5 Reasons Why You Need Paid Social in Your Digital Strategy

Chances are that if you’re active on social media, you’ve frequently come across the word ‘promoted’ or ‘sponsored’ alongside something or other.  If so, you’ve seen paid social doing its business.

Right now, more businesses of all sizes than ever before are bringing paid social into their wider digital strategies. The power and influence of social media is hardly a secret, but there are still so many who overlook or ignore the value of paid social.

So if you haven’t already brought it into your own strategy, here’s a quick rundown of just a few reasons why you might want to rethink your decision:

1. Engaged audiences

Right off the bat, paid social means placing your ads right there in front of those who are already engaged in whatever it is you do. Rather than casting your net broadly and hoping for a few bites, you know that every feed your ad appears in belongs to an engaged audience member. Not only does this increase the influence of your ads, but also makes them far less intrusive.

2. Targeting by interest 

One of the best things about paid social is the way in which many social media platforms allow ads to target users in accordance with their interests. Plus, you get to be as vague or specific as you like – once again allowing you to target those engaged in whatever it is you do. Whether looking to reach out to those interested in Manchester United or something as niche as lawn darts, targeting buyer interest cuts through the crowds to those of highest value to your business. 

3. Boost brand awareness

As a small business, it often proves difficult to boost brand awareness to such an extent as to attract audiences. It’s a very difficult nut to crack when it comes to the usual organic content marketing strategies and even PPC advertising.  Nevertheless, it becomes surprisingly simple when you incorporate paid social.  Say for example you work as an electrician. You could choose to implement a campaign focusing on property owners no more than 30 miles from Nottingham. You’re not targeting those looking for the services of an electrician specifically, but are instead raising awareness of your brand among those who might. 

4. Rapid results

One of the biggest benefits of paid social when compared to the usual organic marketing strategies is the speed at which results can be generated. While organic can certainly deliver the goods over time, paid social can potentially lead to extraordinary gains practically in an instant. The reason being that just as soon as your ads are published, they appear right there in front of your targeted audience members. Which in turn means that if the ads are effective, the resulting benefits for your business could be felt instantaneously.

5. Targeting by location 

As already touched upon, there’s much to be said for targeting in accordance with location. If you are a small business targeting a relatively small demographic, it makes no sense whatsoever to preach your message to the entire world. Likewise, if you are based in London but for whatever reason wish to target customers in New York City, you’ll gain little by reaching out to your immediate locality. Paid social allows you to be as specific or broad as you like when it comes to location targeting.