Businesses tend to think of search engines and mobile ads when the topic of pay-per-click (PPC) advertising comes up. Both are valid avenues to pursue. But don’t forget social media ads. PPC ads on social media represent yet another way to reach a targeted audience. In fact, social media offers some incredibly unique advantages from a PPC standpoint.
PPC Advertising and Google Dominance
Before we get into social media and PPC advertising, one thing must be made clear: Google is the clear leader in the PPC space. Meta (Facebook, Instagram) takes second place. In addition, Google doesn’t do all the heavy lifting on its own. It utilizes the services of ad networks to place ads for them.
PPC ads are placed in search engine results, on websites, on video platforms, and in mobile apps. Did you notice what is missing? Social media. When you advertise on social media, you are dealing directly with those platforms rather than trusting your ads to third-party networks you might know nothing about.
5 Reasons to Choose Social Media
With all the preliminaries out of the way, let us get to social media PPC advertising. If you are already advertising through Google, Bing, etc., don’t stop. Search engine PPC is still a valid resource. But consider putting some money into social media as well. Here are five reasons to take advantage of social media PPC advertising:
1. More Specific Targeting
Being able to target your advertisements to specific audiences is one of the main advantages of PPC advertising. Social media does a far better job of targeting than search engines and ad networks. Advertising and social media make it possible to target audiences with incredible precision. You can target by demographics, social media interests, specific keywords, and more.
2. More Engaging Ads
Social media’s nature as a platform for videos, memes, and text makes it possible to create more engaging ads. PPC ads on social media can revolve around stories, carousels, and a wide variety of interactive elements – like surveys and polls.
3. Community Building for Brand Awareness
PPC’s main goal is to drive traffic from people most likely to buy. It is a strategy that businesses can still pursue with social media PPC. But social media has the added advantage of helping brands build communities. That’s important when you consider that ad clickers are 50% more likely to actually purchase. A strong community of people who regularly click on your ads creates a very stable customer base.
4. Results Are Easily Measured
This next point is actually true across all PPC platforms: results are easily measured. Both search engines and social media platforms provide robust analytics for tracking every PPC campaign. Social media’s advantage is that their metrics can be more informative when coupled with highly targeted advertising. You can learn a lot more about different groups within your target audience by paying close attention to the data their behavior generates.
5. More Cost Effective
Although there are exceptions to the rule, PPC advertising on social media tends to be more cost effective than other types of PPC. It is definitely more cost effective than most legacy advertising options. Fortunately, flexible pricing is a big part of social media PPC. This allows brands to stretch their budgets further.
PPC advertising is something we do here at Webtek. If you are new to PPC or just want to turn the job over to someone else, don’t hesitate to contact us. We can help you take advantage of both search engine and social media PPC while staying within your budget.
