By 2024, experts estimate that global digital ad spending will exceed $645 billion. Why do brands spend so much on digital advertising and marketing? Because it works. Plenty of businesses invest in paid media advertising. However, many still need clarification about how this type of advertising works and its value. This guide is for you if you’re part of the latter group. Read on to get your paid media advertising FAQs answered.
11 Paid Media Advertising FAQs
What Is Paid Media Advertising?
Put simply, paid media advertising involves businesses — you guessed it — paying for advertisements. These ads direct internet users to the company’s website or share a branded message with them. Paid advertisements typically produce results faster than organic advertising strategies (such as SEO).
These ads appear at the top of search engine results pages or in prominent locations on other platforms (like websites or social media). Because of this, it’s easier for consumers to see and click on them — increasing the likelihood that a company will see a particular outcome, like a boost in sales, more email list signups, etc.
What Is the Difference between Paid Media and PPC Advertising?
First, when you start looking up information on paid media advertising, you’ll likely see the term PPC or PPC advertising show up. What’s the difference between these two?
Paid media is a catch-all term that refers to advertising paying a third-party channel for ad placements. PPC or pay-per-click advertising is a type of paid advertising in which businesses pay a certain amount whenever someone clicks on their ad. One of the most popular types of paid advertising, PPC, explains why many marketers use the two terms interchangeably.
What Kinds of Paid Media Advertising Exist?
Paid ads can be broken down into several categories. The following are some of the most well-known types of paid media advertising:
- Display ads: These ads appear on websites as banners, images, text, or videos
- Search ads: These ads show up on search engine results pages (or SERPs) when internet users make an online query
- Social media ads: These ads show up on social media platforms and usually integrate seamlessly into a user’s feed
Each platform allows advertisers to choose from several different ad formats based on their preferences and their target audience’s preferences.
What Are the Benefits of Paid Advertising?
Before diving deeper into paid media advertising FAQs, there are lots of reasons why businesses rely on paid media advertising, including the following:
- Reach more people
- Directly target specific audiences
- Gain a better understanding of customers based on their actions
- See faster results
- Establish credibility
- Generate more high-quality website traffic
- Increase conversions
- Improve your social media presence
- Reduce the cost of other marketing efforts
Moreover, if you want to make your marketing strategy more efficient, targeted, and productive paid media advertising can help.
How Do I Choose an Ad Network?
Because Facebook and Google are two of the most popular ad networks for paid media advertising, Google receives approximately 6.9 billion searches per day, and Facebook has roughly 2.934 billion monthly active users. When you consider numbers like these, it makes sense that so many businesses prioritize Google and Facebook advertising. People tend to trust these platforms and the advertisements they see when using them.
As a result, you will likely see results faster when you choose Google and Facebook over other networks.
How Does Ad Bidding Work?
Most paid advertising platforms use an auction-based model. This process involves bidding on the amount you’re willing to pay for the following actions:
- CPM (cost per mille — Latin for “thousands”): The price for 1,000 ad impressions on a single webpage
- CPC (cost-per-click): The price you’ll pay for every ad click
- CPV (cost-per-view): The price an advertiser will pay for views on video ads
- CPA (cost-per-action): The price advertisers pay when users commit a specified action (click, sale, sign-up, form submission, etc.)
What’s more, you’ll also set bids at either the keyword or ad group level – keywords are words or phrases that are relevant to your business, and ad groups are groups of related keywords.
What Are Keyword Match Types?
Several paid media advertising FAQs involve the use of keywords. When bidding on keywords on Google’s platform, you’ll have to choose a keyword match type. Keyword match types are divided into the following categories:
- Broad match: Ads show on searches that include misspellings, synonyms, related searches, etc.
- Phrase match: Ads show on searches that match a specific phrase or close variations of it
- Exact match: Ads show on searches that match the exact term or are very close variations of it
How Much Should I Spend on Paid Media Advertising?
Next, every business’s paid ad budget is unique. Small and medium-sized enterprises spend an average of $9,000 to $10,000 per month on PPC campaigns. However, if you’re intimidated by this number, remember that the average return on PPC advertising is $2 for every $1 spent. That’s an ROI of 200 percent!
Which Metrics Should I Monitor?
To determine the effectiveness of your paid media advertising strategy, monitor the following metrics:
- Click-through rate: How many people click on your ads and visit your website?
- Cost-per-action: How much do you have to spend for each click, view, etc.?
- Conversion rate: How much does it cost to convert someone to a paying customer?
- Impression share: The number of times your ad is shown
Can Paid Ads and Organic Search Work Together?
Yes! You don’t have to choose between paid media advertising and organic search practices when you can use both to build your online presence, drive more traffic to your website, and achieve your specific marketing goals.
Furthermore, there’s also the opportunity to combine paid advertising with other online marketing strategies, like working with social media influencers and marketing on platforms your audience will likely use.
Why Should I Work with a Paid Media Advertising Company?
Lastly, if you’re intimidated by the world of paid media advertising, consider working with a social media agency (or SMM agency). Social media agencies specialize in organic and paid advertising and have access to the tools and technologies needed to help you grow your business and see impressive results.
How Do I Choose a Paid Media Agency?
When looking for a paid media agency, start by looking at their paid media advertising and social media marketing services (or SMM services). Make sure they offer the kind of help you need. It’s also helpful to look at case studies or testimonials from past clients to learn more about the agency’s work.
If an agency seems like a good fit based on your initial research, reach out and schedule a consultation or ask for a quote. These actions provide more insight into what the agency can do for you and helps you make an informed decision.
Do You Need Help with Paid Media Advertising and Social Media Marketing?
After having your paid media advertising FAQs answered, are you more interested in investing in paid ads?
If so, working with a marketing agency with social media and paid advertising experience is the best way to see great results.
At Socialistics, we work with B2B and B2C companies, assisting with organic social media management, paid social media network marketing, and influencer marketing.
Get in touch today to learn more about our services.
