Paid Search (PPC)Social Media Content Is paid social media for you? May 6th, 2016 Social media advertising (paid social media) can be an effective way to amplify your other inbound marketing activities – and there’s never been a better time to invest some of your advertising budget into social platforms While in the past, social advertising was seen as somewhat of an antithesis to the organic, authentic engagement and interaction associated with traditional social media marketing. However, paid social has moved on in leaps and bounds since Facebook’s first foray into advertising back in 2004 with simple banner ads. Over recent years, social platforms have broadened their appeal to marketers by allowing them to interact with followers like a native user; by encouraging branded content and by offering more sophisticated advertising options in the form of promoted posts, native and video ads; and, most recently, ‘buy it now’ buttons. The scale of reach and targeting offered by social, along with increasingly intuitive in-platform advertiser interfaces and metrics, means paid social has never been a more attractive option to complement your organic social activities. Examples of paid social on Instagram But how effective is paid social? The perceived value among marketers is on the rise: the number of advertisers viewing social ads and promoted posts as effective leapt by 20% and 30% respectively between Q4 2014 and Q4 2015, research by the Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs found. Meanwhile, social users themselves say sponsored social messages are “equally—if not more—effective as other types of marketing tactics”, according to data analysis by eMarketer; this showed that platforms like Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram ranked higher than more traditional tactics such as print ads, with TV commercials the only non-social/non-digital medium in the top ten: Source: eMarketer Our eBook, Social Media Advertising: What Are The Options? will help you to explore the paid opportunities available to place your content in front of the audience that matters to you on social media.