Many social media platforms offer an advertising option, as this is their primary source of revenue. Social media can be an excellent place to reach prospects because you can usually target very accurately based on user-provided demographic information.
Facebook offers four paid-for advertising solutions:
1. Facebook Ads are standard adverts that appear in the user’s right-hand sidebar. They have no minimum spend and can be bought on either a cost per thousand impressions (CPM) or cost per click (CPC) basis. These adverts are served based on interests and demographic information.
For example, an advertiser can request to have their advert shown to all women in London who are interested in men, who are single and between the ages of 25 and 35, and who like dogs or puppies.
2. Facebook Engagement Ads are similar to standard ads but include an element that fans can engage with; such as a Like or Share button a video, an event, or a poll. These are based on a CPM basis with a minimum spend threshold.
3. Sponsored stories are posts that are created whenever someone engages with a specific element of the brand’s Facebook Page; these then appear in their connections’ news feeds. You allocate a budget to the specific post, and this is for the ad to appear.
4. Promoted posts allow you to publicize an existing post that you have made. A page must have at least 400 Likes before this option becomes available.
YouTube
YouTube offers a wide range of advertising formats and options for businesses.
LinkedIn Ads is a self-service advertising platform that allows you to create and place adverts on prominent pages on the LinkedIn website, including a user’s home page, search results pages, groups, and more. There are many targeting options available, including job title, job function, industry, geography, age, gender, company name, company size, and LinkedIn Group. There is a minimum budget requirement of $10 a day (though no minimum spending), and ads can be served on a CPM or CPC basis.
