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Rachel Edwards
- How Businesses Can Use Social Media Advertising to Boost their Bottom Line
Knowledge Base
How Businesses Can Use Social Media Advertising to Boost their Bottom Line
“Social media has become really fundamental to the way that billions of people get information about the world and connect with each other, which raises the stakes enormously.”
- Kevin Werbach, Professor of Legal Studies and Business Ethics at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
Social media has been woven into the fabric of American culture over the past two decades. As the public’s trust in traditionally-revered institutions has frayed, people have turned to places that seem safer to obtain information about how to process their world—namely, their friends, family, influencers and organizations they trust. As Werbach notes, billions of people now choose to find information about the world through social media.
For businesses, this presents a significant opportunity. While some businesses have capitalized upon the growth of social media, others are just beginning. This article will provide guidance and tips on how to use social media advertising for businesses—regardless of which category your organization falls into.
Social Media Channels and Usage
Social media usage accounts for a third of people’s connected time. Nearly 2.5 hours a day is spent on social platforms. Every day billions of people around the world use social media channels like Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn.
The largest social media platform and the platform most social media marketers plan to focus on in 2022 is Facebook. According to HubSpot research, Facebook seems to generate the highest quality leads for marketers. Facebook is considered a B2C—or business to consumer—marketing channel.
Second to Facebook is the popular video platform YouTube. YouTube has more than 2 billion users and has a strong audience across ages and genders. YouTube is used for marketing both for B2C and B2B—business to business. Consumers often stay on YouTube for longer periods of time because it offers both short-form and long-form content. YouTube Shorts are growing in popularity with advertisers.
Following Facebook and YouTube in popularity are:
- Instagram – popular with Millennials and typically a B2C channel focused heavily on photos and visuals,
- TikTok – a growing social media channel whose advertising potential will likely increase for both B2C and B2B marketing due to the popularity of their short-form videos format with Gen Z and Millennials,
- Snapchat – a platform popular with Generation Z and used for B2C marketing that seems to be declining in social media marketers’ budgets due to a lower ROI,
- Twitter – a platform popular with Millennials and used for both B2B and B2C marketing and as a customer service vehicle,
- LinkedIn – popular with Baby Boomers, Generation X and Millennials, this platform is heavily B2B-focused with a clearly defined audience of professionals seeking to network, and
- Pinterest – popular with Millennials, Generation Z, Generation X and Baby Boomers, this is primarily a B2C marketing channel used by consumers for inspiration—like a pinboard or storyboard.
We detail more about these social media channels, their audience and usage in our Social Media 101 for Business article.
Why Advertise on Social Media
As businesses have increasingly used social media to connect and engage with their audiences, platforms have become savvy to the opportunities to monetize their services. This is why using a social media marketing strategy incorporating both paid and organic posts is recommended.
Advertising on social media affords businesses the opportunity to:
-grow awareness about their brand through carefully created content that interests their audience.
-increase their business, as content generates interest in products and services and links back to their websites for more information or to close the sale. With proper analytics, leads can be gleaned and conversions boosted.
-foster relationships with customers and engage with them to build greater brand loyalty and even resolve issues.
In HubSpot’s recent State of Consumer Trends Survey, results showed that in the past three months, 36 percent of respondents discovered new products via social media. 71 percent of Gen Zers reported that they most often find new products on social media.
Successful Advertising Begins with Strategy
To be successful in any social media marketing venture, it is critical to know your target audience, the channels your audience uses, the channels your competitors use, your goals for advertising and how your organization will measure effectiveness or ROI. It is also important to determine how much time your business has to allocate to social media marketing.
Social media management is a never-ending, 24/7 job. While it can be a cost-effective advertising option on the surface, be sure to calculate the hours it will take your team to generate both content and ads, schedule them, respond to posts, engage with audiences and interpret analytics to determine ROI.
After evaluating all of these areas, develop your social media advertising strategy with measurable goals, numbers and timeframes to measure for effectiveness. Ensure it aligns with your overall marketing strategy and supports or enables those goals.
Also, when developing your social media advertising strategy, do not overlook the growth of consumer trust in influencers. A new report on Top Shopping Trends of 2022 shows that 30 percent of consumers consider influencer recommendations as one of the most important factors in their purchasing decisions. Investing in influencer marketing on social media may benefit your business, depending on the products and services you offer.
Setting up Your Paid Advertising Goals
After determining your social media advertising strategy and goals, you will need to develop content, images and videos and determine how and where you will share them on social media.
When advertising on a social media platform, keep in mind different platforms have different advertising campaign goals available. The type of ad campaign you select will depend on the marketing strategy your team has set in place. Some options for targeted social media advertising options on different platforms include:
- lead generation,
- engagement,
- website visits,
- page likes,
- visibility via boosted posts,
- increased messages or phone calls.
Revisit your social media advertising strategy to determine which tactic will work best to accomplish your goals.
Social Media Advertising Support
If all of this sounds exciting, but a bit overwhelming, do not worry. Intrada Technologies team of digital marketing strategists and SEO specialists are ready and willing to help you navigate the changing landscape of digital marketing and social media advertising.
Learn more about our digital media marketing and social media advertising packages and how Intrada’s team of experts can help you to achieve your marketing goals by giving our office a call, emailing Project Manager James Haywood or filling out the contact form below.
Our team’s years of digital marketing experience will help your business develop a plan to reach your target goals within your budget. Our goal is to build trusted partnerships with our customers to best ensure their success.
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