The Design Group - Web Design Charleston Company

What is Paid Social? 

Paid social is posted content and advertising on social platforms that a company has paid for to reach viewers past their follower base. It is vital to acknowledge that paid social is not just paying for your content to reach more people, but is an investment in the company itself. 

Now that we have that cleared up, let’s dive into the various paid platforms and the benefits they offer.

Facebook 

Let’s start off with the first major social media platform with an estimated user base of 2.9 billion active members. Have you ever discussed with your friends a new product and immediately see ads upon ads about it on your Facebook feed afterward? Whether or not the phenomenon of Facebook always listening to us is true, it at least demonstrates efficiency and effectiveness of paid social within the platform. Through Facebook, you can easily measure a wide variety of metrics concerning ad performance to track and monitor engagement. Another valuable tool within paid social on Facebook is the ability to target your audience through the app by customizing your target viewers. You can also market to current customers and clients, increasing customer loyalty and interaction. Overall, Facebook is a powerhouse in the paid social realm, giving you the power to customize your audience and track your engagement.

Instagram

Now onto the most engaging platform with an estimate of one billion active users. Instagram is known for its creative ways to advertise through reels, posts, stories, and more “trendy” promotional tools. Instagram is also where many “influencers” find their home, partnering with businesses to showcase their products/services and increase brand awareness. Within the app, you can easily track your company’s ad performance through various metrics that track likes, views, engagement rates, and follower stats. This app is well suited for companies that want to expand their reach through engaging, creative methods that appeal to a diverse audience.

Pinterest

Pinterest, the DIY central of social media, if you will, is the SEO capital of paid social. With roughly 478 million users, the app is centered around keyword searches that open up the viewer to a wide variety of content tailored to their search. Open the app and you’ll find yourself planning your kitchen renovation or at the grocery store buying ingredients to bake an extravagant cake, you saw on a featured blog. If you want to expand your brand awareness through idea generation and circulation, Pinterest is the place to do it. Paid social through Pinterest can increase website traffic, customer engagement, and also provides metrics to track your company’s ad progress.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn, the professional platform of social media, has an estimated user base of 810 million members. The app is centered mainly around B2B, service advertisement, and all things business whether that be hiring or looking to be hired. The unique benefit of paid social through LinkedIn is the ability to target your audience through specific variables such as job title, company size, skill, and experience. LinkedIn users themselves are also highly active on the app as most of the content leads to possible opportunities for the company or employee. Overall, LinkedIn is a great place to market your business and expand its reach.

Which Social Should You Socialize With?

Now that we’ve examined four of the leading social platforms, you should have a pretty clear idea of which platform fits your business and your customers. As companies grow in their social media abilities, it is important to invest in more than one platform down the road as your company’s reach continues to expand.