The idea of spending money to make money can be a scary proposition, especially in a young company where every decision about your hard-earned budget matters!
But, when it comes to social media, you have to spend money to get attention. And you have you get attention to make money.
Trust us on this one. Paid social media advertising should be part of your social media marketing budget and content marketing strategy, even if your business is small. A little digital marketing investment to promote your business through social media ads is so much smarter than wasting your time and money with little return. Here’s why.
Organic Social Isn’t Enough Anymore
We know you’re trying. You’re posting regularly on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram, just like you’re supposed to. Your posts are creative and strategic. You should be winning the internet! Yet, you aren’t getting much ROI for the time you spend on social. You’re tired and frustrated, but it’s not your fault.
We’ve written before about how social media algorithms were moving toward a “pay-to-play” framework. The move happened. You have to spend money on boosted posts and social media ads to promote your content. If not, you’re just shouting into the void—and wasting time and money in the process. Your fabulous content marketing will go to waste if you don’t implement paid social media advertising, like now.
Social Media Ads Break Through The Clutter
People posted more than 200,000 pieces of content to Facebook and sent about 23,000 tweets in the time it took you to read that sentence, according to WebFX’s Internet in Real Time tool. And that doesn’t even take into account other social media platforms like Instagram, which brags of millions of content uploads per day.
It’s amazing that so many people post content on social media every minute. Do we have nothing else to do with our time? It’s also challenging for businesses to break through that clutter to get their products in front of the more than 3.6 billion people globally who use social media.
Social media advertising guarantees your business a spot in users’ feeds, breaking through the clutter and giving you the chance to market to potential customers on a platform they’re already using.
Still not sure? Check out these 2020 stats from Hootsuite:
- Facebook ads reach 1.95 billion users.
- Instagram ads reach 928.5 million people.
- Twitter ads reach 152 million users.
- LinkedIn ads reach 62% of the American population.
The bottom line: your business can absolutely meet potential customers where they are and break through the clutter with social media advertising. If you have an organic social media that’s stagnating, it may be time to cut to the front of the line with ads.
Business Paid Social Fits Any Budget
Companies are expected to spend more than $10 billion this year on social media product promotion. But don’t freak out yet! The good news is that you don’t have to spend much at all to make a difference for your brand.
Paid social media advertising is a cost-effective way to promote your brand. Cost-per-click (CPC) rates vary across social media platforms, with Facebook charging an average of less than $1 and LinkedIn’s rate the highest at an average of more than $5. Cost-per-thousand-impressions (CPM) rates vary too, with Twitter charging about $6.50 on average and Pinterest charging an average of $30.
There’s an option for social media advertising at every budget level. You can spend what makes the most sense for your business and benefit from having done so.
Social Media Ads Sharpen Your Targeting
Want to reach women between the ages of 25 and 34 in Edmond, Oklahoma, who are married with two children, have a career in marketing, are in the top 10% of earners in their zip code, and like to read in their spare time? You can (probably) do that on social media! Just depends on the channel.
Social media advertising allows you to control exactly who sees your ads by giving you a variety of demographic (age, race, location, gender, etc.) and psychographics (hobbies, entertainment, behaviors, etc.) factors to choose from. The options allow you to target an audience that behaves exactly like your current customers or engage with an entirely new target. Facebook is one of the strictest when it comes to targeting, but you can use A/B testing and trial and error to maximize your ad spend and ROI. If you need super-duper specific targeting, you may want to look into PPC (pay-per-click advertising) too.
Business Paid Social Creates Brand Awareness
Potential customers can’t even consider doing business with you if they don’t know your company exists. Social media ads can eliminate the problem of being unknown.
More than 20% of consumers said they discovered new brands through social media advertising in 2019. An additional 17% of consumers said they discovered brands through social media recommendations.
Using targeted advertising to get in front of potential customers won’t just mean people will become aware of your brand. It means the right people—the people most likely to buy—will know about your brand.
Social Media Advertising Gives You More Bang For Your Buck
Each social media user is expected to generate more than $80 in revenue this year. With business paid social you can reach a potential customer for a few dollars. Paid social media advertising only makes good sense. Start planning today for how you can include social media ads in your content marketing strategy. If you need guidance, we can help! Or, check out more free resources on our blog to improve your marketing know-how.
