Social Media five years ago was something that mainly teenagers were into, but now social media is changing the way everyone, including businesses communicate and how everyone finds information online.
What does this mean for your business? That people are looking for you on these sites! While only a decade ago it was possible for companies to be successful without social media, businesses are starting to see social media use, and online branding as a necessity. In fact some of the top reasons people use social media are: to receive discounts/promotions, to stay informed about company activities, and to get “freebies.”
Having social media sites, and updating your content frequently is a step in the right direction but to expand your audience even further advertising should be part of your online plan. I know what you’re thinking…all of this effort, and you want me to spend money too!? The answer is yes, but I want you to get the best bang for your buck.
The two online advertising mediums were talking about specifically are Google ads, and Facebook ads. You should also know that they operate on two different models of advertising, the PPC, and CPM. What are these you ask?
PPC, is a model in which you pay per click. Advantages of using the pay per click model include: only paying for traffic that Google is capable of sending you and that it’s instantaneous after you’ve done your keyword search. Disadvantages of PPC advertising are that the more people using the system, the more you will be paying to achieve the top position for your “adwords.” Unlike SEO it is possible that someone who is willing to pay more will outbid you and be able to achieve your same success. Often times PPC advertising costs more than $1 per click.
CPI or CPM, is a model which you pay per impression. Often CPI is less expensive than PPC, although there is no guarantee on ROI. CPI is flat rate advertising, example: $5 per thousand impressions is $0.005 per impression. Cost per impression is sometimes preferred by people because they will receive a consistent fee proportional to the amount of traffic.
Advertising with Facebook is quickly becoming the most effective form of online advertising. Using a CPI/CPM model through Facebook you are able to zero in on your target audiences by location, age and interests. Facebook also enables you to set a daily budget and track the effectiveness of your advertising.
For example, if you are a wedding photographer and are looking to advertise in your area Facebook will allow you to select women ages 20-45, who are engaged within your area code. Then you have strategically narrowed down your audience to people who will be beneficial to you.
Google on the other hand charges you per Adword per click. Unlike Facebook, Google will sell your key words to the highest bidder and greatly affect the audiences that you will able to reach out to. Also Google doesn’t allow you to narrow down results to as niche an audience as Facebook.
Using the wedding photographer example, if you choose adwords like: photography, weddings and Albany, NY, you can be outbid by a number of different places. Therefore, it will limit the number of people who could actually see your ad…ever.
While the ways we communicate are ever changing, have no fear Overit Media will always be here to help you figure it all out!
