It’s no surprise that social media is incredibly popular and with that could come a huge potential reach. So if you’re looking to expand your business to potential new customers this could be a great avenue to pursue.
It can be extremely difficult to get your organic content noticed on social media especially when you take into consideration the constant changes to search engine rankings and algorithms. Paid social advertising is therefore a great option for increasing your online following, bringing in traffic and potential sales instantly, regardless of the size of your business.
What is social media advertising?
Social media advertising is where you can create ad campaigns on your chosen social platform while targeting a chosen audience for these ads to be shown to. By promoting your brand, business and products or services you will have the intention of strengthening your brand, encouraging growth and boosting sales via the social channels that your ideal customers or users use on a regular basis.
Social media advertising platforms
There are a variety of different social media advertising platforms you could use including, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, TikTok and LinkedIn. Although these platforms all fall under the same umbrella, a different audience can be found on each, so what may work for your business on one platform may not work on another. Therefore knowing your target audience and where they spend their time is paramount in playing a part in your social media advertising success.
What are the benefits of advertising on social media?
It’s always worth a try diversifying your advertisement strategy, so whether you are new to advertising altogether or you run advertisements elsewhere such as Google, it’s always helpful to know the benefits.
Reach new customers
No matter which social media platform you are intending to advertise on from TikTok to LinkedIn to Pinterest, doing so allows you to reach out and connect with new potential customers who are able to benefit from the products and/or services that you provide. Social media targeting works a little different from your keyword based search engines such as Google and Microsoft as it targets users based on their interests, demographics and behaviours. Users may not know much about your brand and what you offer but by targeting your ads towards them and introducing them to your brand you can match their interests and behaviours and with any luck they will be interested in your offerings.
Gain audience insights
With any kind of research, the more insight you have, the better. As there are many targeting options available when advertising it is important to utilise the tools and audience breakdowns that are available to you so you are able to view who is interacting with your ads. Although privacy policies have been updated in recent times to protect the user, there is still insightful information that can be collected which will provide you with a better understanding of your audience and segment breakdowns from age ranges, to gender and even regions and phone devices. Thus allowing you to optimise your campaigns and ads where you deem necessary.
There are also features such as polling stickers which allow you to gain first hand information from users who are viewing your stories on platforms such as Instagram. With using these you can gain a better understanding into user opinions on a variety of areas such as the services or products you offer. Audience and ad engagement could increase and any future business developments could benefit from these customer insights.
To conclude, advertising on social media platforms is one of the most effective ways to reach your target audience and turn them into potential customers. Once you have an understanding of your audience and which platform would be best suitable for your business, you could see an improvement and strengthening of your brand.