Social Media Advertising: Boosting the Reach of Your Content in 2023

Although fantastic content, solid SEO, and a strong social presence can take you far, organic discovery is only a single step of the process. The extra mile is putting advertising in place to exponentially increase the effectiveness of your work. Along with a strong piece of content or campaign, marketing with social media advertising can bring a massive ROI without you needing to spend much to get it.

The best part? You can effectively market a piece of content, whether it be an article, podcast, or video, for as little as $1 per day on social media platforms. All you have to do is know your target audience and realize you are not trying to reach everyone. Once you understand that, you can focus on getting the most out of as little ad spend as possible.

Facebook: Social Media Advertising to Two Billion People

There is this strange belief that Facebook is a dead platform, but that could not be further from the truth. Facebook still remains firmly near the top, and it can allow you to reach over two billion people. Not that you want to reach that many, but even when you narrow it down, the number remains impressive.

More importantly, Facebook is focused on helping you get to the right people, maximizing your ad spend using its algorithm.

Facebook utilizes paid posts, which you can use to promote whatever you want. They focus on targeting by demo, geo, interests, and more and will appear throughout the site, including stories, messenger, and the marketplace.

Keep in mind that this is not boosting a post. While that is also an option, it puts more money in Facebook’s pocket and gets you less ROI. You are better off running your own campaign, which still requires an investment but is a more worthwhile one.

The cost of running social media advertising on Facebook depends on various factors:

• The more specific the audience, the more you can expect to pay.
• Facebook and Instagram are both options, and ad placement will affect the price.
• The time you want to run the ad will impact the price, including the time of year or time of day.
• The competitiveness of your industry might play a role since a competitor might also want the ad space.
• Location is also a factor since costs vary by country.
• The duration of the ad campaign will affect the final price.

Since you want to run an actual ad campaign instead of boosting a post, you are going to have to create a Facebook business page. Check out this Facebook guide for setting up a business page if you do not already have one. Once you do, follow the steps below:

1. Log into Facebook Ads Manager and select the campaign tab, where you can then “Create” a new ad campaign. There are various marketing objectives to choose from, but you want to choose whichever aligns with your goal. Once you have made a selection, click continue.
   • Looking to drive traffic to a piece of content? Traffic is a great choice. Want to build a social following and interact with users on the platform? Engagement will do the trick. Each goal has a purpose, so figure out yours before moving on.
   • Depending on what you pick, the following steps might differ slightly.
2. Name the campaign and declare if it fits into a special category. You can set up A/B split testing to run multiple versions of a campaign to see which performs best, or you can turn on Advantage Campaign Budget+, but neither is recommended for beginners. Click next once you are satisfied.
3. If you chose traffic as your goal, you will see the conversion section, where you will select where to drive traffic. Most will send traffic to a website, but there are options for apps, calls, and more. After choosing where to direct traffic, head to budget and schedule to set a daily or lifetime budget and how long you want the campaign to run. After that, adjust the audience to your liking, or leave it be (if you have a target audience, use it). You can also leave Placements and Optimization & delivery alone, assuming “Optimization for ad delivery” is set to “Link clicks.”
   • You can see estimated reach and clicks on the right side, but do not worry too much about estimations when setting your budget. Any ad spend can be an effective driving force, even as little as $1 per day.
   • Scheduling is under “Show more options,” but it is only available when you go with a lifetime budget.
   • Narrowing your audience is the best way to maximize ROI.
4. The final step is creating your ad. Visuals are key since images and videos get more attention than text.

You can adjust aspects of your social media advertising campaigns to get better results, but having an ad in place is a win, helping you improve reach by thousands in a month for as little as $1 per day.

Twitter: Social Media Advertising at a Low Cost

Marketing on a budget can be difficult to do, but it does not get much better than Twitter. While it might be unpredictable when it comes to the quality of traffic, it reaches more people at a lower average cost. That makes Twitter a prime candidate for the $1 per day strategy and social media advertising, in general.

Twitter allows you to reach hundreds of millions of people, and ads can be put into place in a quick and easy manner. There is also no minimum spend.

However, there are multiple types of ads available on Twitter, which include:

1. Twitter Promoted Ads (Promoted Tweets): They are similar to ordinary tweets, but they are seen by people not following the advertiser on Twitter. They will say “Promoted” in the lower left-hand corner.
   • Ideal for promoting content to those outside your following, alongside an account post or retweet to target followers.
2. Twitter Follower Ads (Promoted Accounts): Allows you to promote an entire Twitter account, targeting users who do not follow you already. These ads are displayed in potential followers’ timelines and shown in the Who to Follow suggestions and search results.
   • Ideal for promoting an account or brand, but not as good of an option for marketing specific content.
3. Twitter Amplify: Twitter Amplify Pre-roll allows the placement of pre-roll video ads on content pre-screened for brand safety.
   • Allows for the sponsorship of videos from specific publishers.
4. Twitter Takeover (Trend and Timeline): Trend allows accounts to place ads in the What’s happening section of Twitter’s homepage and the Trending tab on the Explore screen. Meanwhile, Timeline appears at the top of a user’s timeline when they open Twitter for the first time each day.
5. Branded Hashtags: Add a visual component (such as an emoji) when someone uses your hashtag.

The type of social media advertising you choose should change based on your goal. However, Twitter Promoted Ads are highly effective at marketing specific content. These ads are especially effective when used alongside similar posts directly on an account since they will cover both followers and non-followers.

Something to keep in mind is that, like most social platforms, Twitter uses an auction system. Because of that, you set a bid for what you are willing to pay and a daily budget. The overall cost depends on the goal, where you pay per a certain action:

• Reach – Per Thousand Impressions (CPM)
• Video Views – Per View
• Pre-roll Views – Per View
• App Installs – Per Impression/Click
• Website Traffic – Per Click
• Engagements – Per Engagement
• Followers – Per Follow
• App Re-engagements – Per Click

You pay nothing if someone performs an action that does not match your goal. However, you might pay more if you target a high-demand audience. High-demand audiences cost more to target, so reducing costs can be accomplished through audience targeting.

Here are some basic steps to get an ad placed on Twitter (might differ based on your objective):

1. Log into your Twitter account and go to the Twitter Ads Manager. Then, choose a campaign objective. To drive more people to your content, Website Traffic is recommended. You will then see a screen with details about the campaign, where you can set your daily and overall budget.
2. Set your ad group (a single group is recommended) and bidding. Start with a name and schedule a start and end time. Then choose how much you want to pay for each interaction, or let Twitter handle it automatically with Autobid (recommended).
   • You can split things into multiple categories to target multiple audiences, try different ads, or test budgets and timings, but a single one is best for most basic campaigns.
3. The next step is targeting your audience by defining it by gender, age, location, language, and technology. The Targeting features section that allows targeting by events, interests, behaviors, and more specific topics.
   • Twitter allows you to upload a list of people or target users similar to your followers. Doing so optimizes the ads to reach people like those who are already interacting with you.
4. Create the ad, making sure to include a link to the content and use an image or video since they are better at grabbing people’s attention. Video content is almost always the best, but any visuals are superior to plain text.

Here are a few best practices to get you started with social media advertising on Twitter:

• Keep things short. You do not need to use every character, with 50-100 characters being the ideal length.
• Include a call to action (CTA), asking the audience to check out the content you are driving them toward.
• Avoid hashtags and mentions in paid ads, even if they are useful in organic content.
• Keep videos around 15 seconds or less if you use one. Also, include a caption or text overlay so that it is also impactful without sound.

LinkedIn: Social Media Advertising to Professionals

Most people consider LinkedIn when it comes to connecting with other professionals or searching for a job, but it is also a highly effective marketing tool. In fact, LinkedIn stands out by the amount of targeting parameters it offers, which include company name and size, member groups and interests, schools, job title or seniority, and even skills.

However, social media advertising on LinkedIn requires you to carefully consider your audience. The same marketing strategies cannot be used on every platform, and it is best to remember that you are, in fact, reaching out to professionals on LinkedIn. It is also on the expensive side, which means effective ads are key.

Fortunately, you can select an ad that fits your needs best from several types of ads available on LinkedIn, including:

1. Sponsored Content: Shows up in the news feed like organic content, though it is labeled as promoted. It can be a single image ad, carousel ad, or video ad. Typically has the highest cost-per-click, but it is effective.
2. Message Ads: Ads delivered to LinkedIn inboxes. Great for engagement.
3. Dynamic Ads: Content changes based on the member viewing the ad. It uses personal data to tailor the content. Comes in three forms, follower, spotlight, and job ads. They each promote something different.
4. Text Ads: Simple text ads that show up on the right column on LinkedIn pages. Effective, but not as much as an ad with visuals.

The steps to starting your social media advertising journey on LinkedIn are nothing new, so just follow these steps to get your campaign up and running:

1. There is an entirely different platform you will need to use called LinkedIn Marketing Solutions. Visit the page and select “Create Ad” to get started. From there, you will be asked to create a LinkedIn Campaign Manager account, which you will want to link to your LinkedIn Company Page (if one exists). You will then be redirected to a dashboard where you can click “Create Campaign.”
2. The next step is indicating a campaign group to keep things organized (or using the default) and naming the campaign, which will only be seen by you and can be named descriptively.
3. After that, select a campaign objective, which is what you want the ad to accomplish. For content, a Website Visits objective will drive users to the page.
4. Once you choose an objective, it is time to select an audience, which will involve the above-mentioned parameters and other demographic choices. Do not feel the need to use all of it, though narrowing your audience is always a good idea.
5. Decide on the ad format next. It might come down to budget, but there will be estimations as you explore the different types of ads the platform offers.
6. Setting the budget and scheduling the campaign dates comes next, and it is one of the most important parts. It is always recommended to start with a small daily budget, especially if you do not know the best target audience for a high ROI.
   • There are also bid types, which include automated, cost-per-click, and pay-per-1000 impressions. For driving traffic, cost-per-click is the most cost-effective.
   • Unless there is a good reason for it, you do not need to worry about conversion tracking.
7. Finally, you need to build the ad. That involves an image, headline (25 characters), description (75 characters), and destination URL (coverage).

Here are some quick best practices for LinkedIn ads:

• Include a call-to-action (CTA), such as “Click here for details on…”
• Ad value to the user if they click it, such as telling them what they will learn/gain from checking it out.
• Use visuals and language that will catch the eye.

TikTok: Social Media Advertising for Young Audiences

Many people do not think of TikTok when they consider marketing, but it can help your social media advertising efforts reach nearly 1 billion adults. The stats are skewed toward a younger demo of 18-34, but 35+ still holds a large chunk of the audience. It is also effective as an international ad platform, though the US holds the largest audience.

Examples of those who will find the most success on TikTok:

• Those targeting a younger audience (under 35)
• Those targeting women 18-25
• Those looking to target audiences in the Middle East and Asia

Types of ads available on TikTok:

1. In-feed Ads: These are self-service ads created in the TikTok Ad Manager.
2. Image Ads: Simple image ads that run in TikTok’s News Feed apps (BuzzVideo, TopBuzz, and Babe). Includes the image, brand or app name, and text.
3. Video Ads: Run on TikTok or the news apps above. The videos run for 5-60 seconds and go in a user’s For You feed.
4. Spark Ads: Boosts organic content from your account or from other users. Boasts a high completion and engagement rate compared to in-feed ads.
5. Pangle Ads: Ads placed through TikTok’s Audience Network.
6. Carousel Ads: Run in TikTok News Feed apps and can have up to 10 images with unique captions.
7. There are additional formats available for managed brands.

Steps to setting up a TikTok ad campaign:

1. Choose an objective. The options include reach, traffic, app installs, video views, conversions, etc. Traffic is always a great choice for driving users to coverage.
2. Name the campaign and set a budget, which involves daily and lifetime budget amounts.
3. Select ad groups and placements. Placements can vary based on the type of campaign.
4. TikTok offers automated creative optimization, which generates combinations of images, videos, and ad text and only shows what performs best. The platform recommends it for newer users.
5. Narrow down your audience, using gender, age, location, language, interests, behavior, and device. The better your audience selection, the better your ROI, on average.
6. Narrow your budget based on ad groups (not necessary if you only use a single ad group).
7. Set a bidding strategy, which includes bid cap (max amount per click, view, or 1000 impressions), cost cap (fluctuates above and below bid amount), and lowest cost (maximum results for lowest cost per result).
   • There is also a delivery setting for whether the budget is used evenly across your campaign dates or spent as fast as possible.
8. Create your ad. This involved selecting the format, inputting creative (image, video, text, etc.), and entering a link for most types of ads.

TikTok has a relatively high daily budget requirement compared to other options, and getting results is not as easy as some of the other platforms above. Therefore, unless you want to target a specific audience found there, other social platforms might be better.