The Pay Per Click (PPC) model is the most popular in most social media advertising. It allows you to pay only for each customer who views your ad, completes a request (such as filling out a form, booking an offer), or likes a page.
Social media networks have diversified, each excelling in certain countries or sectors. Twitter is more widespread in the Gulf region than in Egypt, but it doesn't yet allow targeted advertising in the Arab world. Conversely, Facebook is more prevalent in Egypt and boasts a strong advertising presence that continues to grow daily in the Arab region. Meanwhile, LinkedIn is known for its higher cost per click, but it is the most powerful and successful platform for business-to-business (B2B) advertising.
Social media advertising offers a diverse range of targets, from viewing an ad or video, filling out a form, booking an offer, liking a page, downloading a mobile app, or inviting people to an event, among others. It also features precise target selection based on gender, age, country, city, neighborhood, and interests, sometimes even down to the type and brand of device used to access the internet. Furthermore, and most importantly, it allows for real-time ad monitoring, enabling users to edit, pause, or resume the ad to achieve their desired outcome.
Social media advertising is characterized by its diverse target audience. The general marketing principle states: "Marketing is an investment, not an expense." Therefore, maximizing ROI requires diligent advertising monitoring, a clear understanding of advertising objectives and success metrics, and addressing common mistakes to avoid.
• Focusing solely on the number of page likes is an illusion pursued by many seeking fame and prestige without any financial benefit. This has led some to purchase likes, both legitimately and illegitimately. Facebook, in its recent updates announced weeks ago, will review page likes and remove inactive followers. Many pages are already seeing a daily decrease in likes. To understand the magnitude of this mistake, consider Facebook's statistics showing that 96% of those who like company and brand pages never return. Therefore, it's far better to cultivate page likes that represent your target customer segments and maintain consistent, engaging, and effective communication with them. • Measuring the success of a social media advertising company solely by the number of views an ad receives may actually be a measure of its failure, not its success. Success lies in achieving the highest click-through rate (CTR) from the target customer, which reflects the quality of your targeting.
• Creating ads without continuous monitoring and modification, or using only one format or image, means missing out on one of the great advantages offered by some social media platforms: the ability to offer multiple ad formats for the same budget and target audience. This allows you to then measure the most engaging and impactful ad format, allowing you to continue using it while discontinuing the others.
It's a mistake to think that social media advertising is simply about design and target selection. Advertising is much more than that!