This blog will explore which social networking site is the most effective for advertising. The following social media sites will be explored: Facebook, Twitter and Linked-in. The amount of users, the demographics which you can reach and the costs will be explored to determine the best social media site to use for your advertising campaign.
Social media is an effective medium for organisations to advertise to their selected target market. According to Barbu, O. (2014) this platform has huge potential for marketing, what is more the user bases are ‘solid and credible’ sources for brand promotion. Given the reach and capabilities of such platforms it is important to determine which site is best for your business.
The first social media site which will be analysed is Facebook:
In terms of its users Facebook trumps both Twitter and LinkedIn, they currently have 1 billion+ registered users! (wordstream 2014), and they have 699 million active daily users. Users aged between 25-34 make up 29.7% of users and are the most common age demographic (Noyes, D. 2015). The advertising stats are as follows:
- There are 3 categories to Facebook ads; Online sales, Local stores and Mobile apps.
- When it comes to advertising facebook offers a lot of flexibility, the minimum amount you can spend per day is $1, of course that for any advertising campaign is unrealistic! They allow you to set a budget of your choice, and the type of bidding either cost per click (CPC) or cost per impression (CPI) (Facebook.com, 2015).
- The average CPC in 2013 was $0.21 (Baer, J. 2015)
- The average CPI was $0.75 (Baer, J. 2015)
- ;The click through rate (CTR), globally, in 2013 was 0.36%. (Baer, J. 2015)
The second social media site to be analysed is Twitter:
Twitter has 982 million registered accounts, however only 271 million active users and only 43.4 million tweet more than once a day (Digital information, 2015). The biggest user age demographic is 18-29 year olds which make up 29% of its user base (Brodzky, B. 2014).
The advertising facts are as follows:
- There are three types of advertising; A promoted tweet, a promoted account and a promoted trend
- The average CPC is $1.35 for both a promoted tweet and a promoted account (Alleger, J. (2013)
- The promoted trend will cost you $200,000 per day! (Alleger, J. (2013)
- The average CTR is between 1-3%
The final social media site analysed is LinkedIn:
LinkedIn has over 347 million users of which 35% of the users access the site daily, what is more 1 out of 3 professionals globally are users (Wersm, 2014). The biggest age demographic is 35-54 years old which makes up 39.8% of its users (blog).
The advertising facts are as follows:
- There are three main advertising formats; Sponsored updates (appear on the users news feed), display ads, and direct sponsored content.
- The average CPC is $3.50 (Wordstream.com, 2014)
- CTR average of 0.025% (KISS metrics, 2015)
Each site has been briefly analysed in terms of users, types of ads, cost of ads and average CTR, yet the answer to which site is best is still not apparent. Facebook boasts the biggest audience and has the lowest CPC. Twitter has a better CTR than both Facebook and LinkedIn, however they have less active users on a day to day bases. LinkedIn has the highest CPC and the lowest CTR, which would be enough to discourage anyone, however it is a network filled with professional individuals, and as such it may be a case of quality over quantity (Schaffer, N. 2013). To truly ascertain the best social networking site you need to assess which has the audience you are targeting to, and make sure the costs are in line with you proposed budget.
References
Alleger, J. (2013). How Much do Ads on Twitter Cost? | Penna Powers. [online] Pennapowers. Available at: http://www.pennapowers.com/how-much-do-ads-on-twitter-cost/ [Accessed 24 Apr. 2015].
Baer, J. (2015). 15 New Facebook Advertising Statistics | Convince and Convert: Social Media Strategy and Content Marketing Strategy. [online] Convinceandconvert.com. Available at: http://www.convinceandconvert.com/social-media-research/15-new-facebook-advertising-statistics/ [Accessed 24 Apr. 2015].
Barbu, O. 2014, “Advertising, Microtargeting and Social Media”, Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, vol. 163, pp. 44-49.
Brodzky, B. (2014). Social Media User Statistics & Age Demographics for 2014. [online] LinkedIn Pulse. Available at: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20141118182103-28964915-social-media-user-statistics-age-demographics-for-2014 [Accessed 24 Apr. 2015].
Digitalinformationworld, (2015). #SocialMedia 2014: User Demographics For Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest – #infographic. [online] Available at: http://www.digitalinformationworld.com/2014/10/social-media-user-demographics-linkedin-tumblr-facebook-and-more-infographic.html [Accessed 24 Apr. 2015]
Facebook.com, (2015). How much does it cost to advertise on Facebook? | Facebook Help Center | Facebook. [online] Available at: https://www.facebook.com/help/214319341922580 [Accessed 24 Apr. 2015].
KISS metrics, (2015). The KISSmetrics Guide To LinkedIn Ads – Part I: The Basics. [online] Available at: https://blog.kissmetrics.com/guide-to-linkedin-ads1/ [Accessed 24 Apr. 2015].
Noyes, D. (2015). Top 20 Facebook Statistics – Updated February 2015. [online] Zephoria Inc. Available at: https://zephoria.com/social-media/top-15-valuable-facebook-statistics/ [Accessed 24 Apr. 2015].
Wersm, (2014). Top LinkedIn Facts And Stats [infographic]. [online] Available at: http://wersm.com/top-linkedin-facts-and-stats-infographic/ [Accessed 24 Apr. 2015].
Wordstream.com, (2014). Social Media Advertising: Which Platform is Right for Your Business? | Wordstream. [online] Available at: http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2014/09/24/social-media-advertising [Accessed 24 Apr. 2015].