Brands are shifting their marketing resources away from television ads and toward social advertising methods to reach customers who no longer watch television favor Snapchat Stories, Instagram photographs, and YouTube videos. For the first time in 2017, digital ad expenditure will surpass television ad spending, according to eMarketer’s projections, signaling a significant shift in how marketers target and interact with today’s younger, tech-savvy customers.
What IS SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING?
The term “social advertising” refers to any form of marketing that uses social media networks, platforms, or apps to reach new audiences, engage with existing ones, raise awareness of a brand, or otherwise benefit from the two-way exchange of information that social media provides. Branded content on social media platforms like Instagram and Snapchat, as well as collaborating with social media stars like YouTubers, Viners, and Snapchatters to produce, implement and promote brand-sponsored content created by the digital influencer is a form of social advertising that is used by companies to promote their products and services.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TV COMMERCIALS AND SOCIAL ADVERTISING
Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks can be used to target individuals who have already demonstrated an interest in a product or service, therefore enhancing the effectiveness of social advertising campaigns and generating a better experience for consumers through targeted advertising according to an audience research. Television ads can target broad demographics like Budweiser advertising during football games or beauty brands purchasing television ads during episodes of “The Bachelor.” Still, social advertising excels at identifying niche markets and using social media influencers that operate within those markets to message and interact personally with millions of interested consumers, dedicated fans, and engaged followers in those markets.
When it comes to promoting products and services, social media marketing has a distinct edge over television. It allows consumers to interact directly with a brand (typically in the form of a like, remark, tweet, or social share) and receive a rapid response. Social media marketing initiatives have higher levels of engagement and create “halo effects” in which people increase the campaign’s reach by sharing branded or brand-sponsored content with their social networks.
Finally, social advertising is incredibly efficient at reaching the most sought-after market segment today: Millennials. Marketers are spending 500 percent more on millennial-targeted advertising than any other group, and social media marketing, such as influencer marketing campaigns, is the most successful way to reach young people who spend up to 9 hours a day on social media platforms.
TODAY’S SOCIAL MEDIA ADVERTISING
To attract new customers or create a foothold in previously untouched sectors, many of the world’s largest brands are turning to social advertising. Companies have used social advertising in a variety of ways, including:
With the help of some of the world’s most popular YouTubers, Squarespace launched a social media advertising campaign.
Squarespace collaborated with top YouTubers and channels like Good Mythical Morning, Cinema Sins, Ray William Johnson, and Tyler Oakley to produce original video content designed to entice viewers to sign up for its website building services increase audience engagement with their social advertising campaign. Squarespace’s marketing can be found in our case study.
MASTERCARD PARTNERS WITH TOP VINEYARDS TO DEBUT SOCIAL MEDIA ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS
Arielle Vandenberg, a Vine star with 1.9 million Vine followers and half a million Instagram followers, collaborated with Mastercard on a social advertising campaign to target millennial consumers. Brands such as Mastercard, which have traditionally relied on television advertising to reach new customers, may now engage directly with consumers who spend hours a day on social media sites such as Vine, Instagram, and YouTube.
THE BIGGEST ENTERTAINMENT PRODUCTS ARE ENGAGED IN SOCIAL ADVERTISING
Engaging in social advertising by building branded social media campaigns with today’s top influencers is an efficient approach for filmmakers and international music singers to broaden their reach to new, interested audiences and generate buzz for upcoming releases. Check out our blog post here if you want to see how The Hunger Games, Selena Gomez, and other entertainment brands gained success by teaming with prominent YouTubers to produce creative social advertising strategies.