Advertising through the many social media channels available to garner exposure and conversion from your perfect audiences is everchanging. It can be a daunting and expensive effort if not handled properly (even if you have an agency. More on that later.)

The pressure of choosing the correct messaging, creative and spend while analyzing the data in real time to achieve or surpass your expected ROI goals is essential but also time consuming. Spending a lot of money doesn’t guarantee your success. Through thoughtful strategy, however, any budget can produce incredible conversions.

If you are curious about social media advertising but not sure how to get started or you aren’t seeing the results you want – we can help.

Choosing the correct social media platform for your business is key to the success of your campaign. We’ve broken down a few for you here:

  1. Facebook & Instagram: You can cast a very wide or very specific net.

    With seemingly endless targeting options both broad:

    • a 18-65+ year old
    • m/f
    • living in the United States

    ... OR
    Extremely specific:

    • a 25-32 year old
    • female
    • living in a 8 mile radius of the Pittsburgh Penguins stadium,
    • interested in hockey
    • has a household income in the top 10-25% of US ZIP codes

    … you can’t go wrong finding and placing your ad in front of your audiences’ eyes. With over 2.6 billion monthly active users across the world, you truly can reach any audience you want.

  2. LinkedIn: The world’s largest business-minded content sharing network.

    LinkedIn has quickly grown into the go-to spot for all things business. LinkedIn is inherently different from other advertisers because its users are seeking growth in their careers and education.

    • Users are surfing the platform to make connections, read the news relevant to their industry, and glean tips and tricks from fellow professionals.
    • LinkedIn has some great targeting options they offer such as: skillset, degree, industry, company size & name, job title, job function, interests and more.
    • Depending on your goal (and industry), you will need a personal account. Go to business.linkedin.com and create your campaign manager account to get started.
  3. YouTube: The King of Video.

    YouTube is the largest video sharing platform in the world. A recent Hootsuite study found that YouTube users are uploading 500 hours of video every minute. This is obviously enticing if you are an advertiser because of the sheer volume of content that you can get your ads on.

    • YouTube is projected to make 5.5 billion dollars in advertising revenue – in the United States alone.
    • There are many forms of both video and display ads on YouTube, and to get started you need to create a Google Ads account.
    • Much like Facebook, once you create a Google Ads account, you can simply hit the large + button and select “new campaign” to get started.
  4. Google: Intent driven advertising.

    The final major player in advertising and one of the largest is Google Ads. As mentioned above, you can do many things with Google, including running YouTube ads. However, there are a multitude of additional options that this platform offers.

    • Search campaigns where your target is actively looking for something related to your product.
    • Display campaigns where your target is surfing the web and sees an ad.
    • The important thing to note is that each campaign is intent based. Your target audience is actively interested in what you have to offer. It is now your job to get it in front of them!