The bulk of online advertising in 2020 focused on three areas of spending: digital banner ads, paid search marketing, and social media advertising.Of the three, search accounted for nearly 50% of spending.
- Digital search ($62.1 billion or 49.9%)
- Digital banner ads ($24.3 billion or 19.5%)
- Social media ads ($37.9b or 30.4%)
The big winners in 2020? Google, Facebook, and Amazon. The three companies combined grabbed nearly two-thirds of all digital spending.Each type of advertising targets potential customers in their own way.
Paid Search
While there are other options, most marketers go with Google. It makes sense since they have a market share of nearly 92%.Paid search ads, such as Pay Per Click (PPC), appear on search engine results pages. Paid search appears above organic listings. While you should always be optimizing your website for SEO, you can jump to the top of the page with the right bid price for PPC ads.Google decides which ads to show based on its relevance to the user’s query or keywords entered, your website or landing page quality score, and your bid price.
Display Advertising
Rather than targeting a particular website, most marketers use display ad networks to span multiple websites. You can choose from a variety of targeting options, such as demographics, income, location, and behavior.Ads can be shown contextually within similar content, such as showing ads about padded insoles in articles about dealing with foot pain. Advertisers can also retarget people that have engaged with your website previously or made past purchases.
Social Media Advertising
Social media platforms can help target your ads with similar demographic tools or lookalike audiences that model your target buyer. Social media advertising encompasses a broad range of options, including:
- FacebookThe largest social media platform, Facebook works well for lead generation and relationship building. B2C sellers are also seeing success in the retail space.
- LinkedInLinkedIn is the choice for B2B sellers which generally have longer lead times. Its strong suit is editorial content to help build branding and credibility.
- TwitterTwitter works well for short announcements, important messages, or breaking news. Quotes, memes, photos, and links can drive traffic back to your website.
- InstagramInstagram favors images and photos and is a platform many influencers favor. Instagram Stories boast half a billion average daily users.
- TikTokTikTok is the new kid on the block and a favorite for young consumers. It features short-form videos averaging 15 seconds or less.
Besides paid offerings, of course, you can also use social media for connecting with your customers and nurturing relationships.
Which Platform Is Right for You?
So, how do you know which platform is right for you? The answers really depend on your goals and your budget.Typically, it takes a combination of platforms and adapting marketing campaigns for each platform as part of a comprehensive media strategy, including SEO, content marketing, and other inbound marketing strategies, to be successful.While there are DYI opportunities on each of the platforms, it’s also easy to waste a lot of money spending on the wrong things. That’s why most companies choose to work with a digital marketing agency to optimize results and spending.20North is a full-service digital marketing agency that specializes in SEO, PPC, Google Ads, Social Media marketing, content creation, and data analytics. If you’re trying to figure out which advertising platform is best for your business, contact 20North today, and let’s talk.
