Social Media Advertising: Cost, Benefits, and Tips for 2024

 

In today’s digital age, social media advertising is essential for businesses aiming to expand their reach and achieve tangible results. With organic reach dwindling, adding a budget to your social media strategy ensures your content reaches the right audience. This guide will help you understand the ins and outs of social media advertising, its benefits, and how to get the best return on your investment.

What is Social Media Advertising?

Social media advertising involves spending money to promote your content on social platforms to reach a targeted audience. This paid reach is different from organic reach, which relies on algorithms to distribute your content.

Top 3 Benefits of Social Media Advertising

1. Targeted Reach: Social platforms offer precise ad targeting, allowing you to reach audiences most likely to be interested in your products, maximizing your ad spend.
2. Real-Time Feedback: Social ads provide instant feedback, enabling you to adjust your strategy and budget allocation quickly for the best-performing ads.
3. Trackable ROI: Social ad reports offer clear insights into the financial impact of your campaigns, making it easier to measure success in dollars and cents.

Key Social Media Advertising Platforms

Identifying the best platforms for your advertising depends on where your target audience is most active. Here’s a quick overview:

Facebook Ads

• Objectives: Awareness, traffic, engagement, leads, app promotion, and sales.
• Formats: Photo, video, stories, messenger, carousel, slideshow, collection, playable.

Instagram Ads

• Objectives: Awareness, traffic, engagement, leads, app promotion, and sales.
• Formats: Photo, video, stories, carousel, reels, Instagram Shop.

TikTok Ads

• Objectives: Reach, traffic, video views, community interaction, product sales, website conversions, lead generation, and app promotion.
• Formats: Image, video, carousel, topview, spark ads, playable ads, live shopping ads, video shopping ads.

X (Twitter) Ads

• Objectives: Reach, video views, app installs, website traffic, engagement, app re-engagement, and website conversions.
• Formats: Promoted Ads, vertical video ads, amplify, takeover, dynamic product ads, collection ads.

Snapchat Ads

• Objectives: Awareness, snap promote, promote places, app installs, drive traffic to website or app, engagement, video views, lead generation, website conversions, catalog sales, app conversions, calls, and texts.
• Formats: Single image or video ads, collection ads, story ads, lenses AR experiences, commercials, filter ads.

LinkedIn Ads

• Objectives: Brand awareness, website visits, engagement, video views, lead generation, website conversions, and job applicants.
• Formats: Single image ads, video ads, carousel ads, event ads, document ads, thought leader ads, sponsored messaging, text ads, spotlight ads, and follower ads.

Pinterest Ads

• Objectives: Brand awareness, video views, consideration, conversions, catalog sales.
• Formats: Image ads, video ads, carousel ads, shopping ads, collections ads, idea ads, showcase ads, quiz ads.

YouTube Ads

• Objectives: Awareness, consideration, action.
• Formats: In-stream ads, bumper ads, in-feed video ads, masthead ads.

Inspiring Social Media Advertising Examples

1. Good Protein on TikTok: By using Spark Ads to promote creator content alongside brand ads, Good Protein improved average watch time by 25%.
2. PureGym on Instagram Reels: Utilizing lo-fi, handheld Reels ads increased Thruplays by 5.6 times and reduced ad creation costs.
3. NARS Cosmetics on Instagram Shop: Testing Instagram Shop checkout options increased ROI by 6% and decreased cost per purchase by 24%.
4. Cetaphil on Pinterest: Aligning content with trending topics and using the Pinterest Trend Badge led to a 4.5% increase in brand awareness.

Social Media Advertising Costs in 2024

The cost of social media advertising varies greatly due to factors like keyword value and timing. Typically, you’ll pay either cost per thousand impressions (CPM) or cost per click (CPC).

• CPM: Pay every time someone sees your ad, which is ideal for increasing awareness.
• CPC: Pay only for clicks, best for targeting valuable potential customers.

In recent trends, CPM has been decreasing, with a notable drop from $6.52 in Q4 2022 to $6.06 in Q4 2023.

5 Tips for a Better Return on Your Social Ads

1. Leverage Organic Performance: Boost top-performing organic posts to create effective social ads.
2. Run A/B Tests: Test multiple ads with small audiences to find the best-performing ones for your main campaign.
3. Define Your Business Objective: Clear objectives help choose the right social network and advertising solutions.
4. Understand Your Target Audience: Develop audience personas to utilize targeting options effectively.
5. Measure and Report Results: Use analytics to track ad performance and ROI, ensuring you get the necessary budget for future campaigns.

How to Manage Social Media Ads with Hootsuite

Managing your social ads alongside organic content provides a comprehensive view of your social strategy. Here’s how to do it:

1. Create Your Ad Campaign: Use Hootsuite Composer to select your platform, and define your objective, audience, budget, and timing.
2. Boost Posts: Easily boost posts on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn from one dashboard.
3. Analyze Results: Use Hootsuite’s analytics to get detailed insights into ad performance and ROI.

Integrating your paid and organic strategies helps strengthen connections with existing customers and reach new ones. Try Hootsuite Social Advertising to manage all your social media activity and measure your social ROI effectively.