5 Types of Social Media Marketing Ads to Try

Social media has not only transformed the way we communicate but also the way we make purchasing decisions given that social ads are now a normal part of the scrolling experience. In fact, a quarter of social media users ages 18-44 have bought a product on a social app, and 80% of social media marketers predict that social purchases will be more popular than brands’ websites in 2023.

As social media advertising is much more accessible compared to other media outlet advertising, it’s well suited for small businesses to use to complement their organic efforts. It’s a cost-effective advertising method because businesses set a budget for their social media advertising costs and ensure it is shown to likely customers by specifying the target audience the ad campaign is shown to.

So, should you add social media ad campaigns to your marketing strategy? We’ll help you decide. 

The Benefits of Social Media Advertising

“Why is everyone telling me to use social media advertising for my small business?” If you’re a local business owner, you’ve probably asked yourself this question once or twice before. Let’s talk about what’s possible with social media ads.

You Can Meet Customers Where They’re At

Social media platforms are valuable tools in the digital marketing thttps://www.podium.com/article/social-media-marketing-strategy toolkit even when only sharing organic posts. On social media, you can meet your customers where they’re already spending time, attracting new eyes to the business and building loyalty through regular interactions over a period of time.

You Can Increase Your Reach

While organic social media can help you reach new eyes, social media advertising takes this to the next level. It boosts the efforts already being made. Paid social media campaigns have a much larger reach than organic posts. If you want to reach more people and build your brand awareness, social media advertising is the way to do it. Naturally, a higher reach will lead to more website traffic and more sales. Especially as ad campaigns are very customizable to the individual business.

You’re in Control

Most social media platforms have a paid ads option so depending on your marketing strategy and target audience, you can invest in Instagram ads, LinkedIn ads, Twitter ads and more. As well as customizing the platform users that will see the social media campaign, further audience targeting is possible when setting up social ad campaigns to ensure it is reaching your specific target audience depending on their age, interests, and behavior.

But if social media advertising is that great, why isn’t everyone doing it? Well, admittedly it’s not perfect.

What About the Cons? 

Clearly, social media advertising has a lot of potential, particularly for small and growing businesses. However, it’s not as simple as setting up an ad campaign and seeing sales flood in. Making social media ads work does take a bit more effort.

Social Media Ads are a Pay to Play Game

While at the dawn of social media advertising businesses could set a budget of $5 a day and get loads of leads, the paid ads space is now much more competitive and not as easy to crack. Money needs to be invested to experiment with ad placements, ad types, social media channels, and audience targeting. Even when you’ve found your flow, to attract a significant number of leads, you may need to commit to a significant ad spend.

You Need to Know What You’re Doing

It does take knowledge and skill to create an ad campaign that abides by the rules determined by the social media platform and is compelling enough for your customers to interact with. The same expertise is needed to set up the audience targeting and then monitor and refine advertising campaigns. Successful social advertising requires expertise.

Recouping the Investment Takes Time

You need plenty of time, money, and patience. It’s unlikely your social ads will hit the mark straight away so you’ll have to spend time and money to achieve the outcomes you’re after. The social media advertising costs can rack up quickly. Even those who have a lot of success with social advertising have a significant proportion of their digital advertising budget dedicated to social ads.

Businesses need to be prepared to invest in social media ads to get the payoff. With fair expectations of social media advertisements set, let’s explore the different ad types you could use in your advertising campaigns.

5 Types of Social Media Ads

When exploring your options on the different social media networks, these are the main types of social media ads we’re working with, ranging from the simple and traditional to the innovative and dynamic ads.

1. Image Ads

This is a popular type of ad campaign seen in social media feeds with an image or graphic and a short caption. They’re simple but effective, particularly on image-sharing social media platforms so it works well for Instagram ads. This type of ad is great for boosting brand awareness. 

2. Video Ads

Short-form video is going through a boom on social media so it is inevitable it will also influence social media ads. Video ads increase engagement and can be more eye-catching compared to static feed posts.

3. Carousel Ads

You’ve probably seen one of these on your Instagram feed. Carousel posts are a collection of up to ten images that users can scroll through, sharing more information visually than in a singular image ad. 

4. Story Ads

Stories are a social media feature most famously used on Instagram and Facebook. They’re generally considered to be a lot more engaging than a regular feed post. Advertising in stories is a way to place video ads naturally as user stories are often shared in video format. And this type of ad isn’t limited to Instagram; story ads are a great option for Facebook as well.

5. Message Ads

In-feed ads and stories ads are great, but what if there was a way to reach your target market even more directly? That’s the power of message ads, most popular with LinkedIn advertising. These ads are sent to the inboxes of target users, increasing the likelihood they see and engage with them.

So which type of ad(s) do you choose and where do you start? 

How to Get Started with Social Media Advertising

You’ve got a lot of options for the ad types you could use on the social media platform you choose. Here are 5 steps to get the social media advertising ball rolling.

1. Set your campaign objectives: What do you want to achieve and what key performance indicators will indicate that success?
2. Choose your advertising platform: Which social media platform are you going to use? You could experiment with a couple of different social media platforms if it’s within your budget. We’d recommend doing some research to find out where your target audience hangs out online, and then choose your ad type based on that. 
3. Define a budget: What can you afford to spend on social media advertising considering it could take time to see any payoff?
4. Profile your target market: Who do you want to see your social ads? Their characteristics, preferences, priorities, and pain points will help you determine the ad content and ad type.
5. Build your expertise: Who has the ability to run your social media advertising? You could bring in a new employee, outsource to an agency, upskill a current employee, or do the research yourself. Just make sure you aren’t going in blind.

Learn More About Social Media Marketing for Small Businesses

While we’re on the topic of building social media expertise…

Social media advertising is popular in the digital marketing space because when it’s done right it can massively accelerate a business. But it’s not an overnight success. Finding the right social media platform, ad type, and way of defining your target audience is a process. So be prepared to roll up your sleeves and do some digging to figure out what works for you.

Leveraging social media for the wild success of your small business doesn’t begin and end in ads. There are plenty of other ways to use social media platforms to broaden your reach, boost your brand awareness, build your relationship with your target audience and ultimately get more (and repeat) sales.

We’ve gathered all the tips and tricks you need to know into a social media marketing guide. Brush up your social media know-how here.