What Is Social Media Advertising? And Its Pros and Cons

It may be a small world, but social media has made it even smaller, especially in the last decade. Not only has it made human interaction faster, but more accessible and convenient too. As a result, it has given rise to Social Media Advertising.

Social media has been combined with the newest technological innovations in communication. As a result, various platforms have become more powerful. Also, these platforms have proved helpful for their users, including businesses implementing digital marketing campaigns.

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For instance, you can utilize Social Media Infographics to get the attention of potential customers, driving traffic to your website.

Content marketing is perfect for engaging with casual users and converting them into loyal followers. Additionally, you can always make the most of content publication and sharing using a Social Media Calendar or Scheduler to maximize your reach and overall effectiveness.

Thus, how can you say if social media is a good or bad channel for your business? Should you dismiss advertising using social media because of its drawbacks? Or should you take the risk despite them and focus on the benefits you may reap?

People and Social Media Platforms Today

As of October 2023, there are already 4.95 billion social media users globally. Social Media Marketing Consultants can use one or more networks to spread the good word about your business to this massive user base!

Source: Statista.

Some of the most popular social platforms worldwide include Facebook and Instagram. So, here’s the full list, ranked according to their number of active users.

Facebook (3.05 billion)

YouTube (2.527 billion)

Source: Clipchamp.

WhatsApp (2.78 billion)

Source: WhatsApp Business API.

Instagram (over 2.4 billion)

TikTok (over 1 billion)

Source: Influencer Marketing Hub.

Let’s use Facebook, with its over 3 billion users, as an example. Imagine how big an opportunity this network is for Social Media Marketing Experts and Advertising Consultants to promote their brands!

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Because of its opportunities as a marketing channel, social media marketing made its way to the globally-known network. So, technological evolutions in digital marketing brought social media advertising forward, resulting in the latter’s popularity today.

For some Social Media Advertising Experts, the strategy streamlines their marketing efforts. Greater customer approval and satisfaction are primarily due to the many potential targets to introduce products and services via social platforms.

However, some business experts disagree with them. They consider the platforms double-edged swords that can make or break their businesses. Still, advertising with social media can significantly benefit your business.

What is the Meaning of Social Media Advertising?

Social Media Advertising is a strategy that runs paid ads on social platforms. So, Social Media Advertising Experts can promote content on social networks to a casual user base.

In addition, paid advertising on your socials has a broader audience reach than posting on your feeds for loyal followers to see. By doing so, more potential customers can get interested in your brand.

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However, your advertisements don’t just appear to every social media user! Marketing experts will tell you that it may cause friction with people who don’t need your products or services.

Any social network has millions or billions of users. But, some platforms have features for segmenting your audience into different demographics! As a result, you can target audience segments by:

• Age;
• Gender;
• Location, etc. 

Thus, your social media ads can reach the audience that best responds to your brand, which boosts your Conversion Rates. You must understand social media’s effects on your marketing activities, so let’s dig into its pros and cons.

What are the Advantages of Social Media Advertising?

Below are five advantages that your business can get when using Social Media Marketing:

Increases Brand Awareness

Creating a social media profile for your business is a powerful way to expand brand awareness and increase Click-Through Rates. In addition, social networking sites can assist your brand marketing initiatives.

Aside from Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, you can also use other online platforms. These platforms include the following:

• TikTok;
• Pinterest;
• YouTube;
• Snapchat;
• Tumblr;
• LinkedIn; and
• Threads.

Generally, the wider your reach is, the more audience exposure you can get. Moreover, Social Media platforms are incredibly beneficial, especially for new businesses. These platforms can help expose your brand to the public, thus broadening your reach. Social Media has become a staple marketing strategy for various businesses, such as hotels.

Promotes Customer Engagement

Engaging with customers is a fundamental factor in marketing that boosts Conversion Rates! Businesses and Social Media Advertising Experts have been promoting their respective brands for many years. So, it’s an integral factor in guaranteeing that your customers seek you whenever they need your products and services.

Of course, Social Media Marketing Consultants can also effectively build lasting customer relationships through engagement.

Social media platforms are created mainly for communication and interaction. As such, it’s only natural that advertising on social media encourages people to engage with your business.

Thus, we highly suggest making it an everyday routine for your business. As you continue to engage with your customers, you also increase sales or leads generated.

Assists in Monitoring Competitors

With Social Media Advertising tools like Facebook Ads, you can research their competitors’ latest trends and activities. 

These activities may include business strategies or marketing efforts your consultants can adapt and incorporate into your plans. So, if you see your competitors using a particular marketing strategy, you can try to adapt it to your campaigns. Of course, you need to modify them to serve your business’ unique goals and needs.

If you do this, you can formulate marketing strategies to help you match up with or surpass your competitors. By checking out your rivals’ latest activities, you can determine how best to market your products and services.

As a result, you get to improve your marketing campaigns and activities. Also, your target audience can find your business more easily on their socials.

Provides Accessible Consumer Insights

Most social media user bases are vocal about their opinions on the latest trends. So, the platforms can help Social Media Advertising Experts identify what their consumers want or need.

Therefore, experts must gather customer insights from various social media platforms. Then, they must make sense of these insights and apply them to your marketing strategy.

You must guarantee that your products or services will cater to your customers’ needs as much as possible. In addition, you should make them understand that your products are the solution to their problems.

As a result, you can build a splendid brand impression. You can also expand your potential market, keep existing customers, and ultimately increase your product sales.

For the Most Part, Economical

Creating a profile on various social networks is free ⁠— you just need to sign up with an email account. However, creating a business profile on some networks may require more investment. But fortunately, it won’t burn a hole through your pocket. For instance, Facebook and TikTok allow you to create business accounts on their platform.

With a social media platform, you or a Marketing Consultant can advertise your products or services by posting content online. Also, you can notify your existing clients about new products and encourage potential customers to purchase products or services. Additionally, enticing followers to share your posts only requires some influence!

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But take note that boosting your content’s audience reach will not come for free. Nevertheless, you can post content and promote your brand to the general public without paying for the platform.

Next, we’ll discuss the downsides of using socials as advertising platforms.

What are the Disadvantages?

Marketing via social media is challenging for various reasons.

Allows Negative Feedback

Feedback is a pressingly vital factor for business owners. Anyone can share almost everything on Social Media with others. Thus, negative feedback can impact nearly everyone.

Just one comment containing negative feedback from a dismayed customer or client can go viral. As a result, it can hit your business harder than a knockout punch.

So, if a customer sees anything negative online about your business, they could lose trust in your brand. As a result, it can ruin the perception of businesses. In addition, your chances of attracting more potential clients also decrease.

But, you can always mitigate the damage by responding to feedback and providing satisfactory customer service.

Costly and Tedious

Social Media Advertising is a consistent, gradual process of popularizing a brand or business, which sounds easy in theory. Still, it will require a lot of time and patience from consultants, especially regarding Social Media Management. You would most likely need a year’s worth of luck to get immediate results.

However, you can speed up the pace of your advertising campaigns by giving them a boost, at a price. But these will depend on the following:

• Audience reach;
• Frequency;
• Duration; and
• Several other factors.

In the end, Social Media Marketing is a financial risk that you and your business should be ready to face.

Presents a High Volume of Content

There are 5.3 billion active Internet users today — more than half of the world’s population today — who have access to the Internet, including the available social media platforms. Consequently, more businesses go online and use their socials for advertising and raising brand awareness.

But there’s a massive amount of content from companies that utilize social networks in their marketing and ad campaigns. Thus, the chance of a potential customer finding your brand would be like finding a needle in a haystack. 

Thus, for business owners, especially those still new to online marketing, increasing brand awareness is not an easy task.

Susceptible to Misleading Information

It’s no secret that social media contains a lot of fake news and misleading content. Unfortunately, other users even believe those posts immediately without properly cross-checking for validity.

If you offend or disappoint a customer, they may use the power of social media to spread nasty rumors about your business. So, users who cannot filter through misleading information could fall into that dismayed customer’s lies.

A customer’s negative announcements on Social Media could cost you potential and even existing clients. Thus, misleading information could tarnish your business’s reputation on a large scale. A Social Media Marketing Expert should be vigilant for such information, especially anything related to your brand.

At-Risk to Possible Security Breaches

With the rise in technological advancements also comes the rise of hackers and other malicious individuals. So, you must consider potential security measures if you plan to create a social media account for your business.

Our accounts, applications, and websites are at risk for possible security breaches from online hackers. Then, when these hackers access our Social Media accounts and channels, they can harm us in many ways. As a result, they have the power to destroy your business’ reputation. Although this rarely happens, the stakes are still higher for business owners when it does.

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As you can see, understanding the possible positive and negative effects of social media can help you strategize more efficiently.

So, remember to handle Social Media Advertising critically while tailor-fitting strategies according to your business. But then, if you decide to use the channel, you’ll need help from Social Media Marketing Consultants.

Take the Risk, Reap the Rewards!

Social media ads, such as on Facebook, can get your business far on a user base of millions, depending on the network. On a final note, you should know that successful business owners need to take calculated risks. In business, staying within one’s comfort zone doesn’t take you anywhere. Furthermore, there are no returns without a healthy amount of risks!

Do you want to create successful digital marketing campaigns? Then consider using Social Media Marketing Services from consultants in the Philippines. With their help, you can make social media a crucial part of your business strategy today!

About Axel May Rivera

Axel is an avid fan of many dramas and songs. She is always eager to explore and discover more when it comes to movies and entertainment, especially in Korean and Filipino culture. In her free time, she enjoys reading books and playing badminton.