning only the people most likely to buy your products or services can be served your ads, also making it incredibly economical.
It’s also possible to use retargeting to reach potential customers who have previously visited your website. You can do this by tracking these users’ online activity and then showing them an ad related to the products they were looking at. This will help you to avoid being overly promotional, while still showing your ad to people who are most likely to buy your product or service.
You can test and measure what works
You can use different types of social media ads to test which ones are most effective. This includes testing different images, headlines and call-to-actions to see which ones bring in the most leads. There are also different ad types that you can experiment with across social media. These include:
Text ads
Video ads
Carousel ads
Sponsored posts
Boosted posts
Each type of ad has its own benefits, so it’s worth experimenting to see which ones work best for your business.
You can also use different targeting settings to see which group of people is most likely to buy your product or service. By doing this, you can choose the people who are most likely to convert, making your ad more effective.
So what are the best platforms to use?
Good question but why write something myself when Hubspot summarises the pros and cons of each of the two main platforms so well...
"With Facebook, marketers can advertise on a user's News Feed, via Messenger or video, and more. You can also leverage Facebook Lead Ads to encourage Facebook users to fill out a lead generation form without leaving the social platform.
One of the major benefits of Facebook's advertising tools is its segmentation abilities. You can target your ads towards certain audiences depending on interests, demographics, behaviors, or even connection to your business — like whether they've attended one of your events, or have friends who've liked your Business Page. These targeting capabilities can help your business reach users who are most likely to purchase your product or service."
"With over one billion Instagram users, it's unsurprising that Instagram is second in this list when it comes to ROI. Instagram offers marketers the ability to increase reach, engagement, and sales through a variety of methods, including Instagram Shoppable ads, Stories, branded content, Reels, and more.
The platform has proven a viable strategy for businesses. In fact, 90% of users follow a business on Instagram, and 50% of users are more interested in a brand after seeing ads for it on Instagram.
So … why doesn't it surpass Facebook for generating ROI?
Most likely, Instagram falls short of producing strong ROI due to its more intangible metrics — such as brand awareness, reputation, loyalty, and consumer engagement.
For instance, an Instagram user might never click on one of your business' ads directly from the platform. Instead, perhaps the ad simply increases a user's awareness of your brand. Down the road, perhaps they click on your website after seeing a Google ad. Certain metrics are difficult to attribute to Instagram, but that doesn't mean it isn't a good idea for your business."
Thanks Hubspot!
Summing up
Social media is an excellent place for businesses to reach their target audience.
It has the potential to reach almost everyone who has an internet connection. Social media users spend, on average, two hours every day on their favourite platforms. They are also more likely to prefer to be advertised to on social media compared to other formats. In addition, you can be discreet while targeting your ads to specific users, and the return on investment (ask me for some examples from my clients) can be incredible!.
By implementing these strategies, you can take advantage of the millions of users who are actively using social media each day.
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