Paid Marketing for Social Media

Paid marketing for social media platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter is quickly becoming more essential than ever for brand awareness and for the sustained growth of your business. While organic search engine optimization methods are still necessary for getting your brand seen in the search engine results pages, the latest trends show that paid marketing for these social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter are more important than ever. Organic SEO and PPC campaigns for these platforms are no longer enough to sustain a company’s presence in the digital marketplace. These methods must be integrated into all aspects of your online marketing strategy.

The best way to understand how your company can benefit from incorporating paid marketing strategies with their social media marketing strategies is to consider how well these platforms work as a marketing tool. LinkedIn is a social media platform that has recently taken off as a powerhouse in the professional world. LinkedIn allows people to not only network within their professional networks but to also market their skills and qualifications on their personal profiles. When combined with an appropriate paid marketing strategy, LinkedIn can help you brand yourself as a sought-after professional.

Facebook is currently the second most popular social media platform, with Pinterest coming in fourth. Both Facebook and twitter are free to use, but Pinterest is particularly useful for those businesses that have a real focus on visual content. Pinterest can be used for a number of purposes, such as to display recent travels, a blog, or even promotions and deals. Paid marketing strategies can be incorporated right into your Facebook and Instagram feeds to create a viral marketing strategy for these two social media platforms.

Google has recently announced the start of premium search services, which will give users extra features and options not available with regular search results. These paid search options include enhanced local results, contextual results, and location tagging. This paid marketing for social media platform makes perfect sense. If consumers are searching for a local pizza shop instead of a national chain, or if they’re searching for a dentist closer to their home than one they frequent on a weekly basis, a location-based paid search option could bring them to their preferred business’s page. Contextual advertising lets you show a listing based on the user’s recently searched for topics, which may include a location or category.

YouTube is the third largest search engine, behind Google and Yahoo. It is one of the biggest sources of online video content, and many of the most popular video sharing websites are found within YouTube. YouTube advertising has been widely successful for brands working on a social media campaign. Because YouTube is not a location-based service like other paid search options, it allows you to not only show someone videos they’ve already watched but also to track clicks on each individual video. This type of monitoring is useful for many social media strategies including SEO, paid promotions, and brand name recognition.

Facebook is currently the fourth largest social network, behind Twitter and LinkedIn. Like YouTube, Facebook does not feature location-based services. However, it does have a tab within the site that allows businesses to create advertisements. Facebook has a tendency to bring in more customers than competitors because of its user-friendliness and overall value to the users. A recent study by comScore Media Metrics revealed that Facebook has the most active user-engagement of any website measured. The website features a wide variety of applications that can make it very easy for a brand to interact with its customers and build a strong social following.

Pinterest is the fifth largest social network, following Facebook and Twitter. Pinterest currently serves as an excellent tool for sharing visually rich, visually entertaining content with your audience. It is similar to a “pinboard” format found within the “pinboard” application on Facebook. Pins from Pinterest are a great way to share a visually exciting news story or creative photo with Pinterest’s audience. Another benefit to using Pinterest for online marketing is that it provides the ability to target specific demographics. This means, if you want to target the female population, Pinterest will give you the ability to do so.

One of the newest social networks, LinkedIn is starting to rival the likes of Facebook and Twitter. LinkedIn allows business owners to post business content and invite their contacts to “watch” the content. Unlike Facebook and Twitter, LinkedIn does not feature location-based services. However, LinkedIn does offer other options such as business groups, forums and professional groups.