How to Advertise on Social Media: Stop Scrollin’. Here’s What to Know

If you’ve ever wondered how to advertise on social media, you’ve come to the right place! With so many platforms out there, how do you know the types of social media advertising that your company needs and how to utilize them properly? There are plenty of options out there and on this page, we’ll talk about them all.

To learn more, keep reading, but if you’d like to speak with a marketing specialist, feel free to give us a ring at 888-601-5359!

How to advertise on social media

Learn how to advertise on social media now:

1. Choose your platforms

How do you know what platforms will work best for your business? There are a few aspects you can determine upfront to help you make some guesses as to which type of social media platform will work best. However, it’s best to test your ads on a variety of platforms to see which one delivers the best results.

Here’s a basic guide to help you decide the best social media advertising platforms for your business:

Advertise on Facebook if:

• You want to appeal to one of the biggest social media audiences
• You want to advertise a specific product or service
• You want to boost brand awareness
• You want to chat directly with customers via messaging
• You want to increase clicks to your website
• You want to target based on interests and online behavior

Advertise on Instagram if:

• You want to advertise a variety of products in one ad
• You already advertise on Facebook
• You want to chat directly with customers via messaging
• You want to appeal to new target audiences
• You want to retarget

Advertise on Snapchat if:

• You want to make geofencing part of your advertising plan
• You want to advertise a specific event
• You want to try selling one specific product or service
• You want to target primarily millennials

Advertise on Twitter if:

• You want to try a wide variety of ad formats
• You don’t want to spend a lot of money
• You want to boost brand awareness
• You want to increase website traffic

Advertise on LinkedIn if:

• You want to advertise to professionals
• You want to advertise to a specific income level, degree level, or industry
• You want to advertise an event or conference

2. Create an audience persona

It’s time to get creative. The second step is to create an audience persona for your ideal customer. This persona will help you determine exactly what qualities you want to target and will help you decide which social media advertising platforms work for you.

For example, if you want to advertise a huge event that you have coming up that caters to senior college students, LinkedIn would be a fantastic place to advertise — simply because of the marketing persona that you created. Similarly, if your ideal customer is a millennial that lives on their own and has a job, Snapchat would be a great place for you to advertise. Your target persona should include things like:

• Age
• Gender
• Specific location
• Degree
• Marital status
• Interests
• Online behavior
• Job industry

3. Decide on your ad budget

Another important step in your social media advertising journey is to decide on your ad budget. This step is crucial because skipping it can cause you to spiral out of control in the finance department. Ads can suck up a lot of spend if you allow them to, which is why it’s so important to choose a budget and stick to it.

You should start by determining an overall ad budget — you’ll divide this amount among all your platforms after you decide which are best for you. Setting this overreaching ad budget will help you stay on track and give you a spending cap to keep in mind.

4. Determine your goals

What do you want to accomplish with your social media ads? Are you looking to drive more traffic to your website, sell more products, or improve brand awareness? Maybe you want to do all three!

Whatever the case may be, determining your ad goals upfront will give you something to work toward. If you’re not accomplishing those goals with the ad strategy you start with, you’ll know its time to change up your strategy.

5. Decide if you’d like to hire a social media marketing company

If you run your own business, taking over your ad strategy might be more than your plate can handle. In that case, many business owners turn to social media marketing agencies to help them design, craft, and launch their social media ads. Not only that but when you work with an agency you get the added benefit of advertising advice based on years of experience.

WebFX can help teach you how to advertise on social media

If you’re looking for an in-house team of social media advertising experts who are experienced with all types of social media advertising, WebFX is here for you. We’re the top Fort Myers social media agency and one of the best social media agencies in the world. We’re known for the insane results we drive for our clients, our extensive portfolio and our more than 550 client testimonials.

But most of all, we’re known for the relationships that we forge with our clients. We’re not looking to take over your company’s social media endeavors, we’re looking to become an extension of your marketing team. We’ll get to know your business and care for its success like it’s our own — because it is.

If you’re interested in learning how to advertise on social media from the experts, WebFX social media managers are here to help. Contact us online for a free quote or give us a call at 888-601-5359 to learn more!