How Many Social Media Sites Can I Promote My Online Business On?

The Best Social Media Platforms For Marketing

Social Media Marketing for Businesses

1. The old marketing techniques, like, hoardings, radio announcements, pamphlet distribution, and newspaper ads, etc., involved huge expenses.
2. Thus, almost half of the business earnings, especially new businesses, were spent on advertising alone.
3. Today, with the advent of technology, digital marketing has become the king of advertising.
4. And it serves its purpose quite effectively, as comparatively, the cost involved in digital marketing is low.
5. Through this article, we will learn about the Top 5 Advertising platforms, where you can promote your business.

YouTube

• Every month around 2 billion people are logging into Youtube, and it has also become the second most-preferred video streaming platform after Netflix.
• This makes Youtube an attractive option for businesses to promote their brand.
• According to a Google report, the watch time for brand ads has doubled, which eventually has helped the business owners in expanding their digital reach among their target audience.
• Youtube ads are charged on a CPC basis when they are placed around the videos.
• The average CPC for YouTube is $2.09 per click.

There are 3 ways to promote your business on YouTube.

YouTube Ads

• The most common strategy is to use “YouTube ads”.
• YouTube Ads are the easiest and fastest way to take the maximum advantage of this platform.
• There are various types of ad formats available, such as Display ads, Overlay ads, Sponsored cards, Skippable, and Non-Skippable video ads.

Steps to put up a YouTube Ad

1. Choose whichever video you want to run your ad on
2. Copy the link to that video
3. Then proceed to Google AdWords.
4. Switch to experiment mode
5. Create a campaign
6. A new window showing options, like, search, display, shopping, video, etc. will appear.
7. Click on the Video bar.
8. Then click on the custom video campaign and continue.
9. A new page will appear, fill in the required information.
10. Further, scroll down, and you will find a ‘create your video ad’ section.
11. Paste the link that you copied in the beginning.
12. You will also get to choose the video ad format and thumbnail design here.
13. Click on the create campaign at the end of the page.
14. And at last, a new page regarding the billing process will appear.
15. Fill in the payment information, click on submit, and there you go. Your ad will be placed.

Influencers Marketing

• It is an effective strategy to grow your brand value.
• The large business firms usually hire celebrity influencers to create value for their brand.
• However, not every business firm can afford the payment charged by these influencers or through production houses like the placement of the product in a web-series, etc.
• Therefore, they prefer micro-influencers, as they are cost-effective, trusted, high in volume, and can drive their followers to take the desired action.

Content Marketing

1. The first step is to define your target audience.
2. You should know the kind of individuals you want to advertise your product to.
3. Categorise them based on their age, gender, profession, etc.
4. So be more specific and clearer regarding your target audience.
5. The second step is to build expectations and perform highly on those expectations.

Instagram

• Instagram is not just about posting pictures anymore, today around 130 million Instagram users (source: Instagram business team) spend their time on shopping posts put up by the businesses
• Many users prefer to buy products directly from Instagram.
• Today, such social media platforms are considered to be the best to highlight your products among the buyers, according to an influencer marketing hub survey.
• Businesses are making five times more than the money they are spending on influencer marketing through Instagram.
• Businesses using the B2C model are relatively more likely to benefit from this platform than businesses using the B2B model.
• Promoting your business on Instagram would help the business owners in increasing their reach as the Instagram ad statistics reveal that, Instagram’s advertising has a reach of 849.3 million users.
• For promoting your business on Instagram, you will be required to create a business account first.
• Under the profile, the section provides the details regarding your business, i.e. contact information, any social media page, and category (here you’ll be providing the information about the type of business you are indulged in).
• Further, hashtags play an important role in increasing your following and popularity.
• Thus, it is advisable to use appropriate hashtags, i.e. related to your niche.
• Use 5-10 hashtags that have the maximum reach, while uploading the picture or video of the product or service that you want to sell.
• The audience can reach out to you on your website, Instagram Profile, through direct messaging and storefront.
• Instagram CPC ranges between $0.20 to $3.56 per click.

Facebook

• We all know how Facebook was created to connect people with their friends or family members.
• However, with time, it has also become one of the most sought-after advertising platforms.
• As per the statistics provided by, www. Statista.com, the number of Facebook users in India has increased from 248.3 million in 2017 to 346.2 million in 2020, i.e. a 39.4% increase in the number of users in just three years.
• Setting up Ads on Facebook is a simple process

1. Just click on the Create Ads options, which will direct you to the Ads manager page.
2. The next step is to choose a marketing objective.
3. You’ll be given three categories to choose from, i.e. Awareness (sub-categories - Brand awareness and reach), Consideration (sub-categories - traffic, engagement, video views, lead generation, etc.), conversion (sub-categories - catalog sales and stores visits).
4. After choosing any one option from above, the next task is to set up an ad account.
5. Here you will be asked to provide some information related to your location (country name, currency, time zone).
6. Continuing further, you will be required to provide a name for your Ad.
7. The next step is to choose the target audience.
8. There are two ways to place your Ad, Manually and Automatically.
9. After completing this step, you would be required to define your spending capability under the Budgets and schedules sections.
10. You would also be required to select an Ad format (like a carousel, single image, single video, and slideshow).
11. Further, add website URL link & description, images apart from that, call to action button is also available, which will provide your audiences with a way to reach out to you.
12. Lastly, select the payment method and make your payment.
13. Your Ad will be set up.
14. Please note that the amount that you will pay would be the same amount that you have filled in the budgets & schedule section.
15. Facebook advertising on average costs around $0.97 per click.

Pinterest

• Pinterest was founded in 2009 and has reached a user base of 291 million since then.
• The ROI on Pinterest is four times the investment made on ads, making it one of the most profitable and cost-efficient advertising platforms.
• Businesses such as tour and travel agencies, photography studios, and restaurants, etc., are more likely to grow through Pinterest.
• The first thing after creating a business account is to create pins that are simple and descriptive.
• These pins can be created using various adobe products, say, for example, Photoshop, or you can hire someone to do this work for you.
• Another important thing is to join a group board, as they help to create an audience and generate traffic on your website due to the larger reach.
• It is advisable to pin your content multiple times a day because the more engaged you are in the Pinterest community, the better off you are going to be.
• Apart from that, try to relate the content that you are pinning to the products and the services that you are selling.
• The last thing you need to know about Pinterest is the importance of participation.
• So, keep commenting on other people’s boards to increase your following.

LinkedIn

• LinkedIn is different from the above mentioned social media platforms, as it was created as a job search site.
• However, over a period, it has evolved into a professional social media site.
• LinkedIn also provides advertising opportunities, as it lets you create an ad in just a few easy steps.
• They provide flexible pricing options as well as influential audience targeting options.
• Linkedin has a user base of 675 million, and the average CPC on this platform is $2 per click. (source: webfx)

Also Read:

What is the Risk of Not Using Social Media for Business?

Social Media Ideas For Business

Most Popular Social Media Platforms in 2020

In Conclusion

1. Companies that keep pace with rapidly changing technologies and advancements are more likely to succeed in the long run.
2. Therefore, as a business owner, you should always try to embrace the changing scenarios.
3. And try to apply them to your business, always to remain ahead of your competitors.

FAQ's

Q- What does the term CPC and PPC mean in digital marketing?

• CPC stands for cost per click, while PPC is the acronym for pay per click. PPC is the method by which Google AdWords is working.
• In PPC, the advertiser pays the publisher, every time an ad is clicked.
• CPC, as the name suggests, refers to the price that you pay for each click on your ads.

Q- What is the difference between SMM and SMO?

1. SMM is also known as social media marketing, simply refers to the advertisements done on a social media platform.
2. Thus, it is only limited to Ads.
3. Social Media optimisation, on the other hand, is a strategy used by businesses to increase awareness about their product and brand.
4. They analyse the performance of their marketing plan and optimise it accordingly.

Q- What is Newsletter Scheduling?

• After creating an email newsletter, the next step is to either send it right away or schedule the send ahead of time.
• Newsletter scheduling is preferred as it can be sent automatically, therefore helping your business in saving time.