Last Updated on September 21, 2022 by Arif Chowdhury
Regarding online marketing, social media platforms are rising stars. So forget about the old style of advertising, i.e., banner, display ad, PPC ad, etc. Though I am not saying that these advertising platforms are not effective anymore, I am trying to say this: if you use social media platforms, you can easily blend with your audiences.
What is the meaning of blending with your audience? It means you will become part of them. Let me give you an example when you visit a website & see lots of banner ads or display ads, do you particularly like them or being annoyed by them? Now imagine when you visit a social media platform like Facebook and follow one of your favorite brand official pages; if they publish a new offer post, you happily like it, comment on it & share it with your friends.
No boring or annoying things in here. Instead, you help them spread their advertisement by sharing it with friends. As you can see, this is called blending with your audience. And by doing so, you can launch a powerful advertising campaign that can increase your ROI more quickly than ever.
There are many social media platforms out there. This guide will show you, what are the best 6 types of social media for online marketing.
1. Facebook.
We all know Facebook very well; almost all of us have a Facebook account & some of us have multiple accounts. To meet, greet & chat with friends, we always use Facebook’s social media platform. We may not know yet, but Facebook has more than 2.7 billion users worldwide, which makes it one-third of the world’s population. Yes, one of the largest world communities anyone has ever seen.
And probably this is why all businesses worldwide, from the smallest to the largest, are racing to promote their brands on this social media. So now the question is, why is Facebook advertising one of the best platforms for online marketing?
First, let me give you an example of Amazon’s official Facebook page. Of course, we all know about Amazon. It is one of the world’s largest eCommerce platforms, but still, they have opened a Facebook page. Why? Because they want to target this vast 2.7 billion potential customers.
Now, why is the general audience supposed to like/follow their page? It will be easy for them to learn about new products, promotions, offers, discounts, etc. They won’t have to visit the Amazon.com website; instead, while browsing Facebook, they will receive a notification from Amazon’s official page.
As you can see, getting helpful information from your favorite brand is relatively easy. Social media offer more resources than traditional platforms (newspapers, websites, forums, etc.) You can easily talk with them, chat with them, and ask to solve any issue; you can directly purchase from Amazon’s Facebook page and share promotional offers with your friends & family members. All these can be done from a social media platform; you do not need to go elsewhere.
So, both businesses & customers can benefit from this, and that’s why Facebook social media is one of the best platforms for online marketing.
Quick Note: Social media sites such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc., offer solid social networking options. Most of these platforms have millions of monthly active users. Thus, small to large organizations use it for brand awareness to sell their products directly.
Facebook advertising facts:
- CPM (Cost per 1,000 Impression) means you will be charged for how many times an ad is displayed before your targeted customer, not how many times they have clicked.
- The average CPM cost is $7.19 based on WebFX’s recent research & $1.07 per like.
- Facebook has almost 98.3% of mobile users, while only 1.7% are laptop & desktop users.
- Sometimes even after having millions of followers, you may have to launch an ad campaign to reach them.
Exclusive tips:
- Try to build as many targeted followers as possible; you can mitigate this advertising cost to $0 by getting organic reach for your post.
- Try to use emojis in your ad & make it informal. Remember, this is social media, not a business forum.
- Don’t overwhelm your followers with lots of promotional offers; instead, try to help them out by publishing engaging content, this way, you will gain a massive amount of active followers & your profit will also increase along the way.
Recommended Reading: Ultimate Guide: Social Media Marketing Strategy for Small Business
2. Instagram.
Instagram is another popular social media platform, though it is mainly used for image & video sharing. They have more than 112 million monthly users worldwide, a small audience base compared to Facebook.
Yet, it has more audience engagement than all other platforms. Based on research Instagram has a 58% more engagement rate than Facebook & 2,000% more than Twitter. It is a massive difference in advertising performance. Mainly if you can advertise your product using images & video, then Instagram will be very effective for you.
Though on Facebook, you can promote almost anything you like; however, on Instagram, you should focus on image & video content, as this platform is mainly focused on photos & videos; thus, if you do not use these materials, then your advertising performance will reduce drastically.
A perfect example can be Domino’s Pizza. Please take a close look at their post. Simple pizza image with a promotional offer in the comment box. It is the way how it works on Instagram. However, there is a catch; if your products are not good enough, you may receive an instant lousy review from your clients. And as the comment is wide open thus, everyone else can see it easily. So, be careful when promoting your products on social channels.
Instagram advertising facts:
- Both CPM & CPC work well on Instagram. Average CPM cost is $6.7 & CPC cost is around $0.2 to $2.
- Best for image-oriented products, i.e., food, movies, furniture, clothes, etc. Promoting this service to Instagram can be difficult if you have a business consultancy service.
- Instagram is based on mobile phones. Thus your target should be 100% mobile users.
- The majority of Instagram users are between 18-29 years of age.
Exclusive tips:
- Just like a Facebook page, try to build targeted followers & only then can you reduce advertising costs by getting organic reach.
- As most of the users are young, thus try to create an ad based on their interests.
3. Twitter.
Twitter is more of a news portal, while Facebook is an online social gathering. You may have seen many political leaders & Hollywood movie stars have a Twitter account & actively post their current status. However, you may not see the same thing on Facebook. So, in my opinion, Facebook is like a public place where people from all counties & all classes gather. At the same time, Twitter is a place for formal, elite people & brands. Thus, you are supposed to get a more accurate result here on Twitter.
Twitter has more than 330 million monthly users worldwide, eight times smaller than Facebook’s user base. But, as I already said before, here on Twitter, you will find a more authentic & formal audience than on Facebook. Therefore, consider your advertising campaign will also be more effective than social networks.
Unlike Facebook, you have a wide range of advertising options on Twitter. For example, you can use CPM or CPC based on your needs. Not only that, you can target the below actions.
- Engagement from the audience (like, comments)
- Sharing a post
- Clicking on the website link (promotional link)
- Views (mass awareness)
When you target a specific action, they will charge you only for that; even if you get other activities, that will be counted as a bonus & free of charge. So, for example, let’s say you target audience engagement, and when you receive 1,000 likes from different audiences, your ad receives 150 clicks as well. However, you will only pay for 1,000 likes & 150 clicks will be free of cost.
Twitter advertising facts:
- On average, you will pay $0.5 to $2 for each engagement, clicking & sharing. And $2 to $4 per follower.
- Twitter has a unique advertising feature – you can promote a new trend. However, the cost is significantly high at $200,000 per day. Nevertheless, if you can establish your brand, you will get massive targeted traffic.
- Twitter has more than 80% mobile users while 20% are laptop & desktop users.
Exclusive tips:
- Twitter is best for formal advertisement. Thus your corporate ads can shine here.
- The hashtag is a powerful & intelligent way to get organic traffic to your ad, so try to utilize it.
- Build a large follower base for your Twitter page; unlike Facebook, you won’t have to pay to reach them.
Recommended Reading: Facebook Marketing: 7 Advanced Ad Targeting Strategies for 2021
4. Pinterest.
Pinterest is almost the same as Instagram. However, there is some slight difference between them. Pinterest has a 442 million user base, nearly four times larger than Instagram. Also, just like Twitter, you will find an authentic & formal user base on Pinterest, while Instagram is more like Facebook, a bit informal. Thus, if you need to promote serious business, then Pinterest is far better than Instagram.
The Pinterest social media platform is considered highly engaging. And also, its advertising cost is slightly cheaper than other social media platforms. However, if you can build a sizeable targeted follower base, you can quickly mitigate those advertising costs. Just like Twitter, you won’t have to pay for organic reach.
Pinterest advertising facts:
- On average, CPM cost is $5.3 & CPC is $1.52; it is much cheaper than Facebook. However, Twitter is still more affordable than all platforms.
- 71% of the total user base are female, aged between 18-29.
- 85% of Pinterest’s audience uses this platform to plan their life moment, while Instagram has only 44% & Facebook has 53%.
Exclusive tips:
- Pinterest is much more effective than Instagram & Facebook for corporate business. Thus, showcase your products using custom images.
- Watches, jewelry, furniture, clothing, etc., are perfect for the Pinterest advertising campaign.
- Building a robust follower base should be enough to mitigate your advertising cost to almost $0.
5. LinkedIn.
Consider LinkedIn as a complete corporate social media platform. Unlike Facebook, YouTube or Instagram is where people are used to playing, having fun, chatting, hanging out with friends, etc. LinkedIn is the complete opposite of it. Here, companies are looking for high-caliber individuals; employees are seeking jobs, and people are trying to build a robust corporate network worldwide.
As you can see, LinkedIn is a traditional corporate social media, and Facebook is for everyday fun-loving folks gathering. Therefore, the marketing strategy is entirely different for each of these platforms. One method may be perfect for Facebook, but the same process will devastate LinkedIn.
For example, let’s say you are the owner of Domino’s Pizza & you want to sell your Pizza on a social media platform. However, you are not supposed to sell your Pizza on LinkedIn. Instead, your task is to find employees for your company, i.e., search for a chef who can make Pizza or a general manager for your Pizza factory. You may also look for Pizza ingredient suppliers on LinkedIn. Therefore, it is a place for B2B marketing, not B2C.
LinkedIn advertising facts:
- There are more than 675 million users worldwide on LinkedIn. It is massive when we compare it with other social media platforms because most users here are for serious business, while on Facebook, you may find almost half of them are just passing their leisure time.
- Almost 61% of all users range between 30-64, which means no candy selling here.
- There are more than 30 million companies worldwide that have LinkedIn profiles.
- LinkedIn advertising costs are almost the same as Facebook, around $6.59 per CPM, $5.26 per CPC & $0.8 per premium email.
Exclusive tips:
- Try to be formal; forget about your typical advertising strategy on other social media platforms.
- Building a solid network is a perfect way to get noticed for both company & the individual.
- Focus on B2B strategy rather than B2C. As LinkedIn is a perfect place for B2B online marketing.
- If you are a business, you should leverage the LinkedIn networking power to source potential leads, employees & business partners for your business.
6. Snapchat.
Snapchat is almost like the Instagram platform. However, it has more than three times the audience compared to Instagram, with 314 million users worldwide. It’s mainly for image & video sharing. When it comes to advertising, Snapchat is a bit tricky. You have to be careful; otherwise, it will be a negative ROI.
The first one is the Snapchat discover ad, which started a minimum of $50,000 per day. Your ad will be displayed at the top of the newsfeed. Snapchat claims that you are supposed to receive millions of views per day with this feature.
The second one is Snap Ads, which costs around $1,000 to $3,000 per month; though it is a bit expensive, the swipe rate is 500% more than other social platforms.
The third one is Sponsored Lenses. It is one of the most expensive advertising options on Snapchat. You can create custom lenses for users & they will be available worldwide. It will display your brand name and logo within it.
The cost is varying, $450,000 to $700,000 per day. Sunday to Thursday $450,000 & holiday is $700,000. According to Snapchat, you are supposed to receive millions of views per day from this feature.
The cheapest advert option is Sponsored Local Geofilters. It started as little as $5, though some companies reported spending over $20,000. According to Wallaroo Media, they have received more than 23,000 views with only $7 cost.
Snapchat advertising facts:
- According to a recent (June 2020) survey, Snapchat has around 238 million daily users & it’s growing with roughly 35 million new users every year.
- On average, the Snapchat app is opened by a user minimum of 30 times daily.
- The United States has the most extensive user base for Snapchat, around 101 million. The second-largest user base in India is 33 million.
- Roughly 61% are female users, according to Statista.
Exclusive tips:
Using the cheapest advertising option is best, so test how it goes. Unlike Facebook & Twitter, Snapchat is a bit overwhelming for an individual. However, if you are a company & do not have any issue spending thousands of dollars every month, then go ahead & start with Snap Ads first, then try their most expensive Sponsored Lenses to build your brand around the globe.
Executive Summary.
Social media marketing is one of the best ways to build your brand. Unfortunately, you have both the cheapest and a costly options. The choice is yours. Sometimes even the most affordable option can bring you a fortune while the most expensive one cannot even meet the breakeven line.
My advice for individuals or small businesses is not to immediately go for the expensive social platform. Instead, if you have a budget issue, focus on Facebook, Twitter & Pinterest platforms. Both have a reasonable amount of advertising cost & have proven results in the long run.
And for a large brand, Facebook, Twitter & Pinterest should be enough to bring you a considerable profit. However, if it is still insufficient for your needs, you should test Instagram & Snapchat social media platforms.
In any case, good luck. And if you have any related questions, do not hesitate to contact me or leave a comment below.