Why Advertise on Social Media?
6 Compelling Reasons to Advertise on Social Media Right Now.
Social media advertising, or social media targeting, are advertisements served to users on social media platforms. Social networks utilize user information to serve highly relevant advertisements based on interactions within a specific platform. In many instances, when the target market aligns with the user demographics of a social platform, social advertising can provide huge increases in conversions and sales with the lower cost of acquisition.
What Are The Benefits Of Advertising On Social Media Channels?
Why is social media advertising your best advertising bet for quick ROI? Because…
- Most channels require a significant lead time to yield an ROI. For example, content marketing works best over time after it has been able to yield backlinks and SEO traction.
- Some channels yield quick results but not day in and day out. For example, influencer marketing can earn you quick results in terms of sales for low effort (though high cost). But those results don’t continue occurring over time. Instead, you earn sales on a per post basis, and often less each time it is posted.
- Some channels are consistent but time-consuming to dial in. For example, AdWords can produce consistent results for your brand, but it takes a while to master and earn specific placement.
With social media advertising, you can have consistent sales coming in from the first day your website is live.
For modern e-commerce sites, the ability to immediately and consistently bring in new customers is a HUGE deal. Even if you can’t achieve net positive revenue on the initial sale, referrals, email marketing, and customer retention can pay off extensively with every marginal customer.
1. Your customers are on social
So, why advertise on social media? Well, your customers are there, and social media ads provide a prime opportunity for you to reach them.
Your customers can be on numerous platforms, including:
Many people are on these social media platforms to keep up with friends, family, and businesses.
Just look at some of the stats that show how many people use social media:
- Facebook has over 2.3 billion monthly active users
- Instagram has over 1 billion monthly active users
- Pinterest has over 335 million monthly users
- Twitter has over 330 million users
- LinkedIn has over 660 million users
As you can see, social media platforms connect you with a lot of people. The fact that you have a good chance of reaching your target market is just one of the many benefits of advertising on social media.
2. You have more precise targeting
The importance of social media advertising lies in targeting.
Social media ads offer precise targeting that enables you to reach people more effectively, which helps you get the best return on investment (ROI) from your advertising budget.
With social media ads, you can target people by:
- Demographics
- Socioeconomic status
- Location
- Buying habits
- Hobbies
- Interests
- And more
So, if you wanted to target men and women between the ages of 18–29 who enjoy hiking and outdoor adventure, you could set targeting perimeters that let you target anyone who fits that profile.
This advanced targeting makes it easier for you to target people most likely to hold an interest in your business. It’s a social media advertising advantage that enables you to reach the right people.
You’ll spend your budget smarter and put your money towards leads with the most interest in your business.
3. You increase brand recognition
One of the most frequent answers to “Why advertise on social media?” is that it helps you increase brand recognition. There are hundreds of people who haven’t discovered your business yet but have an interest in your products or services.
Someone interested in your types of products, like hiking gear, maybe on the lookout for new items. Creating a social media ad can help you direct them towards your hiking gear.
With social media, you help these viable leads discover your brand. You put your brand in their newsfeeds and help them gain brand exposure. They’ll get familiar with your brand’s name and style.
When leads are exposed to your business, they build brand recognition. When it comes time to decide, they’ll remember your brand and turn back to you as a viable option for their needs.
4. You use your budget more wisely
One of the most valuable reasons to advertise on social media is that it allows you to get more from your budget. Social media advertising is extremely cost-effective and enables you to stretch your budget.
Typically, social media ads run on a pay-per-click (PPC) payment model. You don’t pay for people to look at your ad, but rather, you pay when someone clicks on your ad, though you can use an impression- or view-based payment model, which can come in handy for brand awareness campaigns.
Here’s the average cost per click (CPC) on each platform:
- Facebook: $0.97
- Instagram: $3.56
- Twitter: $0.38
- Pinterest: $1.50
- LinkedIn: $5.26
The average across all networks is $2.30.
As you can see, the maximum CPC for individual platforms, at most, falls around $5.
You do have opportunities to obtain leads for less than $1, though. These costs are low, which makes it one of the most important benefits of social media advertising because it enables you to get better results from your budget.
When you combine the low cost of social media advertising with its precise targeting, you’re going to get more qualified leads and spend less obtaining them.
5. Your competitors are already advertising on social
When you ask, “Why advertise on social media?” one of the common responses you’ll get is this: Your competitors are already doing it. You want to stay ahead of your competition, so you don’t lose leads to them.
If you aren’t advertising on social, you’re already behind your competition.
Your competitors are leveraging social media to engage your target audience. By investing in social media advertising, you’re keeping up and pulling ahead of your competition. You’ll get your product or services in front of these interested leads and make yourself a viable option.
6. You get insight into your customers
Ever wish you could know more about what your customers like or don’t like? Customer insights are just one of the many reasons to advertise on social media. When you run a campaign on these platforms, you’ll get valuable insight into what your customers want.
When you run social media advertising campaigns, you learn what types of ads engage your audience and get them to check out your business. Additionally, you can determine which products or services get your audience’s attention and get them to convert.
This insight helps you create better advertising campaigns that resonate with your audience. It’s one of the social media advertising advantages that enables you to earn more conversions for your business.
