Marketing
Popular Social Platforms For Paid Advertising
It’s time to think beyond Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, as third-party data is out, and first-party and zero-party data is in.
Businesses and marketers are always on the hunt for new channels to attract customers and social media is still where most of the action is happening.
Below, check out the four social channels that should be part of your paid advertising roadmap.
TikTok
The time has come for the TikTok takeover. The Chinese-born, short-form video app has taken the world by storm since it was introduced in 2018, clocking in over 660 million worldwide downloads. That’s more than both YouTube and Instagram.
Aimed at Gen Z (16-24 years old), TikTok continues to enjoy exponential growth. But will it fail like the previous quick-video app, Vine? It’s a fair question, given the similarities between the two apps, but TikTok is made of sturdier stuff. TikTok already has a strong user base of 500 million active users, which is more than double of Vine at its peak.
In April 2019, TikTok launched a beta version of its biddable ad software. With this current option, you can produce fun, engaging in-feed video ads with three action models:
- CPC (cost per click)
- CPM (cost per thousand views)
- CPV (cost per view (over six seconds))
TikTok recently introduced a Video Creation Kit to make things easier for you, letting you easily build hilarious video ads that your audience will love.
Don’t forget that most TikTok users are 16-24 years old, so you must stay current on Gen Z trends and opinions. To help you do so, and to keep track of what your audience is saying about your brand online, then you should think about using a social media monitoring tool to give eyes and ears to your business.
Overall, TikTok’s still ironing out the paid advertising kinks. Still, it’s one of the most exciting and fast-growing social platforms that you should consider for your paid advertising campaigns. If you want to get ahead of the curve, the TikTok clock is ticking.
Bored of Instagram? Pinterest should pique your interest. Over 300 million people use this image and video-sharing platform every month, and it’s one of the latest social marketing channels to keep tabs on.
Pinterest is relatively new to the PPC game, but it still offers an impressive range of campaign avenues, which can be tailored depending on the goal you want to achieve.
For instance, if you’re focusing on brand awareness, you can pay per 1000 impressions (CPM) for your ads or per video view (of two seconds or longer).
If your main goal is to drive users down the marketing funnel, then you have a few paid advertising options:
- CPC links to your website or app download page
- CPA (cost per acquisition/conversion)
- CPM/CPC on your product catalogue
You can only benefit from the CPA format if you generate 50+ conversions per week, so it’s suitable for large brands only.
Pinterest’s ad targeting options are impressive, too. Not only can you filter by age, gender, device, and location, but you can also filter your adverts to a specific level.
The platform’s algorithm will tailor your adverts based on each user’s interests which they have ‘pinned’ to their board (this is how Pinterest works, after all), whether it’s coffee, autumnal walks, or surfing. Pinterest’s level of target personalisation is what sets it apart from Facebook and Instagram.
Snapchat
Like TikTok, Snapchat is a Gen Z favourite and should be your starting point when advertising to 16-24-year-olds. Also, with over 3.5 billion snaps every month, it’s showing no signs of slowing down.
Snapchat is fun to use and fun to monetise. It allows more room for creativity than Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram does, thanks to its AR (augmented reality), crazy filter tools, and young user base. With Snapchat, the advertising options include:
- Snap ads – users will see these when clicking through their friends’ stories.
- Collection ads – Snapchat’s latest ad function allows you to add your products to your story. In fact, eBay saw a x5 higher engagement rate using Collection Ads than with the snap ads promoting the same products.
- AR lenses and filters – Snapchat’s USP lets you add filters and augmented reality to the user’s selfie camera, on which you can add links to your website or app. Don’t hold back on this one. The crazier, the better!
- Story ads – these appear in the ‘for you’ section within the ‘discover’ option which can be tailored to your users’ interests.
You can already see how Snapchat can supercharge your digital marketing campaign, but it doesn’t stop there. It tells you which data provider your customer insights are coming from, providing access to a much deeper level of customer information than with other social channels.
With this detailed information, you can filter your adverts to categories like BBC news viewers, rugby fans, recent visitors to Sainsbury’s, and much more.
By no means a new social platform, LinkedIn is the online network for professionals and B2B connections. You should use LinkedIn as part of your digital marketing strategy for many reasons.
LinkedIn’s 660 million active users are all professionals. This means each user you advertise to is likely closer to the sales funnel than a Snapchatter, Instagrammer or Tweeter would be.
Also, thanks to the skills-based nature of LinkedIn, you can target your PPC ads with specific, professional filters, including degrees, work experience, industries, skill sets, job titles, and many other factors.
In terms of advertising options, you can create sponsored content on the newsfeed, sponsored InMail (private message), or some text ads. LinkedIn is more expensive to advertise on than other social channels, but you’re paying for quality over quantity when it comes to your audience.
With social media advertising becoming saturated by the day, it’s time to rethink your strategy. TikTok, Pinterest, Snapchat, and LinkedIn represent new or underused roads for your paid marketing. Start using these channels, and your business should stay ahead of the trends and ultimately ahead of your competitors.
