Drive Brand Value with Strategic Social Media Ads (Beyond Facebook)

With so many consumers online these days, every digital marketing plan should include a strategy for advertising on social media. While promoting your brand organically, interacting with the community, and developing a loyal following are essential to social media success, advertising also plays a huge role in helping to convert fans into customers.

The big platforms in digital marketing dominate the space. Google, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are household names. So, it’s easy to forget there are plenty of other players on the scene. But ignoring social networking sites you may think aren’t relevant or effective for your brand can be a big mistake. There is still plenty of brand value to be obtained by advertising on other social platforms…

TikTok

The dancing-and-lip-syncing elephant in the room is the viral video powerhouse TikTok. With over two billion global app downloads and millions of highly engaged users, most of whom are in the 18-24 age bracket, TikTok is rapidly gaining on some of the more well-established social networks. Its massive popularity makes it an attractive advertising target.

Naturally, TikTok offers video ads and a few platform-specific ad types. Ads can be displayed when users first open the app or show up in a user’s feed (in between the latest dance craze and cat videos of course). In addition, branded effects let users place brand-specific filters on their videos and branded hashtag challenges get users to engage with a brand by getting others to participate in the challenge.

Snapchat

While Snapchat isn’t capturing headlines the way it did in 2012, this photo-filter-based social network still boasts hundreds of millions of daily users. While most people over the age of 40 don’t classify as “active users,” the app remains insanely popular among teens. A recent survey shows this age group actually prefers Snapchat over Instagram or TikTok.

Snapchat also offers ad formats that leverage its features. Snapchat allows advertisers to create sponsored filters that users can add to the photos they share. Advertisers can also create unique Augmented Reality (AR) experiences that promote their brand while offering entertainment value to users.

Pinterest

This social bookmarking platform has been around for over ten years. And, even though it hasn’t become a global phenomenon like Facebook, it has a solid and growing fan base.

Pinterest ads offer a value proposition you won’t always find in online advertising: users tend to like the ads they see. According to a recent article, Pinterest users routinely “re-pin” brand-produced posts that their followers can shop. Given that Pinterest has hundreds of millions of fans, including a growing audience of Gen Z and Millennial users, this platform is worth investigating, particularly for lifestyle or fashion brands.

Waze

The social navigation app Waze offers a unique advertising experience for users and brands alike. Waze is a Google-owned alternative GPS app that offers crowd-sourced directions. And, while those directions may take you on backroads through neighborhoods you didn’t know were there, it does manage to help you beat the traffic almost every time!

With over 100 million users and hundreds of thousands of volunteer editors, Waze has a globally engaged community of loyal users. The platform offers three types of ads. A traditional search ad features business details prominently in a list of search results. Two other ad types, pin ads and takeover ads, leverage map-specific features to act as “digital billboards” along a driver’s route.

Pin ads feature businesses on the map when a driver is selecting a route. If the user taps the pin, more details pop up. Similarly, takeover ads display business information for locations along the way. Unlike pins, these ads automatically show on the driver’s screen whenever the car is at a complete stop near the advertiser’s address.

Waze has also deliberately positioned itself as a solution for any size business. The ad platform allows for daily ad spends as low as $2, making Waze advertising accessible for smaller companies who want to test the waters on this type of advertising. 

The social media landscape can seem tricky to navigate, especially when you venture away from the more well-known platforms. However, choosing the right apps and networks to market your brand on can offer significant advantages for your business. With the help of an experienced agency like Asen, you can meet your potential customers where they already are: online!