Is Paid Social Media Worth The Investment?

In this article we will explore whether paid social media worth the investment. 

The increase in social media for marketing has led the leading platforms to adopt a paid advertising model. Paid Social Media is a great way to appear in front of your audience ahead of your competitors.

As well as being able to reach those who may not be a part of your following. However, the investment needed sometimes deters people. 

What is Paid Social Media?

Paid social media is the method of displaying adverts or sponsored messages on your chosen social media platforms. With each platform you can attract different people, and different messages will promote different actions.

The use of paid social media has become more popular over time, with more and more businesses adopting it in their marketing plan.

Paid Social Media Strategy

Building your paid social media strategy does not need to be difficult. When building it out, you are effectively looking at the platform’s individual merits. Then you can begin looking at how you can create, schedule and post targeted ads.

The following platforms are the most popular, and provide the best paid ads structures:

• Facebook 

Facebook was one of the first platforms to introduce paid advertising. The model in which they operate is very clear, and with the introduction of Instagram under their banner you can really broaden your horizons. The best platform to use when it comes to Facebook is their targeted ads plan. 

This platform works much like a bidding system, and allows advertisers to bid on a number of ads based on their target audience.

That ad is then placed into a ‘lottery’ and if picked will run. Their platform allows you to show ads to your customers based on their search and click behaviour.

A very good way to generate leads, as it allows you to really drill down on how best to reach them. 

• Twitter 

Unlike with all the other social media platforms, with Twitter you barely know that it is a paid ad.

They have devised a way so they look like normal tweets, and it means that your ad is viewed more by your audience. Twitter reported recently that around 41% of buyers would purchase within one month of seeing an ad.

This therefore means that focusing on key demographics should return some form of revenue.

The demographics could include age, location, gender and also interests. Allowing you to create a bespoke ad. With twitter as well you are able to run a variety of advert types. Once again very important if you are looking to potentially attract different demographics within your overall audience. 

• Instagram 

Instagram is one of the biggest social media platforms in the world currently, and businesses are not in short supply. Around 200 million people visit at least one business profile page every day, so why not make it yours?

With these numbers the platform is very competitive but there are ways in which you can attract your audience. Using a business profile on Instagram will give you that boost.

With Facebook taking on Instagram in recent years, you can now run ads across both platforms and they are also managed through the ads platform they have developed.

Being able to analyse two platforms at once really does help to compare each platform’s ROI.

Using Instagram ads is a great way to generate traffic to your page or even to your website. The diverse way in which you can build the ads is also an advantage.

They can be single images, videos, slideshows or even ads that appear in the stories section. With this you can really tailor your paid ads to meet the audience you are looking to attract. 

• LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the ultimate business networking tool, and as a platform contains millions of professionals.

With over 600 million professionals, and over 10% of them in decision maker positions, LinkedIn really is a businesses owners playground. The way in which LinkedIn allows you to conduct your paid ads is also very different. 

Much like a search engine it allows you to focus on key words and also select audiences. This allows you to be more specific with your marketing, and not just generic as some of the other platforms.

LinkedIn really does cater to all sizes of business, and when done correctly you can see your audience, and also engagement increase. 

To Conclude

Is paid social media worth the investment?

In a short answer, yes! Paid social media is a great outlet to improve your social media following, and also generating more traffic. Understanding the potential return on investment, and also how much you need to invest is key to making sure you are successful.

Take a look at what your competitors are doing, and also make sure you know how each platform operates. 

Take a look at our Knowledge Hub for more marketing related information.