By Amanda Bala
So, you may be thinking about purchasing advertising on a social media site. The three social media sites that are the most prevalent right now are Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Each one has a very different advertising platform, so you must consider them separately before you decide where to put your advertising dollars.
Facebook is the social media king right now. They also have the most developed advertising platform currently available. Even the smallest businesses, working on a limited budget, can advertise on FB. At the present time, prices for clicks and impressions are still very low as far as online advertising goes. Using a wide variety of criteria, FB allows businesses to target their messages by utilizing users’ profile information. You can specify who and where you want your message be sent. FB also gives the “like” option for ads that help businesses grow their following and possibly their clients. However, FB is limited in its B2B advertising because it is of such a personal nature. It is more effective when used in a B2C capacity.
When people think social media, the second site that usually comes to mind is Twitter. However, Twitter has a very underdeveloped advertising platform for small businesses. At the present time, they only offer advertising to large companies and brands. These are in the form of “sponsored tweets” or “promoted trends”. Therefore, advertising on Twitter is not practical or even available for most small businesses.
The last social media site that you might consider is LinkedIn. This is the most highly effective advertising site for B2B industries. Due to the professional nature of LinkedIn, it actually promotes ads that are called “LinkedInAds”. It allows businesses to deliver their ads to people with certain qualifications or titles, thus making the cost of the advertising much more efficient. You can also look for relevant groups on LinkedIn that you may be able to target. There is also the fact that LinkedIn advertising is still reasonable in price and is gaining daily in popularity.
No matter where you choose to advertise, it is always important to do your homework before you invest your money. This is no different for social media sites. Find the one that best suits your business and run with it!