Is the cost of advertising on social media worth it?

First of all, social media ads help build brand awareness. They can even help to drive sales. Allocating some of your budget to create an engaging ad on Instagram, for example, will intrigue Instagram users when it appears on their feed. They may click on your ad, which will take them to your website. If they don’t, there’s a high chance that when they see another ad of yours, they’ll click on it to find out more, taking them to your website.

Once they’ve been on your website, you can then retarget them with further messaging and ads to keep your brand top of mind until they’re ready to make a purchase. 

Not only do social media ads promote the visibility of your brand, they also drive traffic to your website. If done correctly, this can lead to increased sales, which is exactly what you want when you’re looking to grow your business!

With the right ad campaigns, the right content, and the right marketing strategies, your business should flourish. However, it’s not a one-size-fits-all approach because every platform and every ad campaign works differently.

So, how much does social media advertising cost? 

Factors that influence the cost of social media advertising 

Type of social media advertising

There’s a variety of social media advertising strategies, and it depends on which ones you utilise and how much you bid on them, to determine how much your ads will cost.

Most social media platforms require a minimum ad budget, meaning that you have to spend a certain amount on each ad for a campaign to run. This cost isn’t sky-high, but it will need to be enough so that your ads contribute to your business growth in the way you want them to.

Cost-per-click, or CPC, is the most popular choice of ads, as you only pay when someone clicks on your ad. This makes it the most cost-effective tool because it helps you reach your target audience and has a positive chance of driving sales. The cost varies depending on the platform.

Cost-per-impressions, or CPM, focuses on ad views. You pay for every 1000 impressions instead of each click. This means that it’s usually more expensive because you’re paying when people ‘see’ your ads instead of when people make a buyer choice to click on your ad to find out more.

Social media channels also have bidding options specific to them. Facebook ads utilise cost-per-like (CPL), and Twitter relies on cost-per-engagement (CPE). The fact that there is a plethora of options for bidding illustrates that cost can vary to a large extent.

Platform

Social media ads work differently on every social media platform. This means that the cost of ads is different for each platform, too. There are several factors that you need to consider before beginning your social media advertising campaign:

1. How much content do you want to promote?

If you want to post 10 ads a month, you need a budget and platform that supports this. Figuring out how much content you anticipate using is good to know before you begin your campaign. For instance, if you want to post a lot, it might be more effective to use several social media channels to boost your chances of appealing to a wider audience.

2. What sort of content do you want to create?

Being mindful of the content you want to create will help you determine which platform is best for your ads. For example, if you want to mainly create short video ads, use Tiktok, Instagram, and Facebook - not LinkedIn.

3. What audience do you aim to target?

Considering the demographic that your products and services appeal to is a crucial aspect of your social media ad strategy. For instance, if you’re advertising a product towards 18-24-year-olds, you should choose a platform for your ads that this age group mainly uses, such as Instagram.

The amount of content, as well as the type of content, therefore, plays an important role in determining the cost of your ads. If you advertise over several social media platforms, then your monthly cost will be higher. Plus, if you utilise CPM ads rather than CPC, it will cost more, too. 

No social media strategy is the same for one business as it is for another. Every business works in its own way, and it’s important to curate a social media advertisement strategy that aligns with your audience, your campaign objectives, and your vision. You can work your budget around these elements because there’s a range of low-cost options as well as more costly options.

Your industry

Having a lot of other businesses in the same industry as you most likely means they’re trying to reach the same audience as you, and this can make things tricky.

Hypothetically, if you ran a niche business that very few others specialised in, your ads could target the relevant audience and engage people in what you offer! 

However, if you have a lot of competition, your prospective customers will be seeing ads for similar products to yours. They’ll be choosing to buy from your website or your competitors.

Ultimately, this means that the social media ads you produce must be effective, engaging, and relevant to your target audience. Increasing your ad spend doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll begin to outperform your competitors. The cost of your social media advertising does not necessarily dictate the end results.

Go solo or partner with a marketing agency

Many businesses control and manage their own social media campaigns, but by partnering with a social media marketing agency, you get help from professionals. Social media marketers know the ins and outs of social media advertising: how each platform works, the type of content that’s most appropriate for each platform, how to target certain audiences, and what results are ‘good’ results.

Just remember that partnering with an agency may mean you require more budget to pay the agency’s management fees but you’re also more likely to get more out of the budget than if you try to go it alone. 

Whether you choose to go solo or not, you’re always in control of your budgets and bids. You allocate how much you want to spend per month, per ad, per click etc. This is why social media advertising is so great - you can tailor it entirely to your digital marketing aims, choosing a unique platform, ad type, and ad content.

How we help

If you need help creating or managing your social media ad campaigns, we are here to help. Every agency is different in how they approach social media ads, but here at Logica Digital, we tailor each and every ad strategy specifically to your business. Like we’ve said, one size doesn’t fit all. And we’re here to help you figure out what fits right for you.

We’re experts in social media marketing, skilled in managing ad campaigns, creating original content, and analysing your results. If you have any questions, or are interested in the specific cost of social media campaigns, email our team on hello@logica-digital.co.uk. 

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