As social media platforms become more crowded, organic reach typically decreases. Paid social media advertising helps you reach your target audience directly. Paying for ads also means you’ll reach your audience more quickly.

Social media advertising serves to:

Want to know more about how advertising on social media can help you grow your business? Let’s take a look at seven major platforms and the basics of advertising on each.

Facebook Advertising Essentials

Right now, Facebook is, hands-down, the most popular social media platform in the world. Because of its widespread popularity among a range of users, Facebook advertising is a great way to get your brand seen.

Who’s Using Facebook?

Facebook’s audience is primarily adult users over the age of 18. As of August 2020, the majority of Facebook users were adults ages 25 to 34.

Facebook Custom Audiences

It’s simple and quick to create custom audiences for your Facebook social media advertising. Rather than filling out long, data-heavy forms, you can create your audience by targeting a set of interests or a geographical location.

Types of Facebook Ads

There are eight major types of Facebook ads you can leverage to promote your brand. Let’s take a look.

How to Get Started With Facebook Ads

The easiest way to get started using Facebook ads for social media advertising is by boosting a photo post on your page. Similarly, use Facebook Business Manager to create a photo ad. To learn more about Facebook ads, click here.

Instagram Advertising Essentials

Instagram ads are similar to Facebook’s ads in most respects. That’s because Facebook owns Instagram. As a result, Facebook and Instagram social media advertising campaigns can be linked via the Facebook Business Manager.

Who’s Using Instagram?

Thirty-seven percent of adults in the United States are using Instagram. It’s also a popular app among teens. More than 33% of Instagram users are ages 24 to 34.

Instagram Custom Audiences

Like Facebook, it’s easy to set your custom audience in your sponsored post. You may target your audience by their behaviors, geographical location, demographics, and interests. Additionally, you can set custom and lookalike audiences. Instagram allows users to set automated targeting, too. Essentially, you can opt to let the app pick your target audience for each ad.

Types of Instagram Ads

Now, let’s dive into the six main types of Instagram ad options you can choose from for your social media advertising strategy.

Instagram ads appear inline in your regular feed. In the upper right corner of the post, you’ll see an indication that the post is Sponsored.

How to Get Started With Instagram Ads

The simplest way to get started with Instagram ads is by sponsoring an existing post. Take a look at your post analytics to find a popular post, then boost it. Learn more about Instagram advertising here.

YouTube Advertising Essentials

Next to Facebook, YouTube is the second most popular social media platform in the world.

Who’s Using YouTube?

YouTube’s largest demographic is adults ages 18 to 29, though it’s widely used by adults of all ages. YouTube is popular with a many people ages 13 to 64. Seventy-eight percent of YouTube users are male, while 68% are female.

YouTube Custom Audiences

YouTube’s audience selector is highly customizable. You can target YouTube ads by audience or by content. For audience targeting, YouTube goes far beyond demographics and interests. As a result, you can target viewers based on behavior, whether they’ve shopped at your website, and even target similar audiences to your own.

When targeting by content, you can place your ad among a certain type of selected content. You can target factors such as specific website placements, channels, keywords, topics, and devices.

Types of YouTube Ads

YouTube features six different options for social media advertising:

How to Get Started With YouTube Ads

Starting out with a short bumper ad or a sponsored card could be an excellent way to try out YouTube social media advertising. Both types of ads are economical for brands on a budget. Learn more about YouTube advertising here.

Snapchat Advertising Essentials

The original inspiration for Instagram and Facebook’s popular disappearing Stories, Snapchat is based on the concept of scarcity. Through temporary content, Snapchat holds users interests. Users don’t want to miss a thing, and your ad could be part of that phenomenon.

Who’s Using Snapchat?

Snapchat’s largest user base is made up of teens ages 13 to 17 (69%), followed by 18- to 29-year-olds (62%). That means Gen Z and Millennials are the primary users on Snapchat.

Snapchat Custom Audiences

Creating a custom audience for your Snapchat social media advertising is flexible, depending on your brand’s needs. You may use an existing list of contacts to create a customer list called a Snap Audience Match (SAM) Audience.

Types of Snapchat Ads

There are six types of social media ads you can run on Snapchat:

How to Get Started With Snapchat Ads

Starting out with a Snap Ad could be a great choice for a personal brand or small business. You can use Snapchat’s Ads Manager on desktop to get started with creating an ad. To learn more about Snapchat ads, click here.

Twitter Advertising Essentials

A popular microblogging platform well-known for short, snappy posts, Twitter is a platform where brands can still grow organically.

Who’s Using Twitter?

At the moment, Twitter is most popular among adult users ages 18 to 29, with males using the platform slightly more often than females.

Twitter Custom Audiences

For Twitter ads, you can customize your audience in a variety of ways. In addition to the standard filters such as age, location, gender, and interests, you can also target by keywords, interests, followers, and more.

Types of Twitter Ads

There are four primary types of ads on Twitter:

Explore a detailed breakdown of Twitter’s ad variations here.

How to Get Started With Twitter Ads

Before you run an ad on Twitter, make sure your marketing materials for this particular campaign are snappy and to-the-point. You want them to align with Twitter’s tone as a platform. Starting with a Promoted Tweet is a great way to dip your toe in, and you can set the billing to Target Bid to keep your ad spend within a certain budget. To get started with Twitter ads, learn more here.

Pinterest Advertising Essentials

Pinterest is a highly visual online “pin board” with a wide range of users. Brands that utilize Pinterest want to create shareable, beautiful content users can act on right away. If your brand features visuals your users love to save and share, Pinterest is a great place to invest in social media advertising.

Who’s Using Pinterest?

Women primarily use Pinterest. In fact, 42% of the platform’s users are female. Pinterest’s largest age demographics range from ages 18 to 49.

Pinterest Custom Audiences

On Pinterest, you can target your audience in a number of ways. Filter by demographics, interests, keywords, lookalike audiences, or customer lists. If you choose, you can allow the platform to automatically choose the audience for your ad.

Types of Pinterest Ads

There are five types of ads to choose from on Pinterest for your social media advertising campaigns. These ads function similarly to the options on Instagram and include:

You may choose to turn an existing pin into an ad, or create a campaign in the Ad Manager.

How to Get Started With Pinterest Ads

The easiest way to get started with a Pinterest ad is to sponsor one of your existing branded pins. Make sure the pin is original to your brand, aesthetically appealing, upbeat, actionable, and relevant to the times. To learn more about Pinterest ads, click here.

TikTok Advertising Essentials

TikTok is still an up-and-coming platform in the United States. It’s known for short, vertical videos focused on showcasing a wide range of humor and creativity.

Who’s Using TikTok?

Sixty percent of U.S. TikTok users are between the ages of 16 and 24. However, older Millennials into their mid-30s seem to also favor the platform.

TikTok Custom Audiences

Create custom Audiences on TikTok based on a user’s Customer File, engagement and app activity, and website traffic.

Types of TikTok Ads

How to Get Started With TikTok Ads

At this point, TikTok ads are more expensive than ads on other social media platforms. While it’s possible to sponsor paid social media advertising on TikTok, budgetary constraints may limit advertising to larger brands. As the company grows, the options to advertise will continue to expand. To learn more about TikTok ads, click here.

Wrapping Up

Whether you’re a seasoned pro at social media advertising or just starting out, there’s a wide range of possibilities and platforms to choose from. Here are a few best practices to get you going:

Do you utilize social media advertising, or are you planning to? Which platforms are your favorites? Drop us a comment and let us know what you think.

Featured image via Sasha Ka / shutterstock.com