Best Social Media Advertising Software in 2019

Join the 1500 companies using G2 Track to manage SaaS spend, usage, contracts & compliance.

What You Should Know About Social Media Advertising Software
Why Use Social Media Advertising Software?
Who Uses Social Media Advertising Software?
Kinds of Social Media Advertising Software
Social Media Advertising Software Features
Trends Related to Social Media Advertising Software
Software and Services Related to Social Media Advertising Software

Learn More About Social Media Advertising Software

Who Uses Social Media Advertising Software?

An active social media presence and marketing effort are beneficial for, and increasingly expected of, diverse companies across the world. Creating, sharing, and interacting with content on these platforms should be a serious initiative from a business perspective, treated equally alongside sales, product development, customer service, and other departments. With that being said, the following users are most likely to be directly involved with the platforms in this category and make social media advertising a priority in their daily routine.

Social media managers — There are a number of recently created terms being used to describe resident social media experts: social media specialists, social media coordinators, and social media managers, to name a few. Depending on the size of your marketing department and the scope of your social strategy, you may be planning an entire team focused around social media management—touching on all aspects, from ad design to community engagement. Whatever job titles you go with, these specialized individuals are recruited for their knowledge and mastery of the social realm, including the selection and sharing of paid posts and ads.

If you have a social media manager or are considering a specialist in the near future, these individuals are the ideal use case for the products in this software category. To properly manage social media in the current age, your in-house experts may require a handful of solutions to best perform their tasks at hand. Social media advertising tools can and should be a crucial ingredient in their technology stack, helping them make the most of these profiles with promoted posts and targeted ads. Third-party specialists, such as those working with social media marketing agencies, will use these platforms to oversee social media campaigns for their clients.

Marketing specialists — Despite its swelling importance in the professional world, not every company has a dedicated team for social media. Social media marketing might just be one component of a larger marketing department, alongside traditional advertising, search marketing, and public relations. If your marketing department is performing without a social media manager or other specialist, then others on the team may find themselves using social media advertising tools at some point along the way. These solutions can be deployed alongside other marketing software and digital advertising software to form a complete ecosystem of tools to plan, perform, and measure a wide range of advertising efforts. As your company grows, you may decide to make space for a designated social pro. In the meantime, your present marketing team can use these tools as an extension of their collective efforts.

Small business managers — To take the previous example one step further, companies in their earliest stages do not always have the budget for in-house marketing specialists. In these cases, it is often the founders and managers who oversee initial advertising, including setting up business profiles on social networks and generating interest through posts and community involvement. Social media advertising tools allow these entrepreneurs to shape the complete brand voice on these channels and generate buzz with social marketing. Although many startups simply cannot afford marketing staff with their early budgets, in some cases, CEOs and other company leaders prefer to have ownership over these stylistic decisions and take responsibility for marketing efforts. Products in this category are often intuitive by design and allow executives or early hires to get the ball rolling on social advertising with a basic understanding of networking platforms.

Social Media Advertising Software Features

Across this software category, you will find products with different sets of features and with different strengths or weakness when it comes to social marketing. The following are some of the primary capabilities you should consider when considering implementing this technology in your marketing department.

Social ads — The central use case for these management tools is to place clean, attractive ads or promoted posts on social networks to be seen by potential customers and influencers. When it comes to social media scheduling, ads can be automated or individually scheduled with a post planner based on your company’s preferences. When considering a certain channel or ad type, these platforms can provide updated price quotes based on the specifications of different sites. You can then measure these prices against your advertising budget, sometimes from right within the platform, to help make the best decisions for your business. Then when it comes time to design ads, you can use the ad builder tools provided in certain products. You can choose to import your ad designs onto the platform if there are no included designing features or you already have the perfect ad created and saved.

Each social network has its own unique advertising options, and not all third-party platforms can support every kind of option. For example, Facebook has a variety of different banner ad options, as well as a handful of options for promoted posts. Some platforms can only buy and manage the banner ads, while others will allow an advertiser to pay for promoted posts as well. When considering products in this category, it helps to have a clear understanding of the ads you can buy through a platform and whether those are sufficient for your needs.

Targeting and retargeting — Social media marketing can be a pricey affair, and you may only have limited chances to get it right and be seen by the ideal audience. Dynamic ads created with certain products can be strategically distributed to those users most likely to benefit from your product, based on their browsing history, demographics, and other details. This process is referred to as targeting. Retargeting, on the other hand, allows you to push ads onto the feeds of users who have recently visited your site, searched for a certain product, or purchased something from your business or a related company. This is an excellent way to capture your target audience at pivotal moments in their shopping journey and ensure your brand remains in their line of sight when they are considering their options.

In addition to targeting social media users who are potential customers, you might consider seeking out influencers to help promote your brand. To do this, you might consider a media and influencer targeting software to complement your own campaigns on social media platforms. These platforms can point you in the direction of social influencers with large followings who would be logical choices to reshare your content or create unique content that mentions your product. Influencers have an immense power in the connected age, and the right mention of your product can be a game-changing moment in your marketing efforts and company success as a whole. An influencer search can help connect you with these individuals regardless of their location in the world.

Analytics — Placing your company’s posts in front of users is only half the battle. Once your social marketing campaign is live, you will want to closely follow the action, such as how many people view your ad, click on your ad, or make a purchase because of an ad. Analytics tools help social media marketers measure all the relevant performance metrics for single pieces of content or the advertising campaign as a whole. This data can be extremely valuable for determining what works, what doesn’t, and refining your entire strategy moving forward. For any bits of reporting that are not included in your chosen software, you should consider investing in social media analytics software or a similar tool, so you can analyze your social presence from all angles and use this information to improve your company processes. A comprehensive effort to collect and understand this data will ensure that your company remains in tune with your audience and maximizes its opportunities on these social platforms.

Additional Social Media Advertising Software Features

Cross-channel capabilities — Many third-party social media advertising tools are also considered cross-channel advertising platforms, meaning they can manage ads across three or more advertising channels. These are beneficial for serving ads across the entire online advertising landscape. To see cross-channel products and buying considerations for these tools, please visit our cross-channel advertising software category.

Integrations — Social media advertising platforms need to integrate with a number of other software tools for purposes such as digital analytics, marketing automation, data management, social media management, or social analytics, to name a few. Many companies, especially agencies, will also likely use numerous advertising platforms in tandem. Ensure that the social media advertising tool you choose can integrate with existing software to avoid any potential data loss or inaccuracy.

Software and Services Related to Social Media Advertising Software

Social media advertising platforms are part of a larger strategy which can entail a variety of complementary solutions. The following are some of the primary solutions related to the tools in this category.

Social networks — Social networks software includes those applications at the center of the social media movement, as well as smaller, more personalized tools in the same vein. Before you invest time, energy, and finances into a social advertising campaign, you will need to familiarize yourself with the social media software itself. The most prominent tools in this category (e.g., Facebook, Instagram) are unique offerings that may share certain features but have unique learning curves and capabilities. A successful digital advertising strategy now requires time spent learning, exploring, and establishing a presence on one or more major social platforms. Once you have gotten to know these platforms, you can approach your social media marketing efforts from a place of understanding and maximize your brand’s potential in these channels.

Social media management — To manually oversee your company’s campaigns and posts on social networks, you or whoever you assign to the job would have to log in and out of these accounts regularly. You would also have to keep content organized and scheduled out through whichever software or system is most convenient. Social media management software consolidates and simplifies these processes. Using the centralized management hubs provided by these tools, your team can operate on social media easier and with less mistakes. You can update profiles, schedule posts, and monitor comments or other interactions from a single interface. You can also track performance and other metrics with these platforms, giving you a complete perspective on these initiatives as you attract more followers and direct more content through these channels. Some products in this category may offer features of social media advertising or function better as integrated solutions.

Social media analytics — The aforementioned social media management platforms will often include some form of reporting to help monitor your profiles and posts. For the most comprehensive insights, you may consider a social media analytics platform. Products in this category can help your social marketing team or community managers track your brand’s social presence from all angles, in addition to providing insights on your prospective followers and other relevant activity. Not only can you monitor the performance of promoted posts, such as the number of views or the demographics of viewers, but you can gauge the reception of your social profiles as a whole. The more you know about your followers, your social activity, and which practices are most and least effective, the better you can shape a winning advertising strategy and capitalize on the traction you receive.

Social media monitoring — Keeping your finger on the public’s pulse is a full-time job in its own right but is an essential practice for the most successful brands. Social media monitoring software gives you to-the-minute insights into what people are talking about on social media, particularly if they are talking about your brand. Businesses can leverage these platforms to track brand or product mentions on the world’s biggest social networks so they can form a realistic view of their reputation or the success of certain campaigns and react accordingly. These tools also allow users to track relevant keywords, such as common industry terms, or mentions of their closest competitors. This can include content that is shared on social media, such as articles that are reposted, in addition to the personal statuses of individuals or company accounts. When used properly, social media monitoring tools can paint a detailed picture of customer sentiment, industry trends, and where your brand fits in the grand scheme of things. An accurate view of these events can inform your very best digital marketing decisions and help you make educated adjustments to your social strategy or company strategies as a whole.

Social media marketing companies — For any number of reasons, you may be intimidated by or hesitant to execute an in-house social media marketing campaign. You might just have too much on your plate or feel ill-prepared to succeed in these channels. Fortunately, there are thousands of agencies available to assist you. Each year, an increasing number of marketing firms are adding social media to their offerings or establishing business models that focus entirely on social. Social media marketing companies, or SMM companies, can offer assistance with some component of your social advertising, from initial consulting to all-inclusive social media management. Many of these companies can help you set up social profiles, develop a voice, and plan high-impact strategies for placing ads and promoting posts. You may feel that your brand has only one shot at getting it right the first time when it comes to promoting on social media. If this is the case, or you simply want to bolster your current efforts with outside expertise, you should research SMM agencies that align with your brand’s values and fit into your budget. You may reach out to a number of companies en route to finding the best fit for your business. Once you find the right company and establish a working relationship, it can become an indispensable asset for your marketing efforts and create a steady flow of new followers to your brand.

Latest Social Media Advertising Articles

How Should You Implement Your Software?

Brynne Ramella September 18, 2017

Snapchat Looks to Improve Video Ad Results with Goal-Based Bidding

Tom Hardin January 23, 2017

Tips for Promoting Events on Social Media

Kim Palagyi December 19, 2016