Social advertising. That’s been the buzzword for a while hasn’t it? Well, it’s been one of the buzzwords that we like to throw around.

If you’re a serious digital business (and who shouldn’t be?) – you’ve probably been talked to about social advertising, or if you’re a digital/social agency, you’ve probably discussed social advertising with your clients at some point in the last couple of months.

The discourse began of course, once Facebook reach plummeted, and people realized the free ride was over. Sure, you’ll still find a ton of influencers and social gurus beating their chests on the sidewalk talking about how Facebook isn’t dead, but they’re leaving out the important part. Social isn’t free.

It never has been. You’ve always had to hire someone to run your social presence for you. It’s always been a cost for you, except now – there’s an add-on cost associated to it.

As supply remains the same and demand goes up, a product becomes more expensive. There is limited room that social networks have to work with when it comes to space for social ads, and while earlier it was easier and cheaper to get your word out, it’s going to get a lot harder – in fact it already has.

Prepping for getting on board with social ads? You know visuals are important, so perhaps this infographic will come in handy for you and your design team.

Get Your Social Ad Sizes Right!

What’s the Catch With Social Advertising?

There’s no catch really. The reason it’s come up with such a strong force is because there are thousands of posts that people are exposed to on all the networks that they’re on, and it’s hard to break through the clutter. With everyone fighting for space – it becomes harder to get your messaging out, and therefore social networks are making you bid for it.

The higher you bid – the more likely it is that your customer will see your content, the more likely you are to generate a lead.

What Networks Should You Advertise On?

Most people take the easy route and jump onto Facebook for their advertising needs. There’s a vast amount of content on Facebook ads that’s circulating the internet and you’ll find that it’s easiest to find help for Facebook ads than for any other platform (except perhaps Google AdWords). Most people have a presence on Facebook and therefore they try and amplify it through social ads.

Not something you should do.

Every network has its own benefits. And please, it’s not true that if you’ve got a B2B business you should only focus on LinkedIn and if you’re B2C you should only focus on Facebook. It’s all about the targeting. You might be a high end pen manufacturer, and while you are a B2C company in nature, you’ll probably find better leads if you were to advertise on LinkedIn and target CXOs.

Think about what would work best for you.

How Much Should You Spend?

There’s no “set” minimum spend amount, and it’s not true that you won’t get any results with $20 or that you’ll get results only with $2,000. Ensure that your targeting is incredibly sharp, incredibly straightforward and you’ll notice that both $20 and $2,000 will get you results – differing magnitudes of course.

Personally, I’d advise you to spend $100 – $200 in your first burst, and then figure out if it’s getting you the desired results or not, and tweak accordingly. It’s hard to measure anything on any network before spending a certain amount that can give you a big enough data set to work with.

All said and done – social advertising is something you’re going to have to get your hands dirty with, so you may as well dive in as early as possible and develop an expertise in it before your competitors do and sweep up your customer base!

Radarr is the best social listening tool. Book Radarr Demo,today!