Don’t try social ads until you read this first

Social media advertising is a really useful tool in your inbound marketing toolbox. Each comes with its own strengths and weaknesses, though. Take note of them and it can help you with putting out the most suitable, engaging content possible.

Social media, an absolute cornerstone of marketing strategy, doesn’t differentiate between industry or specialism, business or organisation size. It’s a tool you should be using everyday to interact with consumers.

Here is a quick summary of the pros and cons of advertising on each of the four major social media platforms.

1. LinkedIn

Pros

• User base — mainly business professionals.
• Ads almost always seen by business-minded individuals.
• Results in potentially high conversion rates.
• Like Facebook, possible targeting of niche groups through demographics, employee title and location.

Cons

• Low click-through-rates for ads. (Users behind clicks much more qualified than other channels.)
• Typical impressions on Facebook, 1 in 200; on LinkedIn, 1 in 500.
• High cost of running ad campaigns. Extra cost may be worth it if reaching a higher quality audience.

2. Twitter

Pros

• Allows targeting of people based on their current interests.
• Every time someone tweets with a hashtag, you can target them via social media advertising (just like keyword targeting on Google AdWords).
• Effective targeting by honing in on a particular user. (Find someone, e.g. an industry influencer, and target their followers to extend ad reach.)

Cons

• Targeting by interest isn’t easy.
• Selection of interests to choose from extremely limited. (Closest interest category for B2B inbound marketing agency to choose from is “Marketing.” Choosing this will not prove effective, as it includes such a vast industry. Twitter will have the potential to being a great channel to advertise on once the categories are expanded.)

3. Google+

Pros

• Little wonder Google added SEO benefits to Google+.
• Any activity on company page calculated into search optimisation. For someone in your circle, your page will appear before others not in their circles.
• People using Google+ usually more tech-driven than on Facebook or Twitter.
• If this is the right audience, it could be advantageous to use marketing tactics here.
• Features “+Post ads” posted on Google’s Display Network, increasing reach of advertisements considerably. Major advantage as visitors not directed to another website.
• Uniquely, advertiser doesn’t pay for ad if someone doesn’t click on it, only for as many clicks as it gets.
• Downside is Google counts hovering over the ad for more than two seconds as a click.

Cons

• Very low engagement compared with LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.
• Only approx. 540 million users (very low by comparison).
• Doesn’t support advanced targeting options like Facebook.
• Segmentation based on demographic targeting, contextual targeting and device targeting.
• Promotion policies very restrictive; no contests, promos or giveaways.
• Best way to use Google+ is for its SEO feature.
• Still limited: if you’re not in someone’s circles, it won’t help Google to get your website seen by those users.

4. Facebook

Pros

• Facebook has largest audience, well over 1 billion registered users.
• Visibility advantages make Facebook a great choice for small businesses.
• Option to advertise based on location, easily increasing reach.
• Very cost-effective with low cost per day.
• Advanced targeting options allow targeting viewers based on six different categories: location, gender, likes/interests, relationship status, workplace and education.
• A/B testing also available, allowing multiple ad variations and using best performing ad set from ad variations.
• Provides valuable information into effectiveness of each ad you create.

Cons

• Metrics provided for ad performance (currently) miniscule compared to other sites.

Summary

• Paid social media advertising can be beneficial for your business or organisation.
• For best results, however, it should be used in combination with other inbound marketing tactics.