Social Media Advertising and its Positive Impact on Businesses and Users

Social media has taken the world by storm and has drastically changed the way businesses go about planning their advertising strategies. With each social media outlet, a door opens for businesses to directly communicate and advertise to social media users. Social media advertising on mobile phones is a relatively new trend for different businesses and came about right after the decline of the banner ad. We have closed our computers and have turned to our smartphones for social interaction and entertainment.

We live in a social world where apps on our smartphones are much more attractive and useful compared to websites. Instead of having banner ads track your movements across the web, businesses are advertising on social media outlets to find new clients based on the shared and personal information of users. Social media allows businesses to spot potential new customers by targeting individuals based on their self-reported interests, location, occupation, skills and more. However, social media advertising varies for each different platform. Let’s take a closer look at each platform and the advertising opportunities the outlet holds.

Facebook: Facebook allows businesses to perform keyword searches to examine the self-reported information provided by different users. Businesses can also create landing pages for advertisements, unique advertisements for each specific audience and calculate audience insights.

Instagram: With the option of a 30-second video or landscape picture, Instagram recently introduced their advertising option for businesses. Businesses can create sponsored advertisements in order to get in touch with Instagram users.

Twitter: Promotional tweets allow businesses to boost brand conversation while creating a lasting impression on followers. This type of tweet opens the doors of communication between the customer and business.

Snapchat: Similar to Twitter, Snapchat has recently started integrating sponsored advertisements into Snapchat stories. An advertisement within a story connects with users on a more intimate level and is a great way to reach both young and old audiences.

So, how is this impacting you, the user? Well, it’s working in the both user’s favor and the business’s favor. Social media advertising creates a two-way street where customers can provide feedback and businesses can tailor their messages to meet their customer’s needs. Advertising on social media is one of the easiest, cheapest and most effective ways for businesses to build and strengthen relationships with customers. By getting in touch with potential customers in a more personal way, relationships are being built on trust and credibility. Customers want to feel valued and businesses want to increase their profits. Advertising on social media provides this type of opportunity where both parties are receiving benefits and positive effects. This is the first time where both sides of the advertisement are reaping the benefits. As new social media outlets are developed, positive relationships between the user and business will continue to foster and grow.

Written by Alisa Frye from Rebecca Adele PR & Events