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 Instagram, a widely popular social media platform, allows users to share photos and videos with their followers. Founded in 2010 by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, the platform quickly gained traction due to its user-friendly interface and emphasis on visual content. Instagram provides various features such as filters for enhancing photos, Stories for sharing short-lived content, and IGTV for longer videos. With a robust set of tools for both personal and business accounts, Instagram enables users to connect, engage, and build communities around their interests and passions. The platform's integration with other social media networks allows for seamless content sharing across multiple channels, making it a versatile tool for digital communication and marketing. As a result, Instagram has not only become a hub for social interaction but also a critical component of many companies? digital marketing strategies. , 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 Instagram, a widely popular social media platform, allows users to share photos and videos with their followers. Founded in 2010 by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, the platform quickly gained traction due to its user-friendly interface and emphasis on visual content. Instagram provides various features such as filters for enhancing photos, Stories for sharing short-lived content, and IGTV for longer videos. With a robust set of tools for both personal and business accounts, Instagram enables users to connect, engage, and build communities around their interests and passions. The platform's integration with other social media networks allows for seamless content sharing across multiple channels, making it a versatile tool for digital communication and marketing. As a result, Instagram has not only become a hub for social interaction but also a critical component of many companies? digital marketing strategies. : 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 Return on Investment (ROI) is a key performance metric used to evaluate the efficiency or profitability of an investment. ROI quantifies the return generated on an investment relative to its cost, expressed as a percentage. This metric helps businesses and investors assess the financial benefits of various projects, investments, or marketing campaigns, enabling them to make informed decisions on how to allocate resources effectively. Calculating ROI involves dividing the net profit generated from the investment by the initial cost and then multiplying by 100 to get a percentage value. Understanding ROI is crucial for business strategy, financial planning, and performance assessment, ensuring that investments align with the overall goals and deliver value.
• 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
• Pinterest Pinterest is a popular social media platform that allows users to discover, share, and save ideas through visually appealing images and videos, known as "Pins". Launched in 2010, Pinterest quickly became a go-to resource for inspiration on a wide range of topics such as home decor, fashion, recipes, travel, wellness, and crafts. Users create and curate themed collections called "Boards" where they can save Pins that capture their interests or project plans. Pinterest operates as a visual discovery engine, enabling users to search for ideas using keywords, and providing personalized recommendations based on their activity and preferences. The platform's unique algorithm tailors the content feed to align with each user's interests, making it an engaging and personalized experience. Businesses leverage Pinterest to boost their brand visibility and drive traffic to their websites by creating compelling visuals that resonate with their target audience. Pinterest offers shoppable Pins, which allow users to purchase products directly from the platform, enhancing the e-commerce potential for businesses. Through features like Pinterest Analytics, businesses can gain insights into user engagement and behavior, enabling them to refine their marketing strategies for better reach and impact. Pinterest's combination of creativity, inspiration, and practicality makes it a valuable tool for users seeking fresh ideas and for businesses aiming to connect with a visually-driven audience. : 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 Return on Investment (ROI) is a key performance metric used to evaluate the efficiency or profitability of an investment. ROI quantifies the return generated on an investment relative to its cost, expressed as a percentage. This metric helps businesses and investors assess the financial benefits of various projects, investments, or marketing campaigns, enabling them to make informed decisions on how to allocate resources effectively. Calculating ROI involves dividing the net profit generated from the investment by the initial cost and then multiplying by 100 to get a percentage value. Understanding ROI is crucial for business strategy, financial planning, and performance assessment, ensuring that investments align with the overall goals and deliver value. . It is also important to determine how much time your business has to allocate to social media marketing.

Social Media Management Social Media Management involves the strategic planning, creation, publishing, and analysis of content across various social media platforms to achieve personal, professional, or business goals. It includes activities such as creating a content calendar, scheduling posts, engaging with followers, monitoring social media channels for mentions or comments, analyzing performance metrics, and implementing strategies to increase engagement and reach. Tools like Hootsuite, Buffer, and Sprout Social are commonly used to streamline these tasks, making it easier to manage multiple accounts and platforms simultaneously. Effective social media management helps in building brand awareness, nurturing customer relationships, driving website traffic, and ultimately boosting sales or desired actions. By consistently producing relevant and high-quality content, and actively participating in community discussions, businesses and individuals can enhance their online presence and establish a strong digital footprint. 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 Return on Investment (ROI) is a key performance metric used to evaluate the efficiency or profitability of an investment. ROI quantifies the return generated on an investment relative to its cost, expressed as a percentage. This metric helps businesses and investors assess the financial benefits of various projects, investments, or marketing campaigns, enabling them to make informed decisions on how to allocate resources effectively. Calculating ROI involves dividing the net profit generated from the investment by the initial cost and then multiplying by 100 to get a percentage value. Understanding ROI is crucial for business strategy, financial planning, and performance assessment, ensuring that investments align with the overall goals and deliver value. .

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 Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the practice of enhancing a website's content, structure, and technical elements to improve its visibility and ranking on search engine results pages (SERPs). Unlike paid advertising, SEO focuses on organic (unpaid) search results, aiming to attract more quality traffic to the site through search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo. SEO encompasses a variety of strategies, including keyword research, on-page optimization (such as optimizing titles, meta descriptions, and content), link building, and improving site usability and speed. By aligning a website's content with search engine algorithms and user intent, SEO helps increase the site's relevance and authority in search engines' eyes. Effective SEO can lead to higher rankings, increased web traffic, and better user engagement, ultimately contributing to the site's overall success and reach. 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.