Social media is everywhere. Whether it’s Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, or any of the smaller platforms in between, it’s become one of the most effective ways to build a following, reach new audiences and also putting marketing dollars to good use.

That is… if you know what methods to use, and which others to stay away from.

While the concept of social media marketing is nothing new, don’t forget that millions of new people are going online for the first time, and thousands of entrepreneurs are launching businesses online for the first time — both of which are going to want to get active with social media.

If you want to reach new audiences and generate leads, paid social is the channel you need to be using. But without the right training, paid social can be a tough medium to crack. If you’re new to paid advertising, there are some important things you are going to need to know.

One such example is the clear difference between Facebook Ads and Google Adsense, which might not be so clear to newbie marketers or anyone going live with their first online ad campaign. Neil Patel does an excellent job in explaining the differences between the two in the video below.

Facebook Ads vs. Google Ads is just one example of something that should be obvious to marketers and site owners before spending money online and playing around with social media. Here are a few other tips, tricks, and marketing methods to consider as well.

Boost Posts

If you already have a Facebook page set up for your business, then the easiest place to get started with paid advertising is by posting your top performing posts. This tactic requires minimal effort and training, and will help expand your reach beyond your existing fan base on Facebook.

There has been some debate for many years now on which advertising method is best; Boosts vs. Promoted Posts. However, for most brands and site owners that spent money on ‘boost’ campaigns, they usually didn’t see the ROI they were looking for.

To implement this strategy, take a look at your Facebook post timeline and identify organic top-performing posts – posts that got a lot of engagement (likes and clicks) naturally. Select the “Boost Post” option in the lower right hand corner. From there, you can select a goal for your boosting, like Engagement or Website Visits, and also do some audience targeting to reach new people. You can choose Location, Age and Gender to help Facebook find the right people to show your post to.  

“Boosting” a post is extremely easy and you can make it fit any budget. However, just because it’s easy, it doesn’t mean you should do it. A better example would be to still use Facebook, but to focus more on custom audiences, remarketing, and targeting your ads towards existing mailing list subscribers and site visitors — which are all possible through the Facebook Ads platform.

Try a Link Ad

Link Ads are one of the easiest Facebook ads to set up for beginners. These types of ads look like a regular Facebook post that you posted to your Facebook page’s timeline, and will help you reach people who aren’t your fans. This type of ad works best for driving traffic to a blog post or a landing page.

The benefit here isn’t just that they are easy to set up, it’s also that they blend in with the regular content on Facebook Ads, which allows marketers to see much better results and engagement if they are willing to put in the time and effort. You can see an example of one of these ads below, and also explore the many other types of ads on Facebook here.

To set up this ad you will need to create: ad copy (post copy, link title, link description), image, call to action and a link.

Experiment with Video

Facebook is becoming more and more of a video platform, so, especially if video is already a part of your marketing strategy, you should experiment with Video Ads on Facebook. Videos are a unique and memorable way to reach new audiences. Videos also autoplay in the Newsfeed, which increases the likelihood of users seeing and absorbing your content.

Video is so attractive right now because everyone is consuming it. For brands with a lot of money to spend, Facebook Video Ads are perfect for not just increased branding, but also real views, engagement, and ROI as well. Take a look at some of the most active brands using online video through Facebook Ads.

When you set up a Video Ad, make sure you set up a call to action (like Learn More, Buy Now, etc) at the end of your video through the Power Editor. In addition, make sure you include subtitles, as many Facebook videos are watched without sound.

Set up Retargeting

Once you start running Facebook ads, your site will start receiving more traffic. You want to make sure you’re taking advantage of this traffic and these new visits, and a great way to do this is by implementing retargeting. Retargeting captures the digital information of your site visitors, and then follows their “digital footprint” around the web so you can continue to serve them ads and stay top of mind. So if they don’t convert on their first visit to your site, you drastically increase their chances of converting down the road.

Retargeting is now being used by more businesses and brands today than ever below. This Facebook Advertising Agency in London had the following to say about Facebook Ads and the continued support for retargeting campaigns:

“If you’re looking for exposure, Facebook is hard to beat. On a daily basis, you’ve got access to over 1 billion users – with a lavish spread of demographics within. What’s more, the average Facebook user checks the service five times or more during their day – so it’s the perfect platform for building brand awareness. Facebook allows advertisers to create custom audiences for their paid campaigns. Often, this will mean people retarget users who have expressed a prior interest – or have signed up to email marketing. Your advertising can now follow your customer’s online footsteps. Traffic leaving your page or site no longer represents a missed opportunity either – with Facebook retargeting, it could be the first part of a person’s journey toward becoming a customer – and can be exceptionally powerful when tied to your broader SEO, PPC and social campaigns.”

While this might not make perfect sense to a new marketer or brand setting up their first ad campaign, it will after a few quick examples. You can also take a look at the retargeting graph below to see a visual on how this multi-step process works.

Retargeting can be a bit trickier to set up, so be sure to research a few resources online and walk through the steps to make sure your Facebook Ads account, pixel placements, and ad copies are all in place for optimal testing and ROI.

How to Grow Your Business and Brand through Paid Social Media Efforts

With more than a billion active sites on the internet today, and more than three billion users spread across social media, it’s important to know what you are doing before getting started. This is true with all online advertising and anything that requires a decent amount of investment.

Be sure to run through each of the Facebook Ads methods above, and also consider these expert social media tips.