Business advertising in social networks

Today, the Internet is an integral part of the life of modern society. This is also understood by marketers who have long begun to work on creating effective ways to promote online. At the same time, they did not ignore social networks – platforms that were originally created for communication and publishing entertainment content, and have turned into one of the largest Internet resources that can be used for a variety of purposes, including the promotion of various organizations and services. and shops. So, if you are interested in Social Media Advertising in London, you can contact Cómon Agency for more info.

However, is social media advertising universal? What are its main pros and cons? What are the main ways to promote on such sites? You can find answers to these and many other questions in this article.

What is social media advertising?

Social media promotion is one of the most popular and effective SMM marketing tools. Facebook, Vkontakte, Twitter, Odnoklassniki and Instagram are resources that people go to not out of necessity, but in order to chat, publish materials about themselves, and read interesting information. It is precisely because of the light and entertaining nature of social networks that they are visited every day and are not perceived as purely informational platforms. This, in turn, provides advertisers with many benefits and allows them to promote their businesses in a way that is as easy, unobtrusive, and even entertaining as possible.

Advantages and disadvantages of promotion in social networks

Advertising on social networks has many advantages, which undoubtedly distinguish it from other methods of promotion on the network.

1. Users of social networks are in a comfortable environment, which positively affects the perception of advertising information;
2. Such advertising often involves the possibility of an exchange of views between live, real users with open profiles. So, for example, advertising posts can be commented on, and if the feedback from buyers or customers is positive, this will cause much more trust from consumers.
3. Moreover, users themselves can become carriers of advertising by simply joining a discussion or reposting on their page. That is why many online stores and companies that have their own groups and communities offer promotional participants gifts and discounts for reposting a post.
4. On social media, you can really talk in detail about yourself. Traditional promotional tools rarely allow for a lot of text, while in their community or promotional post, each advertiser can describe in detail the benefits of their products or services.
5. By being active on social media, you can significantly increase brand awareness without investing a lot of money in promotion. Moreover, you will be able to track the results of your advertising activities and find out the real reaction of users.
6. Creating groups and accounts on social networks does not require any special skills and knowledge.

However, despite the presence of a large number of important advantages, advertising on social networks has its drawbacks, including:

• High competition. The ease of registration and creation of communities in social networks is undoubtedly an advantage of this type of promotion. However, one cannot deny the fact that this plus has its downside. Your competitors will have the same publics, and this can become an obstacle for any business.
• Limited audience. Despite the huge popularity of social networks, not everyone uses them. Of course, the public can also be promoted offline, but it will be much more difficult than promoting, for example, the official website.
• Difficulty in promoting specific goods and services. If you sell products or provide services that are designed for very specific groups, there will be very few representatives of your target audience among network users.

Types of advertising in social networks

There are several main types of social media advertising.

Each of them has its own characteristics, advantages and disadvantages.

1. Content advertising is advertising that is served unobtrusively, in the form of communication on topics of interest to the user and enticing content. The main advantage of this method of promotion in social networks is that your potential customers do not perceive information as advertising, and this, in turn, can significantly reduce the degree of irritation. It should be emphasized that, despite the effectiveness of content advertising, it is better to use it in combination with other promotion methods on the worldwide web.
2. Targeted advertising. Targeting allows you to form a target audience by social, geographical, age, gender and other factors. This, of course, makes its impact much more effective, because the advertiser gets the opportunity to contact not all users in general, but specifically to those people who are interested in the promoted goods or services. What’s more, these social media ads cost far less than targeted ads on the most popular search engines. It is also worth mentioning that targeting provides for the possibility of using hidden marketing (advertising content is not served openly, but is unobtrusively mentioned in a post or review that is really interesting for most users).
3. A group or community in a social network. Facebook and Vkontakte do not have any restrictions for companies that want to start their own page on their network. By filling it with interesting content and useful information for users, you can attract new customers for free. However, it is worth emphasizing that such communities do not operate in a passive mode – you will need to hire people who will be engaged in attracting subscribers, selecting news, creating promotional materials, and so on. A huge advantage of having your own community on a social network is that the advertiser gets the opportunity to maintain direct contact with their customers, find out their real opinions about their product or service, and adjust their work based on the data received. Moreover, in such groups, you can offer users bonuses and gifts for reposting, organize sweepstakes, thereby turning subscribers into carriers of your advertising. Also, such communities often act as online stores, offering their users to directly contact the seller, fill out the appropriate online order form and, in fact, make a purchase through a group on a social network.
4. Hidden advertising. This is a way of informal presentation of advertising information, which involves the use of many different tools. In fact, hidden advertising can also include publications in various communities on social networks, the creation of your own groups (they should not be explicitly, directly related to the advertising of a particular company), the use of viral publications (photos or videos), direct communication with users and posting links.

Who is social media advertising for?

Promotion in social networks is relevant for many sites, businesses, organizations and stores that need to attract as many representatives of their target audience as possible.

In general, social media advertising is best suited for those advertisers who sell goods or services in mass demand and / or seek to popularize the brand.

However, social media promotion rarely becomes relevant for the following organizations, businesses and stores:

• Companies that sell goods or provide B2B services (for example, the production and sale of fertilizers). Social media users are drawn to entertainment or more “casual” products (such as clothing and accessories). The only exception, perhaps, may be marketers and journalists, who, as a rule, are active users of the network.
• Fast transaction services and goods (a prime example would be a taxi service);
• Enterprises whose activities are connected with too important, “serious” and personal aspects of life (for example, gynecology). It is unlikely that users are ready to join such publics and discuss such topics in the Vkontakte group.

How to start promotion on social networks?

Advertising on social networks can be very effective, but to create the right, competent campaign, all your steps must be as thoughtful as possible. In general, every entrepreneur can do promotion on their own, hire a freelancer, an experienced employee in this field, or entrust the promotion to a specialized company.

Web agencies, as a rule, operate in an integrated manner, providing their clients with the following services:

• Determine the target audience;
• Conduct a competent and detailed analysis of the interests, priorities and behavior of potential customers of the customer;
• Conduct an audit;
• Create communities and groups in social networks;
• Take on the responsibility of creating relevant content;
• Use a large number of accounts to support the brand;
• Select platforms (publics, blogs and forums) to promote the advertiser’s brand;
• Test advertising content and hidden ads;
• Analyze traffic, monitor the effectiveness of advertising and make the necessary changes;
• Report to the customer on the results.