If you have just discovered that you can run advertising campaigns on social networks , this message is for you: “Hello, alien. You are reading the Marketing Paradise blog. Today we will talk about a very common phenomenon here on planet Earth, because without it many brands would have closed their profiles.
We will tell you how to structure ads , how to create them, with which tools and some extra advice, which is always useful." Read or listen to the podcast where we talk about all this here.
What is social media advertising?
Advertising on social networks or social ads consists of showing paid advertisements by brands to the largest number of users of a social network so that they carry out a specific action such as buying an item, visiting a website, filling out data on a landing page, etc.
These ads can appear in a number of ways : with sponsored posts, mixed in with content, or as displays; and they generally follow the cost-per-click (CPC) model , whereby the advertiser only pays when the user clicks on the ad.
How social media advertising works
Each social network has its own administrator to launch these ads; however, they all share practically the same structure, which is divided into three levels: campaigns, which host sets of ads, and these, which group ads.
When creating the campaign, you choose its objective ; in the ad set, you select the audience to show the ads to, the place where to show them and the budget; and in the ads, you create the visual part of them, that is, their format, content, copy, CTA…
Different forms of billing
When creating the campaign, you also have to decide how you will be billed. So, when defining a bid for your social media ads , you have the option of doing it automatically or by defining a maximum bid manually. In this case, you have three options:
CPC (cost per click) bidding , recommended for website traffic campaigns; CPM (cost per thousand impressions) bidding for branding campaigns with reach as the goal; and CPA (cost per action) bidding to get followers or downloads.
Segmentation, a key aspect
Segmentation is the key to obtaining real results . Thinking that everyone will be interested in your product or service is a mistake. Therefore, depending on how you segment your ads , you will get users to act or not and, above all, they will want to continue getting to know you until they become clients.
If you optimize, you save. So show your ad only to people who really fit your brand. You can define this based on their demographic characteristics, their device, their interests, what other profiles they follow or, in the case of Facebook, also the actions they have taken on your website.
What types of ads exist on social networks?
We could classify advertisements on social networks according to different parameters: objectives, social network and formats within each one.
According to the objectives of the campaigns
Not all platforms have the same objectives and not all have the same name, but they are very similar and have intuitive names .
– Recognition : generate brand awareness or increase reach.
– Prestige/Perception : sending traffic, achieving interaction or playing a video.
– Conversion : increase sales, generate leads or drive people to physical stores.
Depending on the channel and its formats
Yes, you can also advertise on Snapchat or Tinder , but for now we will focus on the most used social networks .
– Facebook and Instagram
Facebook has the most developed tool for companies to manage advertising on different fan pages : Meta Business Manager. Instagram campaigns are also created and managed from here.
As for formats , we can promote an existing post or create a new ad. Here we find advertising on social networks with images, with video, by sequence, Instagram stories, reels or Instagram shop.
– TikTok
Its growth is unstoppable and it already has more than 1.5 billion users. You can create feed ads, top view ads (when you open the app), branded hashtags, brand effects (stickers, filters, effects, etc.), brand takeover ads (which include links or hashtags), Spark Ads (own content from content creators – with their permission – used as organic creative) and Shopping Ads (a new format still being tested in selected accounts).
– X (Twitter )
If you compare it to Meta Business Manager, you'll see a significant drop, but you have to look at it with care if it's the channel where your target audience is. You'll have different advertising options: promoted ads, ads for followers, Twitter Amplify, Twitter Take Over, Twitter Live, dynamic product ads and catalog ads.
If your business is B2B, you have to run your social media advertising campaigns on LinkedIn, even if its CPC is one of the most expensive (it's worth it for its targeting options). You can promote content shared on your page, dynamic ads, display ads, message ads, text ads with events, jobs, lead generation forms...
– YouTube
Campaign management is done through Google Ads and the format is almost always video. Depending on the type of ad, its objective, duration and where it is placed, we can distinguish several types: TrueView ads, non-skippable video ads, Bumper ads, sponsored cards, in-video overlay ads and standard display ads.
It is in the top 10 of the most used social networks. The available formats are: image (vertical or square), video (standard or maximum width), idea (image or video that offers solutions to searches), carousel of pins, collections (images and videos) and shopping (where you can link your products).
Benefits of advertising on social networks
If you need to convince yourself of the benefits that social media marketing can really provide, here is a very clear list.
– It is more profitable than other digital channels such as Google Ads.
– If we compare it with offline advertising, I won’t even tell you.
– You can reach a wide potential audience and increase your visibility .
– There are countless segmentation options, so reaching your target audience is easy.
– You can control the budget and adapt it as the campaign progresses.
– You can run remarketing campaigns to reach certain users again.
– You have different objectives and formats to create custom ads.
– You get very detailed reports with the results of your campaigns.
How to advertise on social media
It was clear: you're convinced and now you want some tips to start launching your ads. Your wish is our command .
Lay out a solid strategy
Your social ads strategy should go hand in hand with the rest of the social media plan you have defined for your brand. This will help you define the time frame, type of content to promote and target audience. It is also important that at this point you define your budget and objectives to achieve.
Don't be afraid to try
To find the perfect ad, you must use the trial-and-error technique or A/B testing, which involves launching two identical ads under the same conditions. Change one element to test which one works best . Repeat this with another element until you find the best social media ad.
Plan the budget
Set a budget to spend daily, assign it to each social network and think about what each ad option can bring you . From manual or automatic bidding to impression frequency, locations, dates or start and end times.
When the final date arrives
Review all the results once the campaign is over. Not all metrics have to be relevant in your reports. Check if the KPIs you set have been met, take notes, draw conclusions from each figure and apply them to the next one.
It evolves continuously
Social media marketing changes second by second, and so do their advertising platforms. That's why it's important to keep up to date , research all the options available to you, and keep putting each new thing you learn into practice.
