Keep reading for an overview of social media advertising options on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Twitter. Running Social Media Ads on Facebook & Instagram Because Facebook owns Instagram, they make it really easy to run ads on both social media platforms. Engagement: Those that interacted with your brand on Facebook or Instagram Lookalike audience (based on your page’s followers): Facebook will look at your followers’ behavior and create a list of other users with similar behavior Saved lists (based on new contacts): These lists are built based on criteria you’ve determined targets your ideal customer, such as: Location Age Income Lifestyle Hobbies Life events Demographics Interests Facebook’s Social Media Ad Types Single Image: Choose a high-quality visual that encourages users to click through to your website or app. Video: Create a video and upload it to Facebook to use as your ad alongside a compelling update a link through to your landing page. Website visitors LinkedIn’s Social Media Ad Types Sponsored Content: These are social media ads that show up directly in users’ feeds and look very similar to the types of updates you would post on your company page. LinkedIn recommends using them for: Targeting highly specific B2B audiences Driving traffic to your website or specific landing pages Attracting quality job candidates Running Social Media Ads on Pinterest Pinterest’s Social Media Ad Targeting Are you trying to target women? According to the social media network’s research: 93 percent of users use Pinterest to plan purchases 61 percent say they’ve discovered new brands or products from Promoted Pins 50 percent of users have made a purchase after seeing a Promoted Pin Here are the four ways to target Pinterest users: Actalike: Users with similarities to your current followers Audience: Current customers, engaged users and website visitors Interests: Based on what users like as they browse the platform Keywords: Based on terms users are searching Pinterest’s Social Media Ad Types One of the nice things about Pinterest’s ads is they all blend into the social media users’ feeds. Running Social Media Ads on Twitter Twitter’s Social Media Ad Targeting Although it’s ranked the fifth most popular social media network for adults across the country, Twitter is often beneficial for small and medium-sized businesses. Each day, Twitter adds your first ten tweets to a Promoted Tweets queue that’s set up to reach your target audience. Promoted Video: This one is just like the Single Image Tweets, except with a single video rather than a single image.
Is advertising part of your social media strategy? While organic social media marketing plays an important role in a successful content marketing campaign, it’s becoming more and more important to pair your non-paid updates with a paid strategy.
According to PwC’s Global Consumer Insights Survey 2018, most consumers turn to social media to get inspiration for purchases. Therefore, it would follow that brands should invest their time and resources to reach as many consumers as possible via social media.
Not all social media ad platforms are created equally, though. How do you know which platforms are best for your target audience? In addition to having a thorough understanding of whom you’re trying to reach and which social media options they use, it helps to have a clear picture of each platforms’ capabilities.
Keep reading for an overview of social media advertising options on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Twitter.
Running Social Media Ads on Facebook & Instagram
Because Facebook owns Instagram, they make it really easy to run ads on both social media platforms. Through one dashboard you have the flexibility to target users on either one or both, as well as the ability to pick and choose where your ads will show up: in the news feed, as Stories, in Messenger and more.
Facebook & Instagram’s Social Media Ad Targeting
Research shows 68 percent of U.S. adults use Facebook and 35 percent use Instagram. If you’re targeting younger users, the numbers go up:
- 18-24 year olds:
- 80 percent use Facebook
- 71 percent use Instagram
- 25-29 year olds:
- 80 percent use Facebook
- 54 percent use Instagram
When it comes to social media ads, Facebook and Instagram continue to be two platforms you’ll want to consider investing in. In addition to a wide range of users, they offer a lot of flexibility in terms of targeting users:
- Custom lists (based on your current contacts):
- Customer file: Your e-newsletter recipient list
- Website traffic: Those that visited your website
- App activity: Those that used your app
- Offline activity: Those that visited your store, contacted you by phone, etc.
- Engagement: Those that interacted with your brand on Facebook or Instagram
- Lookalike audience (based on your page’s followers): Facebook will look at your followers’ behavior and create a list of other users with similar behavior
- Saved lists (based on new contacts): These lists are built based on criteria you’ve determined targets your ideal customer, such as:
- Location
- Age
- Income
- Lifestyle
- Hobbies
- Life events
- Demographics
- Interests
Facebook’s Social Media Ad Types
- Single Image: Choose a high-quality visual that encourages users to click through to your website or app.
- Video: Create a video and upload it to Facebook to use as your ad alongside a compelling update a link through to your landing page.
- Collection: Showcase items from your product catalog to encourage shopping; the items displayed are customized for your audience and products can be purchased without leaving Facebook.
- Carousel: Feature three to ten images or videos, each with their own link, within a single ad.
- Slideshow: Create a slideshow within Facebook’s Ads Manager to run as a video ad; you can upload your photos and use the platform to set the speed, choose background music, etc.
- Instant Experience: A full-screen, mobile-optimized social media experience that comes up when users click on the ad.
- Lead Generation: Using an image, video or carousel ad, users are presented with a lead form to provide their details, so they can learn more about your business.
- Offers: Choose whether you want these discounts to appear as an image, video or carousel.
- Post Engagement: Take an update you’ve already posted to your page and boost it to deliver more likes, comments, shares and views; these are perfect to use on organic posts that resonate well with existing followers.
- Event Responses: Promote awareness of your event and drive responses; the ads can appear as an image or video.
- Page Likes: Increase your page’s number of followers by using these ads; they use an image or video.
Instagram’s Social Media Ad Types
Instagram offers a variety of social media ad types, too. They appear in users’ feeds and Stories, and can be managed either within Instagram itself or using Facebook’s Ads Manager.
- Photo: Uses a single image, either in square or landscape format.
- Video: Share up to 60 seconds of video to capture users’ attention, also available in a square or landscape format.
- Carousel: Similar to Facebook’s Carousel Ads, choose three to ten images or videos for users to swipe through within a single ad.
- Stories: Full screen, vertical ads that show up seamlessly alongside Stories users are watching.
- Collection: Similar to Facebook’s Collection Ads, brands can use these ads to showcase products users can purchase directly from the app.
Running Social Media Ads on LinkedIn
LinkedIn’s Social Media Ad Targeting
According to the Pew Research Center, “LinkedIn remains especially popular among college graduates and those in high-income households. Some 50 percent of Americans with a college degree use LinkedIn, compared with just 9 percent of those with a high school diploma or less.”
If you’re targeting business professionals in certain fields – especially those that require advanced degrees – LinkedIn may be the best social media platform for your ads.
There are four ways to build your target audience:
- Contact lists from your…
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