Grow Your Business With Social Media Advertising

If you’re not utilizing social media advertising in 2019, your business is in for a rude awakening. With 37% of the world’s population (2.8 billion people!) using social media platforms, you cannot afford to ignore it any longer.

Google and Facebook have created a very successful business model for themselves by continually updating their search algorithms. Businesses are encouraged to invest more money in digital advertising with every update.

This year, it’s going to be pay-to-play, more than ever. Are your numbers still dropping? Why are you still not investing in social media advertising? Love it or hate it, in any industry, you need Google and social media ads for active growth in 2019.

37% of the world’s population (2.8 billion people!) using social media platforms

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The Infamous Heavy Hitter, Facebook

Facebook alone has over 2.27 billion monthly active users, making it the universal platform for business advertising. It takes the guessing game out of marketing for you.

Want to know who your demographic is? Facebook’s analytics will tell you precisely by what age, geographic location, interests, and more about your followers. If you don’t already have a social following, you can bank on Facebook being a solid starting point.

With social media and Google ads, you get results on the first day of ad spend. The platforms will tell you with impressive accuracy how many of your targeted customers will see your ads. 

Ads on Facebook are some of the most affordable, with campaigns starting at just between $1.50 and $5.00. Larger investments see larger returns. Social media ads on Facebook allow you to tailor campaigns to drive traffic to your site, increase engagement, motivate shopping, and more.

Other A-Team Players in Social Media

Facebook has been controversial lately, and you can undoubtedly find successful results on other platforms. However, Facebook owns Instagram, which has over 1 billion active monthly users. This is a vast sweep of the market share.

Still not feeling it? LinkedIn and Twitter have your back!

LinkedIn is more powerful and relevant than ever, especially for B2B businesses. With over 250 million monthly active users, if you’re targeting other companies, you need to be using LinkedIn. Budgeting your ad spend on this platform is a brilliant choice for your business this year.

Who’s Your Target?

Twitter is another solid choice. With over 326 million monthly active users, it’s a diverse demographic that almost any business can find its clientele. Let’s get general for a moment:

Are you targeting a younger audience? You should probably consider Instagram, which is heavy on visuals and popular with the hip youth of today.

Facebook is quickly going to the parents, grandparents, cousins, and aunts and uncles. The cool kids are “opting out” after the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Extra thanks to a series of outrageous privacy issues.

Is your ideal client a more mature professional? Twitter is still going strong with white-collar users, which also includes aging hipster millennials. They are likely to be found on LinkedIn as well.

Social Media Success Story

It was between 2006 and 2007 that Facebook blew up, becoming a household name. Facebook has gained millions upon millions of users each year ever since. Other platforms also quickly gained steam during that period.

Social media is snowballing, and changes so frequently, that many business owners feel overwhelmed and inept with it. Digital marketers have come to the rescue. Just as lawyers regularly study the law to stay up-to-date, you will fall behind if an expert isn’t consistently honing your social media presence and advertising.

Just having a social media presence is vital. If your business gets a new lead, this prospective customer is going to cross-check you on social media, and if your pages come up empty, dated, or non-existent – they are gone.

Posting content regularly is a modern business survival tactic, but will not provide active growth. You’re going to have a hard time growing your business organically.

What’s Your Budget?

Consider a digital ad spend and make it substantial. Anything less than hundreds of dollars is going to bring minimal results. However, there are hacks and tricks up every digital marketer’s sleeve that can save you big on ad spend.

For example, you might budget out $600 a month for social media advertising and Google ads, and as you optimize those ads, your cost-per-click can come down significantly. You may only use half your budget for the same results.

Digital marketers are going to scream at me, but it’s not unheard of to just hit the “boost” button and apply $5 +/- to every post you make.

You’re better off taking a targeted approach, but just $5 will make a difference. You will have much more engagement and reach. If you’re a start-up or a struggling business lacking a decent ad budget, then DIY and put that card in your pocket.

Search Engines, Google vs. YouTube

What about search engines? Google is becoming more saturated every day. It’s getting harder to climb the ranks without spending top dollar, especially for competitive markets and keywords.

You’ll have to bite the bullet at first and try a few different ad campaigns to see what brings the best ROI. However, YouTube is quickly becoming the next Google. People are searching YouTube daily for everything from an easy pancake recipe to jumping a stalled car.

Google is no longer the only source of instant information, and you’d be wise to get involved with YouTube. YouTube now has over 1.9 billion monthly active users. Google owns YouTube, and the advertising is just as calculated and useful as Google Ads, yielding good PPC averages.

Are you noticing a pattern? The biggest online platforms are monopolizing their markets. Like I mentioned earlier, it’s going to be pay-to-play in 2019. Facebook and Google are making sure of it.

If your website is an essential aspect for your business, and likely it is, then being found on search platforms is very important. However, if you’re more of a local and geographically based business, then social media is a better focus. Not to say that search ads or social media are more important than the other, they indeed go hand-in-hand.

The best approach for a business that wants active growth is to layer their digital advertising budget across Google, YouTube, and social media ads. You need to spend some time and money on digital marketing to keep your business relevant in 2019.