A high percentage of the UK population are active users of social media. Millions of your potential customers are browsing social media networks every day. Around 77% of UK adults have an active profile on Facebook, there are almost 31 million Instagram users and around 43% of adults look at Twitter. If you’re not already advertising through social media channels then you could potentially be missing out on millions of customers every day. Setting up social media campaigns can be tricky for non-experts, but there is a lot of help out there. Here at Ieaters Directory, we’re happy to help any organization get the most out of their social media marketing.
What is Social Media Advertising?
Social media advertising just means placing your ads on users’ social media feeds, on sites such as Instagram or Facebook. Social media ads can appear in a wide range of formats from basic simple text, to more sophisticated adverts with animations or images. Any advert which appears is marked on a post as “sponsored”.
Brands of all sizes use social media advertising, from large multinational corporations to smaller companies. Social media advertising is a great way of communicating special offers to customers, and launching new products. Social media advertising is a great way to both build awareness of your business and drive customers to your website.
How Social Media Advertising Works
Social media adverts appear on users’ feeds when they log into Facebook, Instagram, or other social media channels. These adverts appear in different ways to ordinary, non-sponsored posts which you might post on your own social media. Only people who are following your feed or have “liked” your page will see your standard non-sponsored posts. Social ads instead look at factors such as age, location, interests, and other factors, allowing you to show your posts to people who fit your target market but who aren’t following your company on social media already. They may not even be aware of your company.
Social media marketing is therefore a great way to reach new customers and increase the number of people following your main profile.
Social media advertising is usually paid for in two ways. These are:
- Cost Per Mille (CPM) – This is a fee structure where advertisers pay for their advert to be paid a set number of times.
- Pay Per Click – advertisers are only charged when someone sees your advert and then goes on to click on it.
The Importance of Social Media Advertising
There are lots of reasons why companies should be investing in their social media marketing strategy. Some of the main reasons are:
- Popularity – Social media networks continue to grow in popularity. Each network has a slightly different demographic, allowing you to effectively target your audience. Social media audiences are engaged, with most spending several hours per week on their chosen channel.
- Targeted – Social media advertising allows you not only to choose your social media channel but also within that site to carefully target your ad based on the users’ location, age, sex, or hobbies. Using this method ensures that you’re only spending your marketing budget on people for whom your offering is relevant.
- Analytics – As is common with other forms of online advertising, you will be provided with lots of information to help you track how well your adverts are performing. This helps you rework or tweak ads that aren’t working well, or put more budget into promoting a highly-performing advert.
If you are interested in Social Media Management, rebuilding, or redesigning an existing social account why not get in touch to see what we can offer?
