Everything you need to know about advertising on social media

At Digitlab, we understand the significant impact of social media marketing. Unfortunately, for most business owners, advertising on social media can seem overwhelming and daunting. 

If you are trying to decide whether you should use Google or Social Media Ads that’s the link for you, but if you’re wondering, “which social media platform is the most effective for the advertising of our specific business?” or, “what kind of ads can I run on each platform?” We developed a series of guides to help you navigate this advertising ecosystem so let’s get started. 

Why is advertising on social media so effective?

There are several excellent reasons why advertising on social media is so effective. They include: 

Unrivalled Personalisation

Social media platforms have become incredibly advanced. Today, when a consumer logs on to any social media app, everything is personalised to them. 

This personalisation ensures that the platform serves ads to a consumer already in the marketing funnel. Yes, social media makes selling your services or products easier. 

Accurate Performance Metrics

Unlike traditional advertising, it’s pretty straightforward to track the effectiveness of your ads. 

A savvy marketing manager can quickly monitor reach and ROI using some of the top metrics in digital marketing.  

Measuring performance allows business managers and marketing teams to make quick changes and updates to improve the effectiveness of a business’s ads. 

Total Control

Social media advertising also allows for a robust level of control in the direction and structure of your marketing campaigns. 

You can easily schedule adverts to run on a specific social media platform at a time when your target audience is most active on it. This control improves ROI and ensures a strong campaign. 

Which platforms should your business advertise on? 

Here are 5 excellent social media platforms you can use to advertise your business.  

Remember, likes don’t pay bills, so understand your target audience. Ask yourself the following: 

  • Which social media platform does my target audience frequent? 
  • What do they do while on the platform? 
  • What do they want or expect to find on the platform? 

When you understand your target audience, it’ll be easier to cater an advertising campaign to them.

TikTok: Target Gen Z And Teens 

Advertising on Social Media - TikTok
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If your target audience is primarily teens and Gen Z, we recommend you try out TikTok advertising. 

Quick videos with cute lenses and filters make your content more casual and fun, appealing to the younger generations. 

TikTok has an effective way to explore how your consumers feel about your content through likes, comments, dislikes, shares, etc. You can use this social listening to drive business performance. 

There are also ways to analyse the reach of your content, which entails monitoring whether or not the consumer follows the hashtags you post in the caption of your video. 

READ MORE: Your Guide to Advertising on TikTok 

LinkedIn: Professional, B2B Advertising 

Advertising on Social Media - LinkedIn
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Running ads on LinkedIn is also an easy way to get the word out about your business more professionally. 

Your marketing team can involve other employees by encouraging them to share content. Employee amplification is an excellent strategy to boost sales. 

LinkedIn advertising allows ads to be highly personalised. This personalisation targets audiences by specific demographics such as gender, job title and function, geography, age, company size and name, etc. 

Sponsored content, inbox messaging, and single-image ads work best on this platform, so focus on making your posts short, sweet, and varied. 

READ MORE: Your Guide to Advertising on LinkedIn 

Instagram: Collaborate With Influencers 

Advertising on Social Media - Instagram
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Instagram advertising offers a fantastic opportunity to collaborate with influencers.  

The growth in the number of influencers has aided business leaders in advertising their brands by forming partnerships on the Instagram platform. 

For example, as an athleisure company, build a relationship with a top-rated Millennial yoga instructor with thousands of followers. They can give you a shoutout and increase your number of followers quicker than you could imagine. 

Instagram allows for different ads – images, stories, videos, carousels, collections, shopping, etc.  

READ MORE: Your Guide to Advertising on Instagram 

Snapchat: Short And Creative Advertising 

Advertising on Social Media - Snapchat
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When using Snapchat advertising, it is vital to design short, vibrant, and creative pieces. This platform is very popular with youngsters, with the Snapchat global user age falling primarily between 18 and 24. 

Once again, short and sweet is the name of the game. 

Story and collection ads are all examples of ads a marketing team can decide to run on Snapchat. 

READ MORE: Your Guide to Advertising on Snapchat 

Facebook: General Social Media Advertising 

Advertising on Social Media - Facebook
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According to statistics, Facebook was the most used social media platform in the world in January 2022. This data makes it an excellent platform for general social media advertising. 

Send traffic to your website with Facebook advertising on consumers’ news feeds, messenger, and favourite websites. 

Facebook is excellent for creating FOMO (fear of missing out).  

When the consumer’s eyes dart to the side of their screen, they can immediately see which friend is a fan of the advertised page or product. This FOMO encourages more people to engage with your brand. 

READ MORE: Your Guide to Advertising on Facebook 

Twitter: Advertising in the Public Square

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Twitter is the innovative microblogging website that became a powerhouse social network used by people from all walks of life, an online space that many consider the international “town square”.

At the heart of Twitter advertising lies its website tag and the platform’s algorithm.

In essence, it uses these two points of data to better understand your audiences by collating what content they engage with, what links they click on, who they follow, and where they are.

This information is then used to ensure the message is delivered to a highly relevant audience. 

The types of ads you can run on Twitter encompass App Install ads, Video ads, Website Traffic ads, Engagement ads and Follower ads.

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