3 keys to successful social media advertising

In the rapidly evolving field of social media advertising, it can be difficult to know what you should focus on today, let alone years down the road. In this overview, you’ll learn the current state of social media advertising, where it’s going, and how your brand can ride on the wave of its success.

Social media advertising spend is estimated to have reached $75 billion worldwide in 2018, growing 43% year over year. To put that figure in perspective, $75 billion is 26% of global digital advertising spend.

But it hasn’t stopped there. Spend on social media advertising is projected to double to ~$150 billion by end of 2021, with a compound annual growth rate of 25% (2018-2021).

Believe it or not, spend on social advertising is projected to eclipse spend on SEO advertising next year, with social comprising the greatest portion of digital advertising spend worldwide in 2020.

Why are so many companies investing in social advertising? The reason is simple: today, social marketing ranks as the most effective channel across the buying journey and social ads prove this success:

In 2020, revenue from U.S. social video advertising is projected to double from 2017 levels, going from $5.7 billion to $11.7 billion.

With half of Gen Z (50%) and Millenials (42%) identifying social media as the most relevant channel, social media is the channel for future customers.

The all-important question is: how can your brand have a successful future in social media advertising? There are 3 keys to success:

1) Converge ad and organic content planning

Today, teams creating organic content are often siloed from teams and agencies creating paid content. Marketers need to be aligned holistically — with a common calendar and cross-team visibility — for campaigns to effectively leverage paid and organic content.

2) Use native ad tools for placement

Native ad tools, such as Facebook Ads Manager, are the most powerful out there. Value comes from enhancing the workflow around and reporting from native ad tools rather than rebuilding configuration options. In addition, using native ad tools offers customers a common brand voice when engaging with them.

3) Maintain a complete view of your brand’s social performance

According to a Deloitte CMO survey, while marketers know the qualitative impact of social media advertising, they’re still struggling to prove the impact quantitatively. A marketer’s best friend is and will continue to be technology that can consolidate, illuminate, and help prove the business value of social media advertising.

Khoros Ads Capabilities provides marketers with all three keys to success, helping them to plan, view, and measure social advertising across networks, across ad types, and at scale. To learn more about how Khoros’ Ads Capabilities can help your brand, click here.