Paid Social Media
Competition in your market can be fierce but Paid Social Media helps you stand out against the crowd in a growing digital world.
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Paid Social Media refers to all paid communication and promotion across social media channels such as Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok and beyond.
When Mark Zuckerburg first launched Facebook in 2004, the mission was ‘to give people the power to build communities and bring the world closer together’. Today, though, it is a lot more complicated than that…
With over 2.91b users on Facebook, the potential reach of Facebook Advertising is up to 2.11b. Nowadays, the platform is maximised for advertising and promotional purposes, and it has become a complex business tool which can be extremely difficult to navigate.
Facebook offers a diverse range of Ad types that you can utilise to get the best results possible.
Types of Paid Social Media Ads
Facebook Image Ads are a brilliant way to make your debut in the Facebook advertising space. These are relatively simple and involve ‘boosting’ your post/image of choice. Do this and watch your engagement skyrocket!
Showcase a range of your products/items/services using the Collection Ads tool on Facebook. Also, with this feature, users can purchase your product without having to leave the app at all. It is almost too easy for your customers to make a purchase.
Facebook Messenger is an additional app that is connected to Facebook. In fact, Messenger is the fourth most-used social platform in the world with over 1.3b users. Consequently, by using Messenger Ads, you have access to this extensive scope of customers. All you have to do is choose Messenger as your desired placement and let your Ad do the talking.
Video Ads can feature in a number of places across Facebook, such as in Story format or in newsfeeds. You should maximise the power of video when creating Video Ads. Show your team or product in action with a how-to, tutorial or behind-the-scenes feature. Never underestimate the power of video in humanising your brand!
The Facebook Pixel is one of the most beneficial tools available to digital marketing professionals in Belfast.
The Pixel is a piece of code which can be added to your company website, allowing you to analyse the activity of users who visit your web pages. Using this helpful analytics tool, you can measure, build and optimise your Facebook Ads in line with your website users’ behaviour.
There are many benefits of using the Facebook Pixel to optimise your paid social media marketing:
By tracking users’ behaviour on your website, Facebook Pixel allows you to retarget those who have previously visited or interacted with your website. Retargeting is an extremely valuable tool for paid social media strategies.
Tracking conversion types such as sign-ups and purchases, allows your Facebook Pixel to provide valuable insights into the performance of your Facebook Ads. This will allow you to assess and optimise your paid social media performance and improve it over time.
Facebook Pixel provides unique insights into your audience and which customers interact with your Ads. This allows you to create custom audiences, resulting in more efficient and effective paid social media in future ad campaigns.
Instagram is your go-to platform for all things visual. Offering a range of Instagram Ad formats will allow you to connect with your audience in a way that works for them.
Your Instagram ads can appear in many different forms, such as Carousels and Stories. These are created and managed within the Facebook Ads Manager.
TikTok… the social media sensation that held our hands through numerous lockdowns and COVID guidelines. The world of social media saw a powerful new player, TikTok, enter the field in 2020 as it quickly became the most-downloaded app of the year.
TikTok is dedicated to short-form, vertical video content. It differs from all other social media platforms for its high appeal to younger audiences, variety of micro-entertainment and quick resharing options.
As a platform with such high growth, TikTok is an excellent place to reach customers of all demographics – not just Gen Zs! Companies such as RyanAir and Marks and Spencer have utilised the power of TikTok to generate brand awareness and create a community of loyal followers.
Top-View Ads on TikTok are those that appear as soon as users open the app – yours is the first short-form video they will see.
These are videos which appear within the user’s feed as they scroll through the countless videos on their ‘For You’ page. The beauty of Native Ads is that they appear exactly as the others. They appear within the ‘For You’ page meaning they will be tailored to what your customers are actually looking for and interacting with.
Never underestimate the power of your community. Branded hashtags are a great way to invite your customers to make submissions using a particular hashtag related to your brand. This is also a great way to create a backlog of user-generated content.
TikTok Shop is an exciting, new feature within the app that makes browsing and purchasing endlessly fun and entertaining – not to mention easier than ever. Using TikTok Shop campaigns, your business will see exponential growth, as consumers can make off-the-cuff, impulsive purchases without ever having to leave the app.
Essentially, LinkedIn is like a live, virtual CV. As the largest professional network on the Internet, LinkedIn is a social media platform which allows you to connect with businesses you are interested in, as well as with employers, colleagues and clients.
With LinkedIn Ads, you can take your professional networking to the next level as they target a specific audience that is relevant to your business and industry.
As a platform with such high growth, TikTok is an excellent place to reach customers of all demographics – not just Gen Zs! Companies such as RyanAir and Marks and Spencer have utilised the power of TikTok to generate brand awareness and create a community of loyal followers.
Reach those who follow, work at or work within the same industry as a particular company – this might be a direct competitor or even the implicit ones. You can even contact companies based on their size. For example, if you offer a service tailored to start-ups you can target companies with 1-10 companies.
Using LinkedIn Ads, you can target people who work in a specific industry or sector. This can be categorised by skills, years of experience and seniority
Target LinkedIn users based on where they are living, visiting or working using their geographic location.
You can target your LinkedIn audience according to their education. This can include things like fields, schools and degree levels.
There are two main ways to target your LinkedIn Ad audience in relation to their interests – these are professional associations or interests that are apparent on their profile, and areas that LinkedIn users engage with or action.
A key thing to remember when advertising to potential customers across all social media platforms is that they primarily use social media to connect with friends and family – not to shop!
Ultimately, when your customer sits down to unwind at the end of the day – or whenever it might be – and they are scrolling through social media, you interrupt them with your ad. With the help of the professionals at Rapid Agency, you can ensure your paid social media is engaging, exciting and stops users from scrolling on.
Our in-house marketing team will assist you every step of the way with your paid social media marketing strategy, offering monthly reports to let you know what’s going well and what’s not going so well to let you know how we plan to improve.
Get in touch with us today to find out how we can help you accelerate your paid social media marketing strategy.