Although SEO can build authority and visibility over time, businesses want to see more immediate returns as well. Enter Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and social media advertising. With the current trend of social media and other platforms going “pay to play“, relying too heavily on organic reach won‘t provide the level of visibility desired, especially with so many alternatives to pay for visibility in the way of paid advertisements. Paid ads provide the important benefit of offering instant traffic, highly targeted visibility, and measurable ROI. Many of the above benefits are achievable with both Google Ads and Meta Ads (Facebook, Instagram).
Both are also still considered to be some of the most effective for getting your ads in front of target customer audiences. However, having an idea of the business and market is not enough to start reaping some benefits with SEM and Social Media Advertising. In fact, running ads without a properly defined targeting strategy is simply burning money. Businesses need to consider the following strategies to get the most out of either advertising platforms
Smarter bidding strategies to obtain cost efficiencies Ad creatives that match a customer‘s intent, so ads are relevant to the user Landing pages built to convert versus landing pages built just to convey information to the visitor One of the trends that has emerged recently is performance–driven campaigns, where businesses are optimizing their ads for conversions and sales, vice clicks. There is now technology to build dynamic ads that become more relevant to the user based on behavioral data points, encouraging personalized advertising and better ad exposure, even with today’s marketing/personal information privacy requirements. Another important trend with advertising in digital marketing is the use of short form video ads. With all of the attention focused on platforms like Reels, Shorts, and TikTok, businesses are seeing far higher conversion rates when they can create entertaining video with clear calls to action compared to display or in–feed advertising.