There are many platforms for digital advertising, and each one suits different goals. Every platform has different budget requirements, different methods of targeting, and different tools for targeting. Not every platform will work for your campaign, and understanding your audience and goals is crucial to understand what will make your advertising effective.
Let’s get into what platform will be best for your campaign based on your wants and needs.
When planning a digital ad campaign, the first thing you should ask yourself is, “What is my goal?” Every campaign accomplishes something different, and finding the platform that best aligns with your campaign's goals is key for success.
If your goal is an immediate conversion, Google Ads is the best fit for you. Google Ads is the largest and most popular PPC advertising platform for a reason, and it's a tried and true platform for results. On Google, a user has to be actively searching for content related to what you’re serving ads for. This means they are at the bottom of the funnel, often with high buying intent.
For example, if someone is searching for roofers in Winnebago County and your ad is targeting roofing-related keywords, has its location set to Winnebago County, and a high enough Quality Score, they will come across your ad right when they’re looking to make a decision about which roofer to hire. With one click, they can go to your website or campaign-specific landing page, fill out your form, and enter your sales pipeline.
Google is also constantly updating its Artificial Intelligence (AI), targeting, and optimizing features. These tools can help you to continuously improve the reach of your campaigns.
If your goal is awareness, Meta ads may be your ideal platform. While you can still add a direct link to your website or content offer within the ad, users on Instagram and Facebook are not always scrolling with the intent of leaving the page or making a purchase. Meta ads are better suited to drive awareness about your brand and product, and if a conversion does happen, it may take several ads.
Instagram and Facebook are also very visual platforms, so videos or other creative content can work well here. You want your Meta ad to be eye-catching, memorable in some way, and representative of your brand persona.
YouTube Ads are another great contender for an awareness-focused campaign. YouTube offers several different kinds of placements, including both skippable and non-skippable in-stream ads. As a media platform, YouTube commands the largest share of total TV screen watch time, even more than Netflix, which gets 8% of watch time in the United States compared to YouTube’s 13.8%.
Spotify is also good for brand awareness. Spotify ads can reach a large audience and are not skippable like many other ads. This means you have the attention of your audience and can make sure they hear your messaging.
Every good advertisement offers something, and not necessarily a product. Advertisements can showcase resources, services, information, or even just entertainment if the post’s goal is to drive engagement or brand awareness.
Depending on what your ad offers, you’ll want to use different platforms. If you’re offering a product or specific service, Google Ads are best, as you can target people who are actively searching for those products or services. Google search ads show for keyword searches, and Google shopping ads show specific product listings.
If you’re offering an incentive such as a discount code, Meta Ads are the way to go. Even if your audience isn’t already in the buying stage, a compelling enough incentive could encourage them to visit your site and convince them now is the time to buy.
If your ad is highlighting a B2B resource, LinkedIn can be a great platform to use. Those on LinkedIn are usually looking for business content within their specific industry. A link to a white paper or case study can encourage them to click for relevant industry news and insights.
A make-or-break factor when planning digital advertising is budget. Certain platforms are simply more expensive, and depending on the scale and targeting of your campaign, some platforms are not worth the investment.
Google Ads can work for budgets of all sizes. As Google Ads does not enforce a strict minimum daily budget, you can push advertising with as little money behind it as you need. However, increasing spend will usually increase your ad’s reach and effectiveness. You can set and edit your Google Ads daily budget at any time, so you can increase or decrease spend throughout your campaign as needed.
Which keywords you are targeting can have a huge impact on your campaign’s budget. Keywords with more competition or less volume can be more expensive if you want to stay at the top of search. If a certain keyword does not fit within your budget, you may need to rethink your targeting strategy.
On Spotify, your campaign budget can be between $100 and $10,000. You are unable to increase your ad budget once the campaign begins, but if needed you can create an additional campaign. While less flexible than Google, Spotify is ideal for cheaper brand visibility, as CPMs are relatively low.
LinkedIn Ads offers targeting based on audience firmographics, so price can vary widely based on who your target audience is. If the target audience is highly specific, your cost per thousand, or CPM, will rise and up your spend.
On Meta Ads, an average healthy CPC is around $0.78, making the platform another affordable yet flexible option. You can make a small budget work on Meta, but once again, the campaign can be much more effective with more spend behind it.
Depending on your audience, you may also want to purchase placements directly with individual media companies that your target audience trusts, but these typically have a hefty minimum spend. Dating apps like Match, industry trade publications, or host-read podcast ads can require minimum spends as high as $25,000 or more for each campaign.
High price tags like these are definitely not a fit for every campaign. But, if you want to go big and have the budget for both the ad spend and killer creative, it can be one way to make a significant impact.
The internet acts as a third space for many, and most people use multiple platforms throughout their day. When running a digital advertising campaign, you need to meet your audience where they already are.
Having a strong understanding of your audience and buyer personas is crucial, both for targeting and ad content. You need to know which platforms they use and which keywords they are searching for, and you also need to know what content will make a genuine impact on them once they do see your ad.
With 5.6 billion unique visitors on Google each month, your audience is likely to be there. However, effective keyword and location targeting is still necessary to reach your ideal customers. Your targeting can make or break the campaign’s success.
With Meta Ads, the same advertisements can be received very differently on Instagram versus Facebook. Generally, Facebook has an older audience. For targeting Gen Z, Instagram is the social media to choose. When running a campaign through Meta Ads, make sure to evaluate whether your target audience hangs out on Instagram, Facebook, or both.
TikTok ads are another option to target Gen Z among other demographics. TikTok advertising doesn’t always need to feel high-end. It’s a platform where authenticity thrives, and a relatable video may impact audiences more than a highly produced one. On this platform, a good hook is non-negotiable, and audiences need to be engaged within the first few seconds for the ad to be effective.
Ads on Reddit are great for niche topics because you can target by subreddit. A subreddit is a user-led community within the platform focused on a specific interest. If you are targeting individuals who work in manufacturing, for example, you can run your ads on r/manufacturing, where people are talking about specific products and problems. If your audience is on the platform looking for input on an operational issue, they can be served your messaging while they are actively seeking a solution.
LinkedIn’s targeting is audience-based and ideal for reaching specific job titles. You can also segment your campaign based on seniority and only target those at a specific level in a specific industry. LinkedIn also makes it easy to run account-based marketing campaigns, where you target contacts who work at specific target account companies.
No matter the campaign, both content and platform make a difference in ad effectiveness. You need to find your brand’s perfect balance between what is being offered and how it's reaching your ideal audience. Knowing your goals and your audience’s needs will help you strategically plan an ad campaign for maximum return on investment (ROI).
For more advice on which platform to run your campaign on, watch Season 4 Episode 2 of Sidetrekked, Where should I be putting my digital ad dollars?