3 Specialized Social Media Marketing Tools for a Competitive Advantage

Thank you to Ashley Kimler and our friends at Heroic Search for submitting this awesome guest post to the Acquisio team!

Social media marketing can be an excellent avenue for organic brand engagement, but paid advertising will optimize your campaigns for even more exposure across social channels. While there are several fundamental differences between paid and organic social media advertising, including costs, strategy etc., paid is distinguished by its reporting and management benefits. With organic social campaigns, your monitoring and reporting tell you which posts received the most engagement, but it’s very difficult to understand why. Paid advertising tools provide detailed tracking, more control and greater insights from campaigns…and the results are there to prove it.

In the United States alone, paid social advertising is expected to increase to $17.34 billion by 2019. Social media advertising is increasingly popular because of how effective it is, including powerful targeting – like the ability to show ads to those most likely to convert on your website.

Businesses of all sizes are already capitalizing on social media advertising and related tools, but how can yours get a competitive advantage? Here are 3 powerful and specialized tools to help you enhance paid social media marketing campaigns in order to give your brand a competitive edge.

1. Pinterest Advertising and Loop 88

Loop88 Paid Pinterest Advertising via @ashleykimler
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If your brand has any kind of visual identity, Pinterest may be the next paid stop of your strategy. The Pinterest Ads Manager is a great platform to track conversion and metrics and edit your Promoted Pins from one place, but one of the best paid advertising tools I’ve seen is Loop88. This product offering was created solely for Pinterest strategy, creatives, and insight. You can use it to basically put your pinning on autopilot. Companies like Sony and Ragu have used Loop88 to build insanely successful campaigns. The cost is based on the size of the project. So, when you want to leverage this paid advertising channel, inquire for a cost quote.

2. Acquisio Advertising on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn

Facebook and Instagram Advertising at Acquisio

Acquisio Social is a crazy powerful A/B tester that optimizes your Facebook and Instagram campaigns, allowing you to refine every aspect of your advertisement. You can automatically determine your social media ROI by reviewing the insights provided about ad engagement, showing you clearly what ads work for your audience and what doesn’t in much less time. Not only do you save potentially months of optimization testing across dozens of variables, you save tons of time in the setup and management of the ads as well. According to Vector Media, they do the tasks that used to take three hours in ten minutes using Acquisio Social. With this tool, you avoid spending energy and money on campaigns that don’t work so you can focus on those that do. You can completely perfect your social media advertising efforts on Facebook and Instagram for your highest conversion rates ever!  

LinkedIn Display Advertising at Acquisio

LinkedIn is another specialized social media channel that Acquisio services, offering display marketers a unique opportunity for advertising. LinkedIn is especially useful for B2B businesses looking to target other professionals. Using Acquisio’s display programmatic buying platform (DSP) you can manage, optimize and report on all of your LinkedIn campaigns from the same interface as your Facebook and Instagram campaigns!

3.  Reddit Ads

Use Reddit Ads to Reach Your Audience via @ashleykimler
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While most people will spend ad dollars on the mainstream social media platforms, Reddit shouldn’t be overlooked. Reddit will work better for some than it will for others and a quick search on the platform for your brand or industry can usually clear that up.

If you find your business aligns with the topics on Reddit, you should align your ad campaigns there with the passion-points your audience is already talking about. You can also upvote conversations you like within your audience to drive brand engagement in a way that makes people feel special. See your content shared amongst 250 million people across thousands of communities. Duracell saw over 250M impressions and increased brand awareness by over 16% with a Reddit advertising campaign. And while Duracell is a huge brand, Reddit is an accessible channel to any size business allowing you to advertise for a daily minimum budget of $5. Inquire with a Reddit advertising specialist to find out pricing and details.

 

Have you used any paid tools on social media or tried a Reddit ad campaign yet? What specialized social media tools do you use to enhance your paid ad strategy? Let us know how it’s going in the comments below!

Image Credits

Feature Image: Unsplash/Hans Vivek

All screenshots by Ashley Kimler. Taken May 2017.

Image 1: Screenshot from Loop 88

Image 2: Video from Acquisio

Image 3: Screenshot from Reddit

Ashley Kimler

Ashley Kimler

Ashley Kimler is an independent digital marketing consultant representing Heroic Search in Tulsa. Her experience in the realm of online promotions and communication spans the last decade as technology and best practices have evolved. She and her team pride themselves on staying at the cutting-edge. Follow @ashleykimler and @heroicsearch on Twitter to see what other industry secrets they share.

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