The Basics of Online Ads

Online advertising has become crucial to the success of every business in this digital age. By implementing a well-rounded online advertising strategy, there is so much for your business to gain. Online Ads can help your business grow by improving your online visibility, boosting your business’ credibility, drawing more visitors to your website, increasing your sales, and helping you build long-lasting relationships with your audience.

There is a wide range of channels and methods that you can use to advertise online. Most of the online ads fall into two basic types: Paid Search and Display Advertising.

Paid search advertising

Google is the biggest and most prominent provider of paid search advertising. This type of advertising is where online ads appear on search engines as users type in what they want to search for. The ads show up in certain areas of the results pages.

Display advertising

Seen on websites and social media, display ads are ad banners that come in various sizes, formats, and designs. Everyone or only targeted audiences based on their profile, location and interests can see these online ads. Having a target market can help companies save on ad spend.

Now that you know about the concept of online ads, let’s talk about the different platforms that provide effective online advertising.

Facebook and Instagram Ads

It’s a great idea to invest in online ads on Facebook and Instagram. There are billions of people who use these social media platforms every month. You can find a wide range of audiences with both platforms.

Facebook Business lets marketers create ad campaigns using simple self-service tools, and track their performance with easy-to-read reports.

By using Facebook Ads’ user-friendly tools, you can run your campaign across Facebook, Instagram, Audience Network and Messenger. Facebook Ads appear in specific places on Facebook called placements. Ads can appear in the desktop or mobile version of News Feed and in the right column of Facebook. Mobile app advertisers can also have their ads appear outside of Facebook through the Audience Network.

There are also various creative ways to advertise on Instagram. Ads through Instagram Stories let your campaign reach a wider audience as there are 500M+ people who use stories daily. Photo ads can consist of storytelling through high-quality photos and captions. Video ads are high-quality video content that can last up to 60 seconds. Carousel ads include a set of photos and videos that you can all swipe to on a single ad. Collection ads let users discover, browse and purchase your products.

Google Ads

Marketers have to bid on certain keywords in order for their clickable ads to appear in Google’s search results.

Advertisers will only pay results like clicks to their websites and calls to their business. These online ads help businesses appear in front of their competitors. Customers can easily find ads on their mobile or desktop. An effective paid search advertising can help you drive website visits, get more phone calls and increase store visits.

This advertising method will work depending on the competitiveness of the keywords you’re bidding for and the relevance of that keyword to real conversions for your company. For Google Ads that generate clicks and leads, it’s important to know the effective keywords to bid.

Twitter Ads

These online ads appear on Twitter and are marked as “promoted.” You can interact with promoted content in the same way as organic content. If you follow, like, or Retweet content on Twitter, including promoted content, your followers may see your name associated with that content.

Ads on Twitter come in different varieties such as Promoted Tweets, Promoted Accounts, and Promoted Trends.

Promoted Trends are sponsored topics that appear at the top of Twitter’s “trending topics” list. Promoted trends can spark discussion among the users regarding those particular topics. Advertisers use this for promoting event or product launches or to induce engagement on current events.

Promoted Accounts are suggested users that people may be interested in following. These accounts appear on top of the “who to follow” list. This type of promotion will help users gain more followers.

Promoted Tweets are tweets that are displayed as online ads. These are the most noticeable ads as they appear in users’ live feeds and results, and almost everywhere on Twitter.

The promoted content that users see on their Twitter feed is likely to be ads that they find relevant to them. The ads are targeted to particular users based on their activities, and the information they provide to Twitter. With Twitter Ads, you can expand your influence and connect with new audiences.

YouTube Ads

Users often see video ads when they watch or search for videos on YouTube. Advertisers will only pay for these ads when users show interest by watching at least 30 seconds of TrueView ads or by clicking on a call-to-action.

There are three main types of video ads on YouTube: TrueView, Preroll, and Bumpers.

TrueView ads are the prevailing video ad type on YouTube. Advertisers only pay when a user watches the ad for at least 30 seconds or until the end of the video or if the viewer takes action, such as clicking on a call-to-action.

Preroll Ads are in-stream videos that are non-skippable and can play before, mid-roll, or after the main video. They can be 15 to 20 seconds in duration. Because preroll ads can’t be skipped, these videos are best created with a call-to-action (CTA) so you can encourage viewers to click on your ad and receive something in return.

Bumpers are the shortest type of YouTube video ads. They last for only six seconds but play before a viewer’s chosen video. Bumper video ads obviously can’t tell a good story in just a few seconds. But they make terrific complements to larger video campaigns on a new product launch or event.

Linkedin Ads

Linkedin is the world’s largest business stage where you can attract lots of prospects and generate more leads. There are 560 million users on Linkedin, all of which are business professionals.

All types of Linkedin ads fall into two main categories: Self-Service and LinkedIn Advertising Partner Solutions.

Self-service ads 

These are online ads that you can create on your own with a tool called Campaign Manager. You can schedule campaigns, target your audience, and see who’s clicking on your ads. Tools like Campaign Manager make it easy to create campaigns that will get you started on Linkedin advertising.

Here are several types of Self-service ads.

• Sponsored content includes existing posts on your Company Page that are promoted on Linkedin. This type of ad will help your post reach a wider but still targeted audience. It’s ideal for promoting product launches and events. The online ads appear on the home page feed- for desktop, mobile, and tablet.

• LinkedIn text ads are like Google or Bing search ads. By creating and featuring a good headline, description, and image, you can drive traffic to your LinkedIn Company Page or website. You can experiment with kinds of campaigns to see what works best. For instance, clone an ad, then change the headline. Compare the results for each of these ads. These ads run only on desktop, showing up on the right side of the news feed.

• Sponsored InMail ads are personalized messages delivered to users’ LinkedIn inboxes. People develop trust when they feel you’re personally talking to them. They’ll be more likely to hit the buy, click, or call link, too. Sponsored InMail will get to users, no matter what devices they’re using. Messages have a custom greeting, call-to-action button, and body text. You can also add a link in the message body. Advertisers pay for each message they send.

You can also create display ads on LinkedIn. These are optimal with quality visual content.

• Video ads are a great way to tell more interesting stories on LinkedIn. For marketers, video has skyrocketed for consumer brands. B2B is quickly catching up and LinkedIn is the leading business-to-business platform.

• LinkedIn Display Ads target a highly-specified audience. It is LinkedIn’s programmatic advertising solution. They’re great for using a variety of media, including text, audio, video, and images.

• Dynamic ads are personalized ads, dynamically generated based on your audience’s activity. Say LinkedIn knows someone is searching for a job in your industry. You can target them at the right time with the right messages. Dynamic ads help build relationships with people. It also drives more traffic to a landing or a company page. Users can send you their name and email address from the dynamic ad, without typing a thing.

Linkedin Marketing Partner Ads

If you feel like you don’t have the time or simply don’t know how to get started with self-service ads, you can seek help from certified Linkedin experts or work with excellent Linkedin partners. They will help you come up with more effective Linkedin advertising strategies that will drive more sales and ROI.  Each partner offers different tools, like ad technology, content creation, and media buying. Hootsuite is an example of a prominent Linkedin marketing partner.

Not sure where to start? Boost Media Group can help.

With so many options for online advertising, it can be difficult to know how to make the most out of your ad spend. Our team of experts can create an online advertising plan that is customized to your business and your specific goals. Contact us to discuss!