A graphic showing a small business advertising with social media icons going in the top end of a funnel and money coming out the bottom end.

What are the Best Ways to Advertise Your Business on Social Media?

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The Right Social Media Platform Provides the Best Advertising for Small Business Owners!

Do you ever feel overwhelmed by the number of social media platforms out there? Between Facebook and Instagram and LinkedIn and everything else, it can be hard to navigate. And then, when it comes time to advertise on social media, where do you start? How do you know which form of social media is the right place to promote your business?

If you’re feeling lost in a sea of social media, don’t worry! Frontier Marketing is here to help! 

Before you start writing captivating social media posts for your audience, you need to know two things. First, who is your target audience? Who will your customers be? And second, what industry are you in? If you can answer these two questions, then you’re set because we’ll answer the rest! 

Keep reading to see the best ways to advertise your business on social media! 

Who Should Use Facebook & Instagram Ads?

Facebook and Instagram are two titans of small business advertising. Facebook is the most popular platform for advertising, and Instagram is quickly catching up. We will look at them together in this section because they have very similar processes and results. 

Your objectives should be part of your digital marketing strategy. Before deciding how much you want to spend, decide what you want to get out of the ads. Facebook and Instagram objectives include:

  • Awareness: You can build brand awareness or increase your reach and impressions easily through Facebook and Instagram. 
  • Consideration: If you want to send traffic to websites, increase your engagement, encourage video views, generate leads, or encourage communication, these are your platforms. 
  • Conversion: Create online conversions, make catalog sales, and drive foot traffic to offline stores. As they become a bigger e-commerce presence, Facebook and Instagram offer better solutions to engage customers in your business. 

Businesses that Work for Facebook & Instagram Ads

Because the platforms use photos and video so well, businesses who have photographable or filmable products or services do best here. Basically, if you can snap a photo of your product or service, you should be using it for a Facebook or Instagram ad. 

Here are specific businesses that work well on Facebook and Instagram:

  • Auto
  • Fashion
  • Beauty
  • Travel
  • Retail

Even if you don’t fit these industries, your small business marketing plan should include Facebook and Instagram ads. They are important to bring in more customers, gain a better following, and increase your brand awareness. 

A graphic showing different icons related to Instagram, including likes and stories.
Instagram works well if you can take a picture or video of your product or service.

Who Should Use Twitter Ads?

Typically, Twitter ads don’t last very long in the public’s mind because they are quick and to the point. That means there ends up being a lot of them. 

In fact, more can be accomplished with organic posts than the promoted Tweets or pinned Tweets that Twitter uses for ads. Twitter even recommends making sure you have a strong organic foundation before setting up paid ads. 

Twitter Ad Objectives

Twitter ad objectives are also a bit different than Facebook or Instagram. You want to use Twitter ads if your goal is:

  • Website clicks
  • Tweet engagements
  • More followers
  • Awareness

Twitter also has different ways you can advertise. However, an organic post is one of the best ways to advertise your business on Twitter. 

If you go with advertising, you could promote something that won’t last very long. 

Businesses that Work for Twitter Ads

Because of the speed at which Tweets fly out at people, companies who specialize in getting information to people fast excel here. These include:

  • Publishers
  • B2B Companies
  • Informational Companies
  • Communication Companies

If your business doesn’t revolve around the quick dispersal of information, you’re better off spending the money on Facebook or Instagram. 

Who Should Use YouTube Ads?

Next, we have YouTube ads. Like other social media platforms, there are many different types of YouTube ads you can choose from 

You can do TrueView ads, which are a bit longer and only charge you if a viewer watches more than 30 seconds of your ad. Then there are pre-roll ads, which clock in at 15 seconds. Finally, there are bumper ads, which are about 6 seconds long. 

As with the other social media platforms, YouTube allows you to target specific audiences with your ads. A good note to keep in mind: more males than females across the board use YouTube. 

YouTube Ad Objectives

YouTube ads work best for businesses with the following objectives:

  • Collect leads
  • Drive website traffic
  • Increase product and brand consideration
  • Build brand awareness and extend reach

These objectives are also available on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. However, depending on your industry, you might go with YouTube because of the audience you’re trying to connect with. 

Businesses that Work for YouTube Ads

Businesses that do well with YouTube ads are businesses that do well on YouTube period. Like Facebook and Instagram, if your industry or company is designed for more video-based materials, then you’ll do better. 

Some of the industries that excel on YouTube are:

  • Restaurants
  • Entertainment
  • Retail

Why do these industries thrive on the platform? All three have plenty of enticing, entertaining, and informative visuals to share. For example, restaurants thrive on showing off enticing videos of their food cooking. So, if you have enticing visuals to show off, then you should flaunt them on YouTube.  

Who Should Use LinkedIn Ads?

Finally, we have a bit of an outlier. LinkedIn, by its nature, is more business-oriented than the other platforms. 

LinkedIn users aren’t looking to see the latest photos from a friend’s vacation. Instead, they’re looking for jobs, advancement opportunities, and industry news. Because of this, the parameters for targeted demographics are much more specific. You can target people based on education, experience, and areas of study. 

LinkedIn Ad Objectives

While the objectives are like those on other platforms, the reasoning behind them is different. The goal is to drive people to your site to join your business. Keep that in mind when looking at the objectives, which are: 

  • Brand awareness
  • Consideration
  • Conversions

These objectives are for companies who want to have people join their ranks. 

A graphic showing puzzle pieces with people icons on each piece. The final piece is being placed in the puzzle.
LinkedIn ads are mostly used for hiring purposes.

Businesses that Work & Don’t Work for LinkedIn Ads

Using the above objectives, companies advertise on LinkedIn to try to find the perfect new hire. The following are the industries that typically have the most success doing so:

  • B2B products and services
  • Recruitment/Human Resources
  • Higher Education

So, if you’re in any kind of recruitment industry that seeks specialized people, go with LinkedIn. But if you’re in any of these companies, you should probably look at another platform:

  • B2C Companies
  • Companies with a broad target audience
  • E-Commerce
  • Ad agencies
  • Commodities

Do You Know If You’re Using the Right Social Media Ads?

Are you a small business looking to extend your reach and connect with more customers? Are you sure you’re using the right social media platform to advertise? Have a talk with us, and we can see how to help you best! 

Frontier Marketing strives to create the most effective ads in the most effective space for businesses in Fox Lake, IL, and the Chicago area! Give us a call or send us a message on Facebook for more help!

Let's talk:

(847) 254-0837
(847) 254-0837