Traversing the Social Media Advertising Solar System

I know it’s not necessary to convince you of the importance of social media. What with 2.31 billion active social media users (and 1.97 billion mobile social media users worldwide), social is a very popular channel and your company is surely already active on it. Social networks constantly update their algorithms, trying to provide users with better experiences (i.e. less promotional content and more posts that are deemed relevant to what the user wants to see, read, and engage with.) This means that marketers need to do more than just rely on organic posts. There is too large a likelihood of such posts not being seen by your brand’s entire targeted audience. Paid promotion gets your social posts seen by your intended audience.

But where to begin? Which platforms should you invest in? There is an abundance of social media advertising options and if you’re lacking experience, the whole process can feel like a trip to the moon. Marketing automation software company Marketo created a fun infographic that explains various ways you might use paid advertising on a few of the major social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

If you’re trying to decide which social platforms to start with, keep in mind that your audience may be active on several social media networks but they are after different types of content on each one and they interact with the various platforms in different ways. This means, you do not need to ‘pay-to-play’ across all platforms. Conduct tests to determine which ad types work for your audience and on which platform. Determining the right messaging and content to engage your audience is crucial. Happy advertising!