Social media advertisement is the preferred option for many businesses compared to other methods. Earlier, the traditional advertisement options were chosen, and now it got replaced significantly with social media ads. The main factor is its global reach audience in a short period.
So advertising in social media is important. Whether you’re designing animated commercials or any type of advertising strategy, below, we highlight six general things to know about putting ads on social media.
1. Types of Ads
On social media, depending on the particular platform, you have a lot of different formats you can use for your advertising. However, there are a few general categories.
Static image ads include photos, while video ads are the most visually appealing for users. You can make short videos on platforms like Instagram or Facebook, and people can interact with them easily while scrolling.
On specific platforms, including LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook, you can use story ads, which are a combination of photos and videos. They’re full-screen typically, and then depending on the type of ad and the platform, they’re displayed for a specific amount of time.
Less commonly used are messenger ads. These are Facebook ads, and they’re in the Chats tab, part of Messenger, instead of being in news feeds.
2. The Most Popular Platforms
Facebook’s popularity has decreased recently, but it’s still the world’s largest social media platform, so advertising here remains a popular option.
There are a wide variety of people who are on Facebook, so it makes it easier to find your targeted audience.
Facebook is pretty visual, so it’s suitable for advertising, but not as much as Instagram and other platforms that are increasingly popular among users.
If you have visually appealing products or services, you might want to head to Instagram and focus your advertising budget there. Instagram ads link to your website or landing page and are an easy and fast way to improve engagement.
The 18-34 demographic primarily uses Instagram, so if you have a younger targeted audience, it could be optimal compared to Facebook.
Additionally, Facebook owns Instagram, so you can manage your ads for both platforms through your Facebook Ads Manager.
TikTok is a relatively new platform with enormous potential for reaching your consumers, especially younger ones. The advertising on TikTok focuses on product ads that show up as videos on users’ “For You” page. The ads are full-screen, nine seconds, similar to organic content on the platform.
For B2B advertising, LinkedIn is the best choice far and away, and you can target users personally and directly, encouraging them to follow you or read your content. You can also advertise job openings.
3. Know Your Audience
No matter the platform you focus your attention on, the most important thing you can do is start creating your ads with a solid understanding of your target audience. Next, you must deliver the right messages to the appropriate audiences. This is where social media advertising excels—it’s simple to figure out how to target your ads and set them up accordingly once you know who you want to reach.
Besides considering who to target for new customers, you also want to feel your current customers with remarketing.
4. Make Your Ads Mobile-Friendly
The vast majority of users are on their mobile devices. Your ads are going to be then viewed on these devices. So you should make sure in the design of your ads that they’re for small screens. The images need to be easy to see on a phone screen.
When you optimize your mobile ads, you also want to ensure that your video and images are compressed and optimized for mobile.
If you have a storefront, you might want to use geofencing tools, which will allow you to target users on their mobile devices who are in your local area.
5. Choose One or Two Platforms
If you’re new to social media ads, it’s best to limit your focus to one or two platforms. Social media gets overwhelming if you’re trying to do too much. Instead, you want to put your attention and resources on the platforms where your targeted audience spends their time.
6. Always Have a Business Goal
Finally, if you don’t know why you’re advertising, don’t do it. Every campaign needs to have clear goals.
The more specific you can be in your goals, the better because you can set up the metrics you want to assess and track them more effectively.
