Like the rest of the internet, social media iterates at a breakneck speed. In a matter of weeks, a platform can completely change not only its user-facing design, but completely overhaul its algorithm.
Algorithms present a problem for marketers and advertisers alike. In a world where social media has become an highly-competitive pay-to-play avenue, businesses need new strategies to stay top of mind.
Frankly, social media — whether it’s organic social media or its sibling, social media marketing — isn’t going anywhere, but the changing landscape means your business needs to change practices to make an impact with social media advertising.
A Changing Social Landscape
The global digital ad spend, as laid out by Dentsu, for 2024 was expected to reach nearly $755 billion. Yes, billion with a b. Not only that, Statista published stats that mentioned the US section of the digital ad spend pie should hit nearly $300 billion.
As they noted a few years ago, Statista said digital advertising expenditures in the US “will increase by 50% between 2024 and 2028,” meaning digital ad spend on social media platforms should likely hit nearly, or a bit over, $450 billion dollars.
Yes, those sound like outrageous numbers, but digital ad spend is the future of marketing, and we’re living in it today. In a world where customers spend 142 minutes online a day (at the very least!), you have plenty of opportunities to connect with your audience.
Especially with newer social media platforms (like TikTok advertising) and types of content that are resonating with users (like short-form video… and yes, even long-form video content), social media changes in advertising need to be viewed as opportunities to improve companies and consumers.
Social media ads, in particular, offer advertisers a lot of value. Social ads help advertisers:
- Build brand awareness
- Engage with new customers
- Maintain interest from existing customers
Social advertising gives us, as marketers, a wealth of marketing strategies and opportunities, although it can still be challenging for advertisers. It can be tough to know where to advertise, what to advertise, and how to measure ROI once a campaign ends.
Despite these challenges, social media advertising is an ROI-friendly way to put you in the black.
4 Algorithm-Friendly Strategies
Marketers need to understand not only paid social media algorithms, but also organic strategies, too. This will help you make the most of your investment in social media.
Although social algorithms change often and are difficult to follow, it’s important to know when they change. Here are our four favorite social media advertising strategies that work with each platform’s algorithm.
1. Adjust Platforms
Brands aren’t supposed to advertise on every platform. Just like with organic social media, you need to strategically choose your platforms. Like Occam’s Razor alludes, the best option is to go where your customers are.
Choose your platform according to your customer needs as well as your offerings. Mind that each platform has a unique algorithm that will affect your advertising choices.
Facebook
Facebook rewards brands that create meaningful conversations and engagement with their followers and active users. They’re particularly interested in family and friend interactions on the platform. The length of a comment also matters, as well as if someone tags another user in a comment.
For your Facebook Ads, stop asking users to like or share your advertisement. Instead, encourage them to comment and tag friends. This will boost your metrics like higher engagement rates and decrease CPC, improving campaign ROI.
Twitter/X
Twitter Ads (or X) are better for B2B audiences, however, this has changed in recent years where it is one of the more tumultuous social networks for users and advertisers. For Twitter, advertisers need to watch with timing. The Twitter algorithm rewards advertisers who post content that immediately gains traction and interactions.
Phrase your ads to encourage likes, replies, and retweets. This engagement will encourage Twitter to show your ad more, often at a lower rate.
LinkedIn
Due to the amount of marketing professionals that are on the network, LinkedIn has emerged in the past few years as the go-to social media platform for B2B marketing. Here, the algorithm wants to see regular updates and content sharing. They’re also rewarding long-form content like stories. Because LinkedIn is consistently changing in how users see posts and use the platform, don’t be surprised if more content creation items, especially those of video content and longer-form written pieces, carousel imagery, and infographics, are utilized as part of ad strategies.
This is challenging because many LinkedIn Ads formats are short and sweet. Sponsored Content would be your best bet to encourage engagement that the algorithm will reward. Furthermore, one area that has had an unexpected rise in how advertising is used on the platform is through Thought Leadership Ads.
Instagram
On Instagram, social media posts with more likes, comments, and views are shown more often to users. The genre of your post also matters, so make sure your category targeting is on point. Like other forms of digital marketing, and because Instagram is such an image-heavy social platform, utilizing high-quality imagery and creative items is crucial.
User experience on Instagram is an important aspect of social media advertising, thanks to the social strategies that the company utilizes: from carousel images and social commerce (who hasn’t swiped up and bought something from Instagram?) to more new features like influencer marketing.
When it comes to social media ads, choose your platform wisely. Although the social platforms share commonalities, they have their algorithmic quirks that can wreak havoc on your campaigns if you don’t pay attention.
2. Choose Creative Ad Formats
Social platforms are expanding their ad options and formats all the time. Don’t be afraid to test them on your established campaigns; you never know when a new format will improve your ROI.
Here are a few of our favorite social advertising formats.
Facebook Messenger Ads
More people are on messaging apps today than they are on social media. Meta’s Facebook division gives advertisers the chance to capitalize on Facebook Messenger’s engaged audience to drive more conversions. You can choose from three types of ads.
- Messenger Ads: These ads appear next to a user’s Messenger feed once they’re in the app.
- Sponsored Messages: This allows you to send a promotional message to anyone who’s messaged you in the past.
- Click-to-message: If you need to connect with more customers, you can add click-to-message as a CTA on your ad. This is a great option if you have a Messenger chatbot.
Facebook Carousel Ads
Instead of the traditional one-image ad, Carousel Ads lets you show several photos with CTAs on them. This allows you to drive traffic back to your site from Facebook.
With Carousel Ads, you can add up to 10 images with links in one ad. This image-centric ad is great for showcasing product features or step-by-step processes.
Instagram Story and Reels Ads
Instagram Stories are on fire. 400 million people use Stories, and it’s prime real estate for advertisers.
Instagram Story Ads can be in either a photo or video format. These ads display for just 15 seconds. The Stories are only accessible for 24 hours, adding an element of urgency. A user can simply swipe up if they want to visit your landing page.
Stories are great for grabbing people’s attention quickly without interrupting their native experience on Instagram. Remember to create an engaging, fun ad that doesn’t feel like you’re selling.
3. A Two-Pronged Approach: Organic and Paid
Despite the pay-to-play environment, advertisers need to invest in both paid and social content at the same time.
Social platforms are prioritizing real user connections. If they see your content (both paid and organic) forges connections with users, they’ll show it more often, and usually at a lower cost.
In a similar landscape to how SEO and organic search is performed, organic and paid social ads also follow the same trends. Sure, AI-powered algorithms do push down organic content from brands. However, they’re only pushing down unsuccessful organic content.
Advertisers have to pay-to-play because their organic content doesn’t tick all the boxes for their users. Continue your paid advertising, and use it as a chance to overhaul and think holistically about your organic content, too.
4. Get Visual
Users spend a huge amount of time on social media. That means they’re blasted with content from all angles, no matter where they go online.
Text is an important way to communicate online, but research shows time and time again that users don’t like reading big walls of text. If anything, the key is to get visual with your ads.
If anything, the key is to get visual with your ads.
Instead of writing a two-page ad about your latest services, show them visually in a story-centric way. Create a storytelling short-form video ad about the people who make your products. The visual communication part of your strategy should focus less so on your desire to sell, and more so on the story.
In any form of content (social media, digital newspapers, etc.), there are many swings and roundabouts when it comes to social media trends and how users are consuming anything. Keep this in mind when content creators and influencers are used for marketing purposes. Strategies, especially for video content, can be tweaked as algorithms are as well.
For your social media advertising, opt for visuals first, and text second. Visuals are more engaging and will boost your engagements and conversions.
The Bottom Line
Ad advertisers, it’s our job to go where the customers are. In today’s ecosystem, that’s social media.
Changing consumer behavior means advertisers need to adapt. Next generation marketing is about designing amazing ads that mimic an engaging, fun, organic experience. Embrace these four social media strategies to drive conversions with the least path of resistance.
If you don’t want to obsess over algorithm updates, consider partnering with Logical. We’re social media advertising experts with years of experience. Let us do the dirty work while you take care of your customers.
