Paid social – sometimes referred to as paid social media – is where you pay a social media platform a set amount to display targeted advertisements to users. It’s similar to PPC, but targeted exclusively on social media rather than search engines. It can be a great way to boost:
- Followers
- Engagement
- Brand awareness
- Conversions
- Views
- Reach
Rather than posting organically and hoping your post reaches the right people, with paid social advertising you can target the audience you want to reach. Keep reading to understand how paid social works and why it’s important.
What is Paid Social in Digital Marketing?
Paid social in digital marketing is a strategy in which advertisements or sponsored content are created and appear solely on social platforms to the audience you set. Because you have paid for that visibility, your content will be strategically delivered to the demographics, interests, and behaviours of the specific audience of your choice. In short, rather than relying on algorithms to reach the right people, you are paying to guarantee it.
How Does Paid Social Work?
There are many formats of paid social advertisements, but the process is always the same; paid social works on an auction system. Not only will you define who you want to reach by setting parameters such as age, location, buying habits, and interests, but you will also define what you are trying to achieve (awareness, sales, leads, etc.) and set a budget.
This budget, along with your ad quality and how relevant it is to the user, drives how successful your ad is in the bidding process. If you win, your ad will be shown on someone’s feed.
The bidding process happens in the background and is not something you can actively control. However, you can monitor in real-time how well your ads are performing and make any tweaks necessary. Changes you may need to make are:
- Adjust your budget: Put more into a well-performing ad and less into a poor one.
- Swap out creative assets: Change the image/video/inforgraphic that is not performing as well as the others. This works especially well if you are A/B testing.
- Adjust your targeting: If your targeting is too broad, or even too niche, you may struggle to achieve high-quality results.
Some social media platforms offer automated bidding which uses machine learning/AI to optimise your ads based on behavioural patterns of your target audience. However, this is not always the best solution as machines can make mistakes and your budget could be accidentally wasted.
What is the Difference Between Paid Social Media and Organic Social Media?
Paid Social Media: Any advertising or sponsored content that you pay for so it appears in front of audiences on a social media platform.
Organic Social Media: Anything you post on social media platforms without paying to reach your audience. E.g, regular posts, reels, stories, etc.
Although organic social media is a great way to build a following, allowing you to post regularly without the need to feel too ‘salesy’, when it comes to reach and visibility, you may struggle to see results. This is because, with organic social, you cannot control who your post reaches beyond targeting keywords in the caption of the posts. You are completely at the mercy of the social media algorithm.
With paid social media, you can control who sees your posts. For example, if you run a small book business that specialises in romance, odds are that you want to reach romance readers. You may also have a certain age demographic too. By using paid social, you can set your parameters to match these types of audience (age, interests, location, etc.) This way, you have a higher chance of your ad reaching the right people, and driving more conversions/followers/engagements, depending on your goals.
Why is Paid Social Advertising Important?
Social media platforms are some of the most used apps across the internet, not just for regular users but for businesses too. They are a great way to interact with people in the spaces they are comfortable and use regularly. Pair this with social media advertising, and you can achieve strong results.
Precise Targeting
Instead of relying on algorithms or casting a wide net in the hopes of capturing your desired audience, you tailor who you want your ads to reach. For example, if you wish to reach new mums living in Sheffield, you can use gender, location, purchasing behaviours, and interests to influence this.
Longer Content Lifespan
Organic posts tend to reach a peak and then drop off. It’s rare for posts to continue to climb in views and reach new audiences days after the date it was posted. However, with paid social, you can bypass this, guaranteeing you will reach a meaningful percentage of audiences and your content will be seen for as long as the ad is live.
Retargeting Opportunities
Using paid social, you can re-engage with users who have already interacted with your brand. This can remind them of your offerings and push them towards making a conversion.
For more information on the benefits of paid social advertising, take a look at our dedicated Paid Social page.
Start Your Paid Social Journey With Wildcat Digital
Although paid social can wield great results, it can sometimes be hard to stay on top of to get said results – especially if you’re a busy business owner. Budgets need to be maintained, creatives might need to be tweaked, and audience parameters may change as your campaign develops. This can be a lot to think about when you’re running a business too. Luckily, the team here at Wildcat Digital will take on the responsibility. We will work alongside you to create a bespoke paid social campaign, using our tried and tested methodology and extensive experience to reach your business goals.
Take a look at our Paid Social page for more information, or contact us with any questions you may have.
