It is widely agreed that an organic social media strategy is beneficial primarily due to its cost advantage. However, it also requires significant manpower and time to ensure your content reaches the intended audience.
There are various tasks you need to accomplish, such as determining the optimal time to post on Instagram and choosing the suitable hashtags. However, even after putting in all that effort, there’s no assurance that your content will reach a large audience.
If you are unable to be present at the appropriate time to post on Instagram, you have the option to utilize Instagram schedulers in order to schedule your Instagram posting. By investing in various forms of social media ads, you can ensure quicker outcomes.
With the continuous expansion of the digital marketing field, the selection process for the most suitable paid social media ad for your business can become perplexing.
Types of social media ads for your business
1. Image ads
Image ads are likely the most common varieties of social media ads. With nearly every social media platform supporting them, you can come across these ads on news feeds, sidebars, and banners.
Image ads are particularly effective on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Pinterest due to the dominant role of visual content on these platforms. Their ability to instantly captivate the audience makes them ideal for generating brand or product awareness. In these ads, you have the option to incorporate either a link to a designated webpage on your site or a call-to-action such as “Shop Now”.
In order to maximize the benefits of these kinds of social media ads, it is important to utilize a logo maker to incorporate your brand’s logo into the images. This will aid in enhancing your brand awareness and ability to be remembered.
- Use high-quality images
- Keep text on the image to a minimum
- Try to match the style of content found in your posts, as it helps the audience associate the ad with your business faster
2. Video ads
According to a study conducted by Wyzowl, video is utilized as a potent marketing tool by 86% of businesses. The study also reveals that individuals typically spend approximately 19 hours per week watching video content, demonstrating the effectiveness of video ads as one of the most impactful forms of social media advertising.
Video ads are supported by all major social media platforms and are particularly effective in capturing the attention of your target audience due to their visually captivating nature. Marketers are now utilizing videos as a shopping tool in live stream shopping events, with the assistance of the top live-stream video shopping platforms, to enhance their sales during these events.
In order to boost engagement and views, marketers are increasingly allocating resources towards podcasts, webinars, and other video-oriented endeavors. Additionally, by implementing effective SEO strategies, your video advertisements have the potential to attain higher rankings in search engine results.
One option is to collaborate with influencers for your video ads. By using an Instagram engagement calculator, you can identify an influencer in your niche with high engagement. From there, you can team up with them to produce a captivating video that appeals to your target audience and maximizes the reach of your advertisement.
3. Carousel ads
Carousels on social media allow you to display a combination of marketing videos and/or images within a single ad. Each video or image can feature a headline, description, link, and CTA. Facebook and Instagram are the platforms where these social media ads are predominantly favored.
Carousel ads can be used for advertising real estate, showcasing various product features, conveying a brand narrative, displaying behind-the-scenes shots, or promoting any suitable product or offering. Facebook also provides an optimization feature that prioritizes the display of your most successful carousels. However, if the cards need to follow a specific sequence to tell a story, it is advisable to disable this feature.
In order to effectively utilize these categories of social media advertisements, it is important to ensure that the images or ads used in your carousel exhibit visual similarities to ensure consistency. Additionally, link your images or videos to a landing page in order to generate leads.
4. Stories ads
You have the option to use story ads on Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook, where you can promote your products or services within the Stories of users.
Due to its brief duration, Stories are well-suited for time-sensitive promotions, making them an ideal choice for this type of social media advertising. Additionally, their higher visibility at the top of users’ feeds makes Stories highly effective in creating awareness.
To achieve better outcomes, various editing apps for Instagram Reels abide by the platform’s guidelines regarding the size, length, and resolution of video ads, ensuring the appropriate dimensions and quality.
An advertisement for Instagram and Facebook Stories has the ability to be:
- A video that plays for 15 seconds
- A photo that plays for 5 seconds
- A carousel that plays separate content, such as an image and video, within one ad
Snapchat’s Story ads allow you to target your desired audience by displaying a branded tile on the Discover section or in between content. The Discover section permits the use of a collection consisting of up to 20 images or videos.
To maximize the benefits of these social media ads, it is recommended to ensure your Stories ads are highly interactive. Acquiring a creator account is advisable as it provides growth insights for your profile and aids in determining the most impactful advertising message for your Stories ads.
This social ad is appropriate for a successful small business social media marketing strategy campaign, as it allows small businesses to develop and enhance professional stories for promotion.
By utilizing suitable social media marketing software, small businesses can effectively schedule and promote their ads on social media platforms, thereby achieving desirable outcomes.
5. Lead form ads
Lead Form Ads, also known as ‘lead ads’ and ‘lead generation ads’, assist in the creation of a list of potential customers who have shown interest. This can be beneficial for acquiring newsletter subscribers, facilitating follow-up services, or managing event registrations. Their effectiveness is heightened when you provide value to the customers, such as offering an e-book or guide that they will find useful. Therefore, utilize lead form ads when you are actively seeking to provide customers with valuable resources.
Platform users are willing to provide their personal information on this platform in return for something. Our experts have noticed that Lead Form Ads are highly effective when the visuals accurately depict what the customer will receive, such as a simulated book cover for an e-book.
Customers can easily provide their details to Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn using their dedicated contact form, which can also fill in their information automatically based on their social media profile, further simplifying the process.
Lead Form Ads have the capability to be seamlessly incorporated with other technologies you may currently utilize, such as CRM databases for collecting customer information, Messenger or InMail services, and event hosting websites. These integrations aim to simplify your life.
There are two alternatives to the regular image or video Lead Form Ad.
- Promotion ads: these call for people to submit entries to a competition, register for an event, appointment, or even for follow-up meetings or future deals and discounts (like flash sales!), in return for their contact details
- Carousels and “drip” ads: a series of ads that target the same customer several times with different ads, hopefully increasing their interest in your product, service or business; the series ends with the lead ad linking to a contact form
6. Product ads
If you have more than 10 products or want to target customers in a more dynamic manner, Product Ads are a great option to consider. After visiting a shopping site, you might have noticed the clever Dynamic Product Ads (DPAs) appearing in your social media feeds. These ads utilize Facebook Pixel tracking to present you with products that you have previously viewed and that have performed well.
On platforms such as Instagram, businesses are able to tag numerous products in their posts, making it more convenient for individuals to come across and interact with these products. The most successful advertisements for products have visually appealing, superior quality images and minimal written content. A study conducted by AdEspresso, which examined 750,000 Facebook ads, revealed that the most impactful ads contained fewer than 20 words in the advertisement text and 4 – 5 words in the link headline.
7. Collection ads
Collection Ads are essentially Product Ads, but they offer a more engaging and visual encounter for viewers. They resemble a virtual store, enabling users to browse through a large image (or video) banner and view four products displayed below.
By tapping on a Collection Ad, users are smoothly taken to an Instant Experience-powered visual experience that loads quickly. This allows them to browse and gather more information without having to leave Facebook or Instagram, with the purpose of fostering interest and intent.
Snapchat allows each individual image to link to its own webpage, in addition to another link that allows users to “swipe up”. This feature is beneficial for providing audiences with more information about a specific product, as it allows for showcasing multiple photos of the same product from various perspectives.
8. Interactive ads
Interactive Ads utilize advanced digital technology to prompt users to engage with the ad for a longer duration. These ads often push boundaries and aim to captivate audiences beyond simple click-through actions. This can be achieved through various means, such as enabling users to rotate a 360-degree photo, responding to a question, or participating in a poll.
Interactive Ads create connections between the brand and the audience, resulting in improved recall and sentiment. Additionally, the longer the audience remains engaged, the more cost-effective it is for the advertiser, specifically you.
There are various types of interactive ads available on social media platforms.
- Instant Experience – formerly called Canvas Ads – (Facebook)
- Messenger Ads (Facebook and Instagram)
- Stories Ads (Instagram and Snapchat)
- Conversational Ads (Twitter)
9. Text ads
To expand the reach of your text-only post on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, you have the option to boost, sponsor, or promote it.
Text ads are frequently seen in the right-hand sidebar of a user’s news feed and as ‘headline ads’ above the news feed on LinkedIn. These ads include your brand’s logo and the linked text is particularly significant. When utilizing these ad formats, it is essential to ensure that your message is concise, focused, and highly captivating for the intended audience.
