Best Social Media Advertising Software

What You Should Know About Social Media Advertising Software

There is no denying the staying power and widespread impact of social media. Social media platforms are among the top-visited websites and most-used mobile applications year after year, with worldwide membership continually rising. These channels are where people of all ages interact, share their ideas, and spend much of their free time. For millions of users, it is also where they find new brands or form a closer relationship with their favorite companies. Advertising on social media channels allows companies of all kinds to capitalize on this opportunity and reach the most diverse, engaged audience possible. Depending on your company and target audience, social media campaigns can be a smart addition to your marketing strategy or even the cornerstone of your advertising efforts.

With social media management tools and advertising platforms, brands can steer their social media marketing initiatives without the need for outsourcing and hiring social media marketing companies. The tools in this category can help users price out, schedule, and modify paid posts through one or more social profiles. In some cases, these platforms can also assist with designing social ads, and in other cases they will integrate with design software so users can upload their latest ad designs to be shared as social content. The capabilities and integrations of these products are constantly evolving along with the media platforms themselves. If you are considering a social networking campaign for your business, you should research the diverse solutions in this category and find the right software for your company’s specific needs and goals. Products in this category can offer features of or integrate closely with other social media marketing software and digital advertising platforms to form a complete in-house toolkit for advertising your business online.

Key Benefits of Social Media Advertising Software

• Determining the cost and deployment options for social media marketing efforts on one or more social media platforms
• Scheduling and placing social advertisements and/or promoted posts into the feeds of your target audience
• Helping to measure the success of specific posts with included features or integrations with other tools
• Redirecting interested users to your company’s website or online store so they can inquire about and purchase the goods or services being advertised

Why Use Social Media Advertising Software?

More than three billion people are active users on one or more social media tools. That number shows no sign of slowing—on the contrary, people are integrating social media profiles more into their daily lives, selling and buying products directly through these platforms and using them as trusted sources for content and brand discovery. Millions of businesses are taking to social media management to supplement, and perhaps in lieu of, standard websites or other listings. What began as a basic way for people to connect is now a fully legitimate revolution in how humans—and organizations—operate.

Each business demands a unique marketing approach based on their offering, their brand voice, and their circumstances (e.g., location, customer base). For those businesses with some social component, or those planning to get involved, media management tools such as social media advertising platforms can enable far-reaching media marketing efforts. This technology can help you go toe to toe with competitors and reach your most valued customers directly on their favorite social platforms. Users can leverage these tools for high-value, one-off campaigns or to develop a steady stream of targeted social media posts over an indefinite period of time.

Social media advertising platforms are key for executing in-house advertising campaigns on social networks. However, to use them correctly, you must first have a strategy in place. Which social networks does your target audience visit most? On which KPIs are you basing campaign success? Are you running a direct-response or a branding campaign? These are a few questions that need answering to build your strategy and before you can properly select the best social media advertising tool for your needs. Consultations with one or more marketing strategy agencies can help you and your team determine the ideal marketing approach, including how a social media management platform or advertising platform can contribute to your success.

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.

Kinds of Social Media Advertising Software

There are solutions in this category all across the spectrum of functionality. Some are built to operate as multi-purpose solutions and can technically fit into multiple software categories on G2. Others are specialized to help users advertise with certain types of posts or on specific social media sites, rather than on numerous sites at the same time. The best way to understand your company’s different options is to read the product descriptions and verified reviews on individual listings in this category. For the purposes of this content, we’ve grouped social media advertising tools into two main categories, which you can read about below.

First-party — Social platforms may offer their own self-serve advertising tools that allow advertisers to pay for and manage their ads within the site’s framework. These are also referred to as first-party social media advertising tools. First-party tools tend to be less feature-rich and are more difficult to scale but also tend to be offered in a pay-for-performance model. As such, this is ideal for smaller companies that are testing the waters. These tools may be built upon the technology of major social platforms, and although they are less customizable, this can add peace of mind due to the proven nature of these technologies and the amount of resources being directed to their continued improvement.

Third-party — Third-party media management tools are designed by independent software developers to sync with and share posts on major social networks. Products in this category are either specially designed to work with one of the well-known social platforms or offer cross-functionality to manage ads on multiple accounts. The latter set of tools may offer users updates or patches to help expand capabilities or adapt to changes within these media platforms. Bigger companies that have sizable advertising budgets may need a third-party platform that can scale more easily to meet their demand and offer additional features for streamlining their everyday workflow.

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.

Trends Related to Social Media Advertising Software

Software trends, in many cases, are interrelated. The social media realm is evolving each day and is a hotbed of innovation and technology integration. The following trends go hand in hand with the current state of social media strategy and marketing as a whole.

Artificial intelligence — Data science and artificial intelligence (AI) are empowering businesses to optimize digital marketing efforts and target the right people at the right time. As a technology trend, AI is making waves in countless industries, from manufacturing to office administration. With regard to social media advertising, AI can automatically adjust ad placement or at least make suggestions based on observations of users’ social media activity, web browsing history, or other details. Try as you might, it is impossible to personally get to know the thousands or millions in your target audience and mold your campaigns around their preferences or in-the-moment needs. The AI revolution is making this a reality. A number of products in this category are packaged with certain AI-assisted features or can integrate with artificial intelligence software to help understand your audience and save you time and money. You can expect to see more of this in the future as AI moves further into the mainstream of B2B software.

User-generated content — User-generated content software takes the value proposition of social media management to the next level. Advertising in general is continually becoming more relatable and real, which often involves actual customer interviews, testimonials, product mentions, or other content. Your biggest advertisement success story might be something inspired from your audience. User-generated content, or UGC, is the rising trend of resharing or repurposing social posts that mention or feature a brand’s products. Brands are accelerating UGC efforts by creating contests or other promotions that ask followers to use certain hashtags, photograph themselves in certain situations, or write statuses based on a specific prompt. Not only can you use social media advertising to engage your audience with these requests, you can work UGC you’ve collected into future social advertising campaigns. This trend is bringing customers and brands closer together and helping customers feel more appreciated and connected with their favorite companies, especially on social media platforms.

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.