I’m back, and this time in #wwudigimark, we’re talking about paid social media. That’s right, all of those ads with the subtitle “sponsored” that you continuously scroll through in your feed, that’s what this blog is all about. While you may find it very annoying to see all of these paid social media ads, they actually do a lot to move consumers through the purchasing funnel. Keep reading to find out how paid social media will help your business.

What Is It?

Paid social media is like the “wonder” section of the Venn diagram. It is the perfect combination of art and science, so if you’ve ever wanted to be both an artist and a scientist, then this is perfect for you. Paid social media is the display of advertisements on popular social media channels that target specific sub-audiences. These are all ads that have been paid to be placed in the location that they are. While organic social media is great because it is free, there are many benefits to paying for your social media ads.

Investing in Paid Social Media

This right here is why you should invest in paid social media. Investing in paid social media is very important. Paid social media is the only way that social media can really make any money for your business. Organic social media is great, but it is rarely seen by many of the people you have as followers. Paid social strategy = social ROI. While brands continue to use social media, it is actually seen that most people are not engaging with it as much even if they use it. Instagram ‘s interactions dropped 40% in 2015 even though companies continue to post while their engagement was only around 2.19 interactions per post. It is important to invest in paid social media because two billion people are using it every day.

Brands that decide to not engage in social media risk falling behind because every other brand is already continuously using it. In 2019 it was predicted that in the US market, social ad spending would top $31 billion making up 29.4% of digital ad spending. This is very important in understanding why companies should invest. Investing in paid social media allows for companies to pay for visibility. Social media ads that get customers to stop and convert or become a lead allows companies to gain more visibility. Paid social media also gives you the opportunity to pay for your audience. You have the opportunity to be selective in who sees the ads and which groups of potential consumers you want to target.

Core, Custom and Lookalike Audiences

There are three different audience types that you can target using paid social media. Facebook Business has described them as core, custom and lookalike. These categories help target these audiences by customizing the type of audience that sees your ad.

• Core audience: You can set the rules for where the ads are delivered. The audience can be adjusted to be as broad or well-defined as you want, based on the criteria of location, behavior, demographics, connections, interests

• Custom audience: allow you to connect with people who have already shows an interest in your business, whether they’re loyal customers or people who have used your app or visited your website.

• Lookalike audience: are a fast and effective way to connect with people likely to respond to your ads. All you have to do is create a source audience of people you know. The ads will then reach people with common interests and traits.

These predefined audiences are another way for companies to maximize the exposure of their company with individuals who are most likely to convert.

Facebook Ads and Their Benefit

Facebook Manager Ads allows the creation and management of paid social media ads. I currently hold the position of marketing assistant at a local nonprofit organization. Part of my role is to monitor and create ads. These ads can be targeted to specific groups of customers. These three examples of ads that I have created will benefit the camp because they each have a different call to action and they also show the difference between advertising to different audiences.

The first ad example would be one that is advertised to a core audience because it is generic, and it can be broad and sent to audiences based on criteria of location, behavior, demographics, connections, and interests.

The second ad can be used to be advertised to a custom audience. This could be to people who are most likely to view the website or based on people who have been identified to have previously visited the website.

The last ad could be used to target a lookalike audience. This could be used for this type of audience because it is sent to people who are likely to respond. This ad shows that there is a way to get involved and gives an outlet for people to become involved with the ad.

Conclusion

Paid social media is one of the best ways to advertise your business. Social media, as we have learned can be very beneficial and while it is nice to have the option to do it for free, paying will pay off in the long run with an ability to generate ROI from the ads. Hopefully this blog has answered all of your questions that you might have as to how to effectively use paid social media. Stay tuned for next week’s lesson in #wwudigimark and don’t forget to pay for some of your advertisements!