A funny thing happens when you minimize the personal information you share with Instagram. You don’t see fewer ads. You see weird ads, from C-list influencers to crypto scams. And all of it is wildly irrelevant.
In today’s social media landscape, literally anyone can market something, but the system only works if users share their data. It lets small advertisers with limited budgets micro-target groups of highly qualified people.
If you have a business to advertise, here’s a quick overview of paid social media on the four big networks:
Facebook: The world’s largest social network offers an ever-growing menu of ways you can reach people. It can be as simple as boosting a post from your business page to the news feeds of a wider audience. You can also get complex and create text, image and video ads, promote a page, sell products, drive users to your website, and more.
Instagram: IG and Facebook’s ad systems are one in the same, which allows you to run an integrated campaign across both platforms. On Instagram, you can push sponsored images and videos into people’s feed, sell products, drive people to your IG page or website, and more.
Both networks allow robust targeting. Start tweaking parameters like location, marital status, income and interests, and watch your potential audience change in real time.
Twitter: Ads on twitter are basically limited to promoted tweets, but the platform lets you set objectives. The system then uses these to decide who it shows your ad to, when and how often.
YouTube: YouTube allows advertisers to place short video ads before relevant content. Unlike TV advertising, a YouTube campaign can be small and narrowly targeted. And since YT is a Google company, it’s now another arm of Google’s incredibly robust ad network.
Takeaways: Beyond the big four, the internet is filled with apps and networks that keep people’s attention for hours a day, and up-and-comers like Snapchat, Twitch and TikTok all offer advertising options.
So where to begin? Strategy. Figure out your marketing goals, develop a budget, get a clear idea of who your targets are, find out what social networks they use most, and then develop a creative way to get their attention.
And if that all sounds like too much, here’s a simple first step – call Brand Poets.
About Brand Poets
Founded by Tana M. Llinás, Brand Poets is a collective of strategists, storytellers, and digital artisans crafting smart, poignant campaigns that command attention. www.brandpoets.com — Instagram: @BrandPoets — Call: 786-732-7466
