Paid, owned and earned media are used every day by public relations and marketing professionals, but while owned and earned media are free, is paid media worth the cost? When is it worth spending money? Will there be a high ROI if the money is used towards paid media? These questions come up a lot among professionals in the marketing realm. The answer really depends on the outcome or solution that a company is trying to get for their business. We’ve done some research and here are a few reasons why brands should think about investing in paid media.
Drive Traffic
Paid media can be anything from sponsored social media posts, video ads, pop-ups, display ads, paid search results and other promoted multimedia. It’s effective in growing a company’s brand by helping them get more reach and clicks. For example, if an ad pops up on someone’s Instagram or Facebook feed that’s targeted towards their interest, it’s likely they’ll click on it which will lead them to the company’s website. This in turn drives traffic. With over 3.5 billion people on social media which equates to 45% of the world’s population, the probability of someone clicking on an ad on social becomes more likely. The hard part is knowing how likely and what will make people click on an ad, but the good thing about ads is how much control a company has over them.
Complete Control
Investing in paid media means being able to control every aspect of them. Who sees them, the design of them and where they’re placed are all up to the brand. It’s even possible to control how to pay for the media depending on what is chosen. For example, a social media ad can be paid for by click, meaning every time someone clicks on the ad, the company will pay for each click. Most ads or social media posts that are paid for can be customized on who sees them. It’s possible to target traffic based on gender, age, marital status, interests, etc. This will ensure that the ads that are being paid for are going out to the audience that fits best.
Track Metrics
While it’s possible to keep track of metrics with organic content, paid content gives companies an even broader look at their metrics. It gives detailed numbers on everything that the paid media is doing for their company. According to BigCommerce, social media provides statistics on how many impressions, clicks and leads paid content receives while viewing the same information about organic content is a little more complicated. Just like when companies use Google Ads, where ads can be placed into a Google search using specific words, it tracks every analytic and allows companies to measure their success and see if their ad is actually working for them.
Grow Your Audience
One big example of paid media is investing in the influencers. Influencer marketing has grown significantly in the past years. Sprout Social explains influencer marketing as a type of social media marketing that uses endorsements and product mentions from individuals who have a dedicated social following and are viewed as experts within their niche. Influencers work because they’ve built their following off of people that trust their recommendations and what they post about. A huge benefit to investing in this kind of paid media is for the companies that are trying to reach a bigger audience or target a new audience. Influencers have the power now-a-days to introduce a brand to their followers and convince them to want to use what they’re using.
While there are many benefits to paid media, it’s crucial that companies strategize before putting them into place. They need to work hand-in-hand with earned and owned media. It’s important to keep in mind the cons that can come with investing in paid media, especially in a world where ads are everywhere.