Which Are The Most Optimal Social Media Platforms for Promotional Advertisements?
Have you ever done any promotional advertising with social media? What made you decide which social media platforms to use or not use? Originally appeared on Quora: the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world.
Deciding on what social media platform to use for ads depends on your target audience (who do you want to sell to), offering (what are you selling), and your goals (what are you trying to achieve?).
Let’s go through each social media channel with this in mind:
Gears towards professionals and I’ve seen ads about recruiting and job openings performing best. Not really an eCommerce approach. Also, it can be an expensive channel but the quality of leads can be worth the cost. I’ve seen the cost per lead range from $95 to $500+. A $500/lead is expensive to most. But if your goal is down-funnel leads, it might be worth the cost. For instance, if that $500/lead is super qualified and he or she buys from you and you get $10K from that sell, spending $500 is well worth it to get the $10K you just pocketed.
Facebook/Instagram
I put these channels together since they are both owned by Facebook and it’s easy to advertise on both through Facebook ads. Both platforms gear towards people of all ages and with a variety of interests, so you have a LOT of targeting options. Because of the visual nature of both platforms, eCommerce brands typically perform well on these platforms, but so can lead generation companies. It’s really about targeting the right audience and having a persuasive video ad that speaks to them. In my experience, ROAS is amazing, around 2–4 ROAS. Plus, it’s just cheaper than most of the other platforms and typically produces the most bang for your buck than the rest.
YouTube
Just like Facebook, you can target interests on YouTube (but it’s not as extensive), but there is a LOT of people watching videos. It’s actually not just for the younger generation. For eCommerce brands, you have to spend a good amount and typically the ROAS is low, below a 1 sometimes. We’ve seen better results for lead generation companies, really competitive CPLs like $30-$95. One thing to keep in mind is that YouTube is definitely a brand awareness play. When you advertise on YouTube, you will see a lift in brand searches because more people are learning about your brand and then will search you later on and come to your website that way.
I’ve had limited experience with Twitter because in the past (like 9 years ago) it didn’t pan out. We saw super high costs with little results. I’d be interested to try this channel again, but none of our clients are interested in it. So maybe that says something?
It’s mostly females on this channel and they are in the “inspiration” phase so, in the past, it took longer to see results. And your pins have to be very beautiful and memorable. When I tested it in the past, it performed okay. The platform wasn’t super expensive, but ROAS was around a 1. Lately, they have been making a lot of changes to help push that conversion rate and make advertisers happy.
Snapchat
I feel like it got crushed by Instagram Stories and Tik Tok. I don’t have any experience here and none of our clients want to test it out.
Tik Tok
This is the newest one in the group and definitely gears younger. I’ll be testing this one out this year to see how it goes. I’ll keep you posted.
Contributed by Alisha Chocha, Co-Founder at Your Marketing People (2017-present)
