Social Media Advertising 101: How to Get the Most Out of Your Advertising Budget

Social media advertising is a must if you want to reach a new target audience as soon as possible.

Like it or not, organic reach is getting harder to achieve: honestly, the days of going viral without a little boost may be over.

We fully understand that it can be scary to move from an organic social strategy to spending (swallowing) real money to achieve reach. Understanding all of your options is vital to making sure you’re getting the best bang for your buck and working towards the social media goals that matter to you and your brand.

That’s why we’ve put together this extremely detailed guide to explain how to use each unique type of social media ad to drive real business results. Read on to learn how to make every dollar spent on social media advertising count.

What is social media advertising?

Social media advertising is a type of digital advertising. It refers to the practice of spending money to deliver content to a targeted audience on your preferred social media platform.

The number of people who see your ads on social media is called your “paid reach”. This is different from your “organic reach”, which refers to people who view content distributed by the algorithm for free. And obviously, when you pay to host your content, you’re much more likely to connect with the right people.

This is because social media advertising is a hyper-direct way to reach the right audience. You don’t have to cross your fingers or pray to the gods of astrology for you to create a viral post: you can pay to make sure your amazing content gets attention.

Social advertising allows you to target brand new customers or regular customers. (New friends! Hooray!) This is also an opportunity for hands-on A/B testing.

The downside, obviously, is that it will cost you at least a few dollars… but all social platforms offer really flexible rates to suit any type of budget. If you have an A on hand, you have everything you need to dabble in social media ads. (More on how much social media advertising costs below!)

8 main types of advertising in social networks

All the major social networks offer ad options, but that doesn’t mean you should use them all.

When choosing where to place your ads, it’s helpful to know which networks are most popular with your target audience. Where is your target group most involved, most concentrated and most accessible?

Targeting teenagers? TikTok is the place to find them. Meanwhile, moms love Facebook.

Try to see which social networks work organically for your brand. Where does your content naturally resonate with fans? This is the obvious choice for your first social media campaigns.

Here’s a rundown from the latest Pew Research Center social media newsletter. It shows a great snapshot of the platform of choice for different demographics.

Source: Pew Research Center.

Once you understand which social networks are best for your business, let’s take a look at the types of ads on each network.

facebook advertising

Facebook ads help you achieve one of the six main campaign objectives:

  • Awareness
  • Movement
  • betrothal
  • Leads
  • Application promotion
  • Sales

Just like on Instagram, Facebook ads appear throughout the app, including users’ feeds, Stories, Messenger, Marketplace, and more. They look like normal posts, but are always labeled “ad”to show that they are ads. Facebook ads include more features than regular posts such as CTA buttons, links, and product catalogs.

Audience: Facebook is popular across many demographics, with 2.91 billion monthly active users. While millennials are the most active demographic, teens, Gen Xers, and even seniors hang out there too.

Source: Hootsuite Digital Trends report.

With detailed targeting options for this huge user pool, Facebook is a great platform to get started with social media advertising.

Here are the different ad styles available as options on Facebook in 2022.

Image

Image ads are the primary format for Facebook ads. They allow companies to use individual images to promote their products, services, or brand. Image ads can be used across different ad types, placements, and aspect ratios.

Pro Tip: Pay attention to the features and ratios of your image ads so your product doesn’t get cut off or stretched.

facebook

video

Like image ads, Facebook video ads allow businesses to use a single video to showcase their products, services, or brand. They are especially useful for product demonstrations, tutorials, and demonstrations of moving parts.

Source: Facebook

Carousel

Ad carousels showcase up to ten images or videos that users can click on. Each has its own title, description, or link.

Carousels are a great choice for showcasing different products. Each image in the carousel can even have its own landing page, custom-made for that product or service.

Source: Facebook

Games

Playable ads are an opportunity to offer viewers an interactive experience and preview before downloading.

Think of it like a try-before-you-buy option: it’s good to use if you’re selling a game, app, or other digital tool or experience.

Source: Facebook

Collection

Collection ads are mobile storefronts that allow users to scroll through your product line. They are similar to immersive carousels – only full screen and more customizable. Users can purchase products directly from the ad collection.

facebook

Slide show

Slideshow ads consist of 3-10 images or one video that plays as a slideshow. These ads are a great alternative to video ads because they use five times less data than videos.

Slideshows are a great way to get started for people with no video experience.

facebook

stories

Stories ads are a mobile-only full screen vertical video format that allows you to make the most of your screen real estate without expecting viewers to turn their screens sideways.

Stories can be made up of images, videos, and even carousels.

Source: Facebook

Messenger

Messenger ads are displayed on the Facebook messenger tab. Because people spend time chatting with friends and family, Messenger ads can feel more personal than scrolling through image or video ads.

People see your Messenger ad in their conversations and can click to start a conversation with your brand.

facebook

For more information on each of these types of Facebook ads and how to advertise on Facebook, go to our How to Advertise on Facebook guide.

advertising on instagram

Facebook owns Instagram. So it’s not surprising that Instagram ads support the same six broad categories of campaign objectives as Facebook ads:

  • Awareness
  • Movement
  • betrothal
  • Leads
  • Application promotion
  • Sales

Audience: Instagram is most popular among millennials, although many Generation Z and Generation X also use the platform. However, you will find far fewer boomers and older people here than on Facebook.

Source: Digital Trends 2022

Just like on Facebook, you can target your ideal viewer with customizable targeting options. You can also create Lookalike Audiences and define your audience’s behaviors, activities, interests, and demographics.

Ads appear in users’ feeds and stories along with content they follow organically. Instagram ads may also appear in the Explore section and when viewed in the Instagram store. Regardless of where they appear, all Instagram ads have a “sponsored”badge and may also include a call to action button.

Here are the different Instagram ad styles you need to choose between.

Promoted Posts

Your Instagram photo or video will look like a regular Instagram post, except it will say “Sponsored”in the top left corner. Depending on the goal of your campaign, you can also add a call to action button.

Source: Instagram

Carousel

In Instagram carousel ads, viewers swipe across the screen to scroll through different images.

Instagram

instagram stories

Instagram Stories ads can use photos or videos up to 120 seconds long. These ads are displayed in full screen between people’s stories.

Source: Instagram

Coils

Instagram really wants Reels to gain traction, which is why their algorithm currently prioritizes video posts. Posting a boosted video on the Insta-verse will likely give you a double dose of paid reach and organic reach.

Like a traditional video, commercials are looped and can be up to 30 seconds long. Commercials can also be commented, liked, shared, saved, and appear wherever regular videos exist (in the feed, in the Videos tab, and in the Browse section).

Instagram

Instagram Store

This option allows you to advertise your Instagram store on the main page of the Instagram Store tab. Your main image will be displayed as a tile among other shopping content. Users can click on your product to learn more on the product details page.

Instagram

Learn more about Instagram advertising in our Instagram advertising guide.

Advertising on Twitter

Twitter ads support three distinct business objectives:

  • Awareness: Maximize the reach of your ads.
  • Note: If you need video views, previews, app installs, web traffic, interactions or subscribers, this is your category.
  • Conversion. Drive users to your app or website to take action.

Audience: Nearly two-thirds of Twitter’s advertising audience is male.

Learn more about advertising on Twitter here.

Advertisements

Promoted ads on Twitter, formerly known as boosted tweets, are very similar to regular tweets—they can be images, videos, carousels, moments, or text ads. Advertisers pay to show their content to people who don’t already follow them on Twitter.

Like regular tweets, they can be liked, retweeted, and commented on. But they are marked as advertisements: it will always say “Advertised”in the lower left corner.

Twitter

Subscriber Announcements

Previously known as Promoted Accounts, this type of Twitter ad allows you to promote your brand’s entire Twitter account. It is aimed at users who don’t follow your brand and can help increase your business’s Twitter following.

Subscriber ads appear on the potential subscriber timeline. The ad will also appear in “Whom to follow”suggestions and in search results.

Twitter

Gain

Twitter Amplify Pre-roll allows your brand to run ads that appear before video content from over 15 pre-verified brand-safe publisher categories.

Source: Twitter

Adopt

There are two different types of Twitter capture.

Trend Takeover allows brands to run sponsored ads in the What’s Happening section of the Twitter home page and the Trending tab on the Explore screen.

The Timeline Takeover, meanwhile, is an ad that appears at the very top of a user’s timeline when someone opens Twitter for the first time in a day.

Twitter

Twitter Live

Twitter Live is free for any Twitter user, but paid Twitter Live helps brands maximize their reach.

This is a great option for conferences, product launches, or anytime you have an important moment you want to share with the world.

Twitter

Additional branding options

Astute Twitter shoppers have access to polls, hashtags, and more. For example, branded hashtag ads allow you to add a visual component, such as an emoji, that automatically appears when someone uses your hashtag.

Source: Twitter

Of course, all this only scratches the surface. To learn more about advertising on Twitter, click here.

snapchat ads

Advertising on Snapchat can help you achieve three types of marketing goals:

  • Awareness: Reach a large audience to increase awareness of your brand and showcase your products and services.
  • Attention: drive traffic to your website or app, increase engagement and encourage app installs, video views, and lead generation.
  • Conversions: Boost website conversions or catalog sales.

Snapchat Instant Creation is a simplified way to create an image or video ad in less than five minutes. It’s a quick and easy way to get started if you have a simple advertising goal like getting Snapchatter to call your pizzeria.

For more detailed advertising purposes, there is Advanced Create. This is for advertisers with longer-term or specific goals who may need more control over budgets, bidding, or optimization.

Audience feedback: Snapchat is extremely popular among younger users.

A few hot numbers for you: 18 to 24 is the largest age group using Snapchat, followed by people aged 25 to 34 and ages 13 to 17. So if your brand is targeting Gen Z audience, Snapchat should definitely be on your radar.

Single image or video ads

These ads look like organic Snapchat content and are a great format for many purposes, from brand awareness to specific action. An ad can be any photo, GIF or video.

These ads are the “bread and butter”format that should be part of every campaign. Mix and match with any of the other ad types below.

Snapchat

Ad collection

Collection ads are used for sales conversions in ecommerce. You must upload your product catalog to Snapchat Ads Manager to use this format. You can add it manually, or connect to Shopify – or many other platforms – for real-time sync (recommended).

These ads showcase your products in a video or image and allow you to place 4 interactive product tiles at the bottom.

You can also create Dynamic Collection ads. Once you upload a product catalog and complete a few conditions with Snap Pixel, Snapchat will be able to automatically generate dynamic product ads.

Snapchat

story advertising

Story ads on Snapchat are single image or video ads, but in a series. You can have anywhere from 3 to 20 of these ads in a sequence that mimics browsing a friend’s Snapchat story.

In addition to showing up in regular stories, your ad also shows up on the Discover page, which can bring in great views.

Source: Snapchat

Commercial announcements

Do you want guaranteed ad views? Commercials are your answer. These video ads appear in Stories and the first six seconds are non-skippable (although they can be up to three minutes long!).

Snapchat

AR Lens ads and filtered ads

Snapchat’s promotional augmented reality lenses are like sponsored camera filters. You create a “face lens”or “world lens”and Snapchat users can apply it to their content.

Filtered ads, on the other hand, are overlays of static images that users can add to Snaps.

Snapchat

Learn more about creating ads on Snapchat here.

LinkedIn Ads

LinkedIn advertising helps your business with three types of marketing goals:

  • Awareness: Increase awareness of your company or brand.
  • Note: Increase website visits, increase engagement, or encourage video views.
  • Conversions: Capture leads and increase website conversions.
  • Audience: LinkedIn is much more business-focused than the other social networks in this post. It offers targeting options based on professional qualifications such as job title and length of service.

Audience: LinkedIn is much more business-focused than the other social networks in this post. It offers targeting options based on professional qualifications such as job title and length of service.

Let’s get down to business.

Native Ads

There are many different ad formats you can choose from under the umbrella of native ads. Choose between single images, carousels, promotional documents, video ads, or event ads, and then set your budget.

Whatever your style is, it will show up right in your LinkedIn feed along with organic content (although it will be tagged as promoted content, of course).

Messaging on LinkedIn

Send one-on-one direct messages to your target audience’s inbox on LinkedIn. It’s like starting a private chat with all your favorite people at once!

You can either send a personalized direct message or become interactive with Conversation ads, where users are given a series of “choose your adventure”prompts.

Linkedin

Dynamic Ads

LinkedIn dynamic ads are automatically personalized for every person who sees them.

This artificial intelligence magic trick allows you to automate customized campaigns at scale using personal details such as the recipient’s company name, job title, photo, and more gleaned from their profiles.

Maybe a little creepy? Or maybe enough to get their attention.

Source: Linkedin

These are promoted posts — content created just like you, as a regular LinkedIn user, but then given a little paid promotion to reach more people. (Read more about boosting LinkedIn posts here!)

They will appear directly in the regular content stream, but will be highlighted as promoted posts.

Text Ads

LinkedIn text ads are as simple as it gets. Fine-tune your goal to reach only the people you really want and only pay for those who click through.

If you want to reach a specific professional audience and have a clear value proposition that doesn’t need hype to get your point across, this might be the option for you.

One note: they only show up for desktop users, not mobile devices.

Pro Tip: Create two or three variations of your campaign, both for A/B testing and to showcase your versatility to your audience.

Linkedin

Get all the step-by-step instructions you need to set up your LinkedIn ads in our LinkedIn Ads guide.

Pinterest ads

Pinterest ads work with six types of business goals:

  • Brand recognition
  • Video viewing
  • Consideration
  • Conversions
  • Sales by catalog

Audience: Pinterest has significantly more female users than males.

Advertising on Pinterest is very simple. Ads are regular pins (whether static, video, or directories) that you pay to be shown to the audience you want.

paid pins

Your paid pins will show up in users’ home feeds, category feeds, and relevant search results. They will be clearly marked as “advanced”. Very simple!

Get all the step-by-step instructions you need to set up Pinterest ads in our Pinterest Ads guide.

advertising on youtube

YouTube advertising can help you achieve the following business goals:

  • Awareness
  • Consideration
  • Action

Audience: YouTube has more male users than females. The audience is well distributed among the age groups up to 65 years.

Source: Hootsuite Digital Trends report.

There are several different video ad formats available on YouTube.

In-stream advertising

Select skipped or non-skippable (up to 15 seconds) for this option. They run before, during, or after a YouTube video. You can reach an ultra-detailed audience or a broad demographic.

Source: YouTube

Splash Ads

These quick ads are unmissable and are only six seconds long. They can play before, after, or during the video, just like the longer ads in the stream (above). This is a great option if you have something short and quick to share.

Source: YouTube

Video ads in the feed

YouTube feed video ads include a thumbnail of your video next to the text, encouraging viewers to click to watch the video. They may appear next to videos, as part of search results, or on the YouTube mobile homepage.

Source: YouTube

Large-scale announcements

Header listings are VIP listings – they can only be booked after booking with your Google Reseller.

This makes sense as this featured ad appears at the top of the desktop or mobile app site and automatically plays up to 30 seconds. That’s what we call premium positioning, baby!

YouTube

Learn more about Youtube advertising here.

Advertising on TikTok

TikTok ads can help you achieve the following business goals:

  • Website visits
  • Application settings
  • Online sales

Audience opinion: TikTok users are young people! Almost seventy percent of TikToker users are under the age of 34.

Although the TikTok mantra is “Don’t do ads, do TikTok “, they actually offer paid branded solutions. Read the full menu.

Ads in the feed

Make a cool video and pay to get it into the streams of people! Of course, you will have the option to target specific demographics, but ultimately your success will depend on whether your video captures the attention of users.

Get inspired by our guide to creating great TikTok here and get started with the cameras.

Pro Tip: For maximum reach, try the TopView option in the Ad Manager menu to make sure your video plays first when your target audience opens the For You page.

TikTok

Branded hashtag challenge

Hashtags and challenges are the heart of TikTok. Join by paying to have your signature challenge top of the most popular list. This is an engagement that goes beyond clicks — in fact, calls with branded hashtags have an average engagement rate of 8.5%.

Ideally, your creative idea for the challenge will encourage users to spread your brand vibe throughout the TikTokosphere.

TikTok

Signature Effects

Create and share your own branded effect to encourage users to play and create their own unique content.

It’s a great way to incentivize user-generated content outside of your existing fan base… plus, it’s more engaging and interactive than the usual “where’s the skip button”ads.

Source: TikTok

There are several other types of hyper-specific ad opportunities across the wider TikTok app family (many of which are not available globally).

We’ll delve into this more in our guide to TikTok advertising – dig into it!

How much does social media advertising cost?

Annoying truth for each platform: it is different! Budgets can be set on all of these social media sites to suit your financial needs… so you can spend $5 or $50,000.

The results will of course vary accordingly, but the point is that there is an almost infinite range of prices.

That didn’t stop us from breaking it all down by platform, so read on if you need to hear this again in a more specific context.

facebook advertising

There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to Facebook ad budgets. The cost of advertising on Facebook depends on several variable factors, including audience targeting, ad placement, campaign length, your industry competitiveness, season, location, and time of day.

Get full details on how all of these factors affect the cost of Facebook ads here.

But one important takeaway: setting the right campaign objective is the single most important thing you can do to control your Facebook ad spend. (Getting this right will also help you succeed in reaching your goals.)

For example, on average, an Impressions campaign goal costs $1.85 per click, while a campaign with a Conversions goal costs $0.87 per click.

Learn more about how to advertise on Facebook here.

advertising on instagram

The cost of advertising on Instagram is highly dependent on many factors – there is no average or benchmark price. Some cost factors include your target demographic, industry, or time of year.

The best way to estimate your budget is to create a campaign draft in Ads Manager and find the Audience Definition and Estimated Daily Results modules. This will tell you if your budget settings will be sufficient to reach the desired audience within the desired time frame.

Learn more about Instagram advertising and how to control your spending in our Instagram Advertising Guide.

Advertising on Twitter

There is no minimum amount for advertising on Twitter, so you can pay as much as you want. But that doesn’t mean that the cost of advertising on Twitter is completely up to you.

Like most social networks, Twitter places its ads on an auction system. You set the bid you are willing to pay for a specific action, as well as the daily budget for your campaign.

Generally, the higher your bid, the more likely your ad will be shown to your target audience. But this is not the only factor.

When considering which ads to show, Twitter also considers how engaging your ads are. An audience with high demand will also be more expensive.

This means you can lower the cost of your Twitter ads by focusing on quality creative and relevant ad targeting.

According to AdEspresso, in terms of dollars and cents, most Twitter ad objectives cost between $0.50 and $3.00 per action.

Learn more about how to set up a Twitter ad campaign here.

snapchat ads

We seem to be repeating ourselves here: the exact cost of advertising on Snapchat varies greatly depending on your goals, formats, audience, and so on.

However, we can share one hard fact: the minimum spend is $5. (Though what you get for that $5 really depends on what you buy. Sorry!)

Learn more about Snapchat advertising strategy and implementation here.

LinkedIn Ads

Surprise, surprise: it depends! The cost of LinkedIn advertising will depend entirely on the specific goals of your campaign, your desired audience, and your choice of ad format.

You start each campaign by placing a bid that matches your budget. LinkedIn ads are then sold through an ad auction where you compete against everyone else trying to reach the same audience. The more popular the audience, the higher the price will be. The best way to reduce costs is to target your target audience.

Learn more about LinkedIn ad pricing here, or back up and get the complete guide to LinkedIn advertising here.

Pinterest ads

Our Pinterest Ads Guide offers some hard numbers: “While each campaign and ad format differs, the average Pinterest ad cost in 2021 was $1.50 per click.”

So, of course, your final score will vary greatly depending on how many clicks you get, what kind of ads you create, and who your target market is, but… hey, at least you have a starting point, right?

Learn more about how to maximize your ad spend on Pinterest here.

advertising on youtube

YouTube ads don’t have a fixed cost. We know this is probably not the answer you want, but it’s true! There are so many factors involved that it is impossible to even give an approximate figure. As YouTube itself says: “You are responsible for how much you spend.”

You set the maximum CPC you’re willing to pay, but your actual costs may be even lower depending on how in demand your desired audience or placement is.

Learn more about Youtube advertising and costs here in our Youtube advertising guide.

Advertising on TikTok

There may not be a direct answer to how much TikTok ads cost, but there are some minimum budgets to work off of.

Because TikTok ads are based on a bidding model, the daily budget for campaigns is set at $50.

Examples of social media ads to learn from

Okay, we know, we know, it’s been a lot. But it’s time to get some inspiration before we dive into some important tips.

This Gap ad on Facebook uses a carousel format to showcase a single product in multiple colors. (And yet… do we want to buy them all?)

The makers of this bed have cleverly targeted people who listen to Chill Hop—perhaps the audience of people who like to feel sleepy and cozy and fall asleep abnormally.

Get inspired here to think outside the box about your target audience. What content can they consume?

On TikTok, Threadbeast promoted a video showcasing the subscription box, filming it in a very authentic, unboxing video style that would blend in seamlessly with the organic content… but stand out with an intriguing call to action: “Who wants a mystery box?

Today is #NationalMilkDay and we are giving positive energy all day long with Milk Grams🥛 📲

Write a comment below and tag a friend. You can get special delivery today 👀🧵 pic.twitter.com/sWicXST9O4

– Do you have milk? (@gotmilk) January 11, 2021

Got Milk used promoted tweets to share videos of special “Milk Gram”deliveries made as part of the campaign. Twitter users could tag a friend who could receive a special surprise in real life and be featured in the next promoted video. Circle of life!

Takeaway? Think about how you can combine real life experiences with digital experiences to create content and inspire admiration.

Top Tips for Beginner Social Media Advertisers

1. Know what business goal you are trying to achieve

It’s no coincidence that we start each section of this guide by looking at the business goals that each type of social media advertising can help you achieve. It’s awfully difficult to reach your goals if you don’t know what your goals are in the first place.

Understanding your end goal is critical. This ensures that you choose the right social network for advertising and find the right advertising solution on this platform. Your goal will even guide your creative strategy.

2. Know your target audience

The ability to microtarget your ad campaigns is one of the key benefits of social media advertising. That’s why we’ve listed some audience considerations for each of the social networks.

Keep in mind that they all offer pretty specific ad targeting. Know exactly who you’re trying to reach to get the most out of these targeting options. This ensures that you get the most bang for your ad spend.

After all, it doesn’t make sense to advertise to football moms in Florida if your audience is young male gamers from New Jersey. Developing audience personas can help you understand exactly which audience segments to focus on.

3. Let your organic posts inform your ads

You probably already post content to Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram every day. Maybe LinkedIn and Snapchat too.

Some of these posts will resonate with followers, while others will not. Track which ones are clicked, liked, shared and commented. These highly effective messages are the best candidates for social advertising.

If you are entering a new network with social media advertising, start small. Use what you’ve learned from your organic posts as a starting point. However, be aware that these lessons will not necessarily be broadcast on social media.

4. Pay for what matters: impressions or participation

To keep your budget under control, consider whether you want impressions or interactions.

In many cases, you will pay by cost per thousand impressions (CPM) or cost per click (CPC). If you pay every time someone sees your ad (impressions), your message can cast a wide net. But if you’re paying for engagement, you want only people who are really interested in doing business with you to get involved.

You do not want to pay for participation that is not relevant to your business goals. The wording of your ad should help people determine if it’s for them.

Engagement and impression campaigns can be beneficial for your business. You just need to choose the right option that suits your business goals so that you only pay for real business results.

Here’s some more information on what metrics to track to get the most out of your social media marketing campaign.

5. Design ads with mobile in mind

More than 3.25 billion active social media users access social media from mobile devices.

This means that most social media ads are viewed on mobile devices. Your mobile ads should be specifically designed for the small screen. Include images that are easy to view on a handheld device. (Unless, of course, you’ve specifically chosen a desktop placement.)

If you have a physical business, you can use “geofences”to target mobile users when they are in a specific zip code. This means they only see your ad when they’re close enough to walk through your front door.

6. Test your ads to optimize their performance

One of the great benefits of social advertising is instant feedback. You can evaluate the performance of a sponsored post in minutes and get additional analytics reports.

It’s best to test a few ads with a small audience to see what works best, and then use the winning ad in your main campaign.

Comparing one ad to another to determine what works best and refine your strategy is called A/B testing. This is an important part of your social media advertising. We’ll teach you how to do this in our social media A/B testing guide.

7. Measure and communicate results

Just as it’s important to know your goals before launching an ad campaign, it’s important to measure your results. This will let you know if you have achieved your goals. It shows you what worked and what didn’t so you can improve in the future.

Measuring your results and having specific data about the value your ads bring to the company (purchases, leads, etc.) is a key part of ROI proof.

And if you can prove that your ads are paying off, it will ensure that you get the budget you need to keep your work going.

The major social networks offer analytics to help you measure the results of your ads.

  • Facebook Analytics
  • Instagram analytics
  • Twitter Analytics
  • Analytics LinkedIn
  • Snapchat analytics
  • Pinterest Analytics
  • YouTube analytics
  • Analytics TikTok

You can also use tools like Google Analytics and Hootsuite Impact to measure results across networks from a single dashboard. A social media report is a great way to keep track of your results and find great content to promote with social ads.

Frequently Asked Questions About Social Media Advertising

Why is social media advertising important?

Social media advertising can help you reach new, hyper-specific audiences for a relatively small investment. Organic reach can only give you what you need, and by spending some cash you can help your content get the attention it deserves.

Social ads allow you to target your ideal audience based on their behavior, interests, demographics, and more. You can tweak the variables and experiment to see what gets you the most action, even if you only have a small amount to spend.

You also get tons of data to review after the fact so you can clearly see what worked and what didn’t with your campaign.

bottom line? Social media advertising is important because it can be very effective, direct, and within your budget. Let’s see how the billboard does it all.

What is the most effective social media advertising?

According to our Digital Trends research, Instagram’s ad reach surpassed Facebook last year… which is staggering when you consider that ads reach over 72% of Facebook’s 3 billion monthly active users.

So if “effective”means “reaching as many people as possible”, then Instagram is your answer… but that might be an oversimplification.

More difficult answer: it depends. Your brand’s most effective social media ad may be completely different from mine. Your goals and unique audience composition will determine the right platform for you.

For example, if you’re building a Twitter scheduling tool (ahem) and want to increase your sales, then Twitter ads will probably get you more than a Snapchat campaign.

Take a look inside and then check out this social media advertising statistics report. Then you will see that the most effective social media advertising has always been inside you.

You have reached the end! You deserve a treat. Here is an owl flying with a broom and scaring the locals.

Now that your tastes have been cleared: can we interest you in a 30-day premium Hootsuite trial? It’s a social media dashboard where you can schedule all your social media ads in one place – exactly what an expert like you needs.

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