When it comes to advertising online, deciding when and where to start can sometimes be a bit of a headache. With all of the advertising methods that there are, narrowing down which ones are most worth your money can prove to be a bit difficult.
With all of the information you need about the differences and pros for each of the major paid advertising methods, you will be able to make a conscious decision about where your particular business will see the best ROI.
Search Engines
The most utilized and easiest to navigate methods of paid search starts with advertising through search engines like Google and Bing. But knowing the differences between each can assist you in deciding if one option is better for your business than the other.
Google Ads (Formerly Google AdWords)
Google Ads is the go-to when it comes to paid advertising on the internet, and for good reason. Google Ads comes with a bunch of perks that make it a good tool for nearly any business looking to bring more traffic to their website. Some of the perks of using Google Ads include:
- Getting your ad on the top of the front page of Google*
- No contracts
- Control of your own budget
- In-depth reporting systems
- You only pay when the advertising actually brings you visitors
*Placement may vary depending on the amount that you choose to bid for a keyword
Bing Ads
Bing Ads is another popular search engine that people choose to do their advertising on. Bing’s advertising set up is very similar to that of Google’s Ads, and it even offers you the option to easily transfer your campaigns from Google Ads to their website. A couple of the pros associated with advertising on Bing are:
- Advertises on 2 other search engines: Yahoo and AOL
- Easy to use set up
Social Media Sites
Advertising on social media can be a hit or miss depending on your marketing strategy and your targeted audience. When it comes to advertising on social media, it’s a good idea to know where your intended audience spends most of their time so that you don’t end up wasting money on ads that won’t reach them.
Below we’ve listed some of the pros of using paid advertising on each of the major social media platforms to help you better make an informed decision about which platforms will suit your business best.
Facebook Ads
Facebook is where paid advertising on social media first began to garner attention. Regardless of your audience, since Facebook is a website with 2.8 billion members (and growing!), there’s a high chance that you will be able to reach your intended audience. A few of the other perks of advertising on Facebook include:
- Being able to choose a specific demographic that you would like to target your ads to
- Ability to retarget ads to visitors from to website
- Ads can be seen on mobile devices
- You can choose which metrics matter most to you, and pay for advertising according to that
Twitter Ads
Twitter is another social media platform that sells advertising. Much like Facebook, Twitter’s large following makes it a great place to start with your social media paid advertising efforts. However, since the user base of Twitter is a bit more niche, this may only be a good option if your target audience is tech / social media savvy.
Some other perks of paid advertising on Twitter are:
- The ability to directly link to apps that you want to promote so that they can be downloaded easily, increasing user experience
- Extremely specialized demographic targeting (can target languages, devices, hashtags, and much more)
Instagram Ads
Instagram is not as “social” as other platforms due to the structure of interaction that the platform has created. Advertising through Instagram would be best if your company is one that sells a product that would be able to be successfully marketed through visually pleasing pictures.
Other pros that come with the site include:
- Reach to a community of more than 1 billion
- The ability to take a more creative approach to advertising
One thing to keep in mind when it comes to paid advertising in general is that you cannot control the actions of the user. While you can influence them with the way you choose to advertise, it all comes down to whether or not the consumer takes the time and effort to actually interact with your ad. So, while paid advertising oftentimes works very well, you should always keep in mind that your mileage may vary.
Overall, when it comes to finding out the best paid advertising methods that there are out there, you have to narrow it down to what is best for your audience. What will work for some, may not work for others, so test the waters and find out what’s most profitable for your business, then stick with it!