Are Social Media Ads Effective?

When you’re putting together a marketing budget, you want to make sure you’re spending your money wisely. There are many channels to invest in and dozens of ways to reach desired audiences “ which one provides the greatest bang for your buck?

Social media ads have no doubt made it to your marketing shortlist. As you’re figuring out where they fit into your broader marketing strategy, it’s a good idea to take into account some facts and figures about the channel’s effectiveness. Let me walk you through some of the statistics that show why social media ads are, in fact, effective advertising tactics and an important piece of any broader marketing puzzle.

Facebook is the Place to Discover New People

According to statistics from Facebook, the platform boasts 2.41 billion active users. In June 2019, 1.59 billion of those users were active daily on the platform.

The current world population is 7.7 billion, which means that about a third of the entire planet has a Facebook profile. Those are some pretty impressive figures, and it’s proof that if you want to reach audiences old and new, Facebook is probably a good place to find them.

Plus, Facebook is bigger than just Facebook: The company also owns WhatsApp and Instagram. Instagram already supports advertising and businesses can now advertising on WhatsApp, too.

Social Media Inspires Buying Decisions

According to a survey of 1,000 US consumers, one-third of all purchases begin online each month. The same survey found that Facebook was the social platform likely to have the greatest influence on their buying decisions.

The respondents to the survey said they were most likely to be inspired to make a purchase based on what they saw on Facebook. Instagram also made the list of social platforms likely to influence their buying choices.

Another survey backs up those findings as well. Fifty-two percent of respondents to this survey said that what they saw on Facebook influenced their purchasing decisions both on- and offline. A key facet of effective advertising is persuasiveness, and Facebook has that in spades.

Cost per Click is Relatively Low

Part of deciding how to divvy up your marketing spend each year is understanding where you’re likely to get the greatest mileage on that spend. Facebook advertising had an average cost per click of $1.58 for conversion ads in 2018, which was their most expensive ad type. By way of comparison, the average cost per click across industries for Google Ads is $2.69.

Neither of those numbers are super high, but when you’re trying out a new marketing tactic, it’s always great when you’re not spending through the roof, so you can test the waters without committing to an unreasonable budget.

Facebook Enables Personalization (& Personalization Matters)

Just a couple of decades ago, effective advertising was thought of as the ability to get a great ad in front of massive numbers of people. These days, effective advertising is more likely to be thought of as the ability to get the right ad in front of the right individual consumer.

One of the best things about Facebook’s advertising platform is your ability to customize and target your messaging. With their lookalike audiences feature, Facebook allows you to tap into your list of existing customers and identify other prospects with similar attributes. You can direct your advertising at these specific individuals, who are a lot more likely to be interested in your brand.

Plus, with a variety of ad types, you can create social ads designed to meet consumers anywhere along their journey. You can build a brand awareness campaign that’s targeted at consumers who haven’t heard of your brand before. Then you can design carousel ads with a variety of relevant products, which you choose to target at existing customers who’ve made similar purchases in the past.

All of this personalization is key because research has found that more and more consumers are demanding a customized experience. Nearly 80% of consumers will only interact with a company that shows them personalized offers based on their previous interaction with the brand. Additionally, 63% of consumers report being “highly annoyed” by generic and repetitious ad messaging.

These statistics demonstrate that Facebook is a highly effective advertising platform. They also demonstrate how important social ads and social media marketing are to your overall strategy. If you’re excited to dive into the world of Facebook ads but aren’t sure where to start, take a look at what we can help you do.

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Stephanie Heitman

Stephanie is the Associate Director of Content for LocaliQ and WordStream. She has over 10 years of experience in content and social media marketing and loves writing about all things digital marketing. When she’s not researching the latest and greatest marketing news and updates, she’s probably watching reality TV with her husband, reading, or playing with her two pups.