Best Social Media Advertising Software

Yukta Rustagi
YR
Researched and written by Yukta Rustagi

Social media advertising software helps companies advertise on social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Social media advertising products allow advertisers to buy, manage, and place social ads to reach the wide-spanning audiences using these sites. Social media advertising is typically managed by a company’s marketing team or a third-party ad agency and can be leveraged to drive both brand awareness and direct response initiatives. Social media advertising software makes it easy for businesses to tap into the massive audiences on social media sites. Social media advertising includes both first-party and third-party platforms. First-party platforms are those offered by the social media site directly, giving advertisers direct access to the sites' ad offerings, and are typically used by small and mid-market businesses or those new to social media advertising. Third-party platforms integrate with social networks and typically offer more streamlined workflows, better scalability, and access to more than one social network. Social media advertising functionality may be offered through a single best-of-breed product, or bundled into a cross-channel platform that may also possess capabilities for search, display, mobile, or video advertising.

To qualify for inclusion in the Social Media Advertising category, a product must:

Offer tools for uploading or creating social ads
Be able to buy and serve social ads on at least one social media site
Provide workflows for effectively managing and trafficking ads within the platform
Track key success metrics reach, conversions, and ROAS
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Featured Social Media Advertising Software At A Glance

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G2 takes pride in showing unbiased reviews on user satisfaction in our ratings and reports. We do not allow paid placements in any of our ratings, rankings, or reports. Learn about our scoring methodologies.

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250 Listings in Social Media Advertising Available
(14,569)4.4 out of 5
14th Easiest To Use in Social Media Advertising software
View top Consulting Services for HubSpot Marketing Hub
20% Off
(6,696)4.3 out of 5
4th Easiest To Use in Social Media Advertising software
View top Consulting Services for Hootsuite
Entry Level Price:$199.00
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(4,009)4.5 out of 5
5th Easiest To Use in Social Media Advertising software
View top Consulting Services for SOCi
(7,261)4.1 out of 5
3rd Easiest To Use in Social Media Advertising software
View top Consulting Services for Constant Contact
Entry Level Price:Starting at $12.00
(1,057)4.5 out of 5
10th Easiest To Use in Social Media Advertising software
Entry Level Price:Free
Entry Level Price:$79.00
(5,395)4.4 out of 5
8th Easiest To Use in Social Media Advertising software
View top Consulting Services for Intuit Mailchimp All-in-One Marketing Platform
Entry Level Price:Free
(339)4.9 out of 5
1st Easiest To Use in Social Media Advertising software
Entry Level Price:$49.00
(242)4.8 out of 5
12th Easiest To Use in Social Media Advertising software
Entry Level Price:Free
(155)4.6 out of 5
13th Easiest To Use in Social Media Advertising software
View top Consulting Services for Influ2
Entry Level Price:Contact Us

Learn More About Social Media Advertising Software

What is Social Media Advertising Software?

Social media has transformed lives, opinions, and industries of all styles and sizes. Whether it’s a small online boutique or a booming business, there is incredible potential in adding social media advertising to a company’s plethora of marketing tools. When considering the addition of social media advertising software, buyers must think about the impact on digital strategy. This will open a business to a more diverse audience, increase trust, or reignite interest in products all from within the team. 

Paid social tools were created to simplify messaging and attract customers. They can be enabled across blogs and many social media networks. There are some classic digital marketing tools, such as Facebook Ads, but social media advertising software opens up much more functionality and optimization. 

Social media advertising platforms help manage marketing initiatives easily instead of spending extra time and resources on social media marketing (SMM) companies. Depending on the objectives, these tools can help plan or modify posts across multiple channels, help design eye-catching content, or integrate with certain types of design software to better share said content. Social media promotion software also helps businesses obtain analytical insights or improve CRM, optimize ad spend, and automate email marketing. There are plenty of options that help measure important KPIs and meet internal and external stakeholder’s goals. Much like social media itself, paid social tools are constantly evolving to better serve the needs of the business. 

What are the Common Features of Social Media Advertising Software?

When searching for the right software, buyers must consider their specific business goals. Below are the essential capabilities that will best complement social media ad strategy: 

Paid ad (social ad): Placing ads in front of the right audience can make or break a digital strategy. These tools are primarily management tools that help place consumer-driven messaging, attractive templates, and promotion-centered ads across social networks. These ads are meant to be seen by potential customers, creators, and influencers. Paid social ads can be scheduled in batches or as one-offs and planned around events, releases, or seasonal campaigns. 

Pricing will come into play per the demographic, location, and a few other factors, so users must measure the cost of the total ad campaign placements against the budget. Certain products are a better business choice than others and making these comparisons keeps stakeholder goals top of mind.

Built-in design tools: When designing paid ad pieces, users can take advantage of the built-in tools. Most social media advertising software, if not all, have the option to upload a design; users must keep sizing and text placement in mind when choosing the creative. When deciding between static and video content, the latter is recommended since video content is known to garner more reach and impressions. Depending on the audience and user persona, the user may consider if a banner ad will convert better than a product shot in a 10-second promoted post. 

Audience targeting and retargeting: To manage costs, it is imperative that an ad is seen by the desired customer. This makes social media targeting and retargeting features critical to finding the right audience. Creating a dynamic ad that’s focused on a specific consumer increases campaign success. These ads can be distributed across platforms to users that would be most interested in the product. 

Targeting is a technique that uses demographic details, browser leads, and other factors to identify the perfect customer. On the contrary, retargeting means that the focus of a campaign is reigniting interest in people who have recently visited a site, searched for a product, or have had similar interactions. Since this is a more definitive approach to former users or customers, retargeting software may be the best solution. Regardless of what method is chosen, both can ensure that success is front of mind while the customer is making their decision. 

Analytics: Once the decision of which ad to post and where is made, the next step is deciding how to measure the results once the campaign is live. Ideally, the main metrics to watch is who is viewing the content and what actions they’re taking from it. Using analytics—usually a dashboard-like feature—helps marketers understand how content performs and confirms if the goal of the campaign has been achieved. 

This data helps understand more about the target audience and what they react to. Measuring their reactions parallel to the campaign goals drives future strategy and direction. If a specific reporting function isn’t available in the product chosen, there is additional social media analytics software that can analyze a variety of different metrics. 

What are the Benefits of Social Media Advertising Software?

Boosts brand reputation: Social media usage has become so integrated into the consumer experience that it’s often the first place people go when vetting a brand. Paid social advertising can be used to legitimize brand presence in the marketplace, form a more trusted reputation, and offer a customized approach to the unique user. 

Offers versatility: Due to the versatility of social media advertising, it becomes the perfect option for organizations of any size, regardless of industry. With content marketing, businesses can showcase the brand voice and value proposition through creative and clear methods, in addition to a variety of campaign strategies. For example, the goal can be a one-off campaign to showcase a new product or a streamlined approach of long-term targeted posts. 

Provides insights: Paid social tools can not only implement ad campaigns but also offer insights based on the results.

Increases internal communication: Once the target audience, goals, and strategy is defined, results can be achieved without the help of any agency. Running these campaigns in-house contributes to better internal communication surrounding execution and consistency that comes with team alignment. Knowing which directives to focus on and where the strengths and weaknesses lie makes for a better campaign. If there are reservations about an in-house approach, buyers may try consulting marketing strategy agencies

Who Uses Social Media Advertising Software?

Social media advertising is used across small and large businesses, regardless of skill level or experience, these tools have options available for all types of users. 

Social media managers: In most established or even emerging businesses there is usually a role dedicated to the business’s social media presence. Social media managers use this type of software to curate content or social media posts, thus forming customer relationships. Regardless of department size or skill level, some tools can be managed by one person at a time or entire teams. These tools can help with time management, campaign execution, and deliverable creation. 

Growth marketing specialists: Growth marketing specialists are dedicated to getting new users to a website or social page and converting them to customers. They specialize in the acquisition and understanding of key demographics of an audience. They use paid social advertising tools for implementation, measuring results, and creating specific strategies to best reach the dictated key performance indicators (KPIs). They read the data and understand where to tweak campaigns across platforms to reach as many new customers as possible. 

Startup, small, and established business owners or managers: Most startups or emerging businesses, can not afford agencies or six-figure budgets to help with their marketing needs. Such business owners use social media advertising tools as most are free to use and have intuitive resources for small businesses. 

What are the Alternatives to Social Media Advertising Software?

Some alternatives to social media advertising software remove the responsibility of social media management from in-house to specialized agencies and others focus more on tracking insights. Deciding which is right for specific business needs will be determined by goals, budget, and capacity. 

Social media marketing (SMM) companies: These services help businesses focus on the promotion of their brand or product on social media platforms. SMM companies are often used when businesses have an engaged audience online but are unable to produce converting content. SMM companies provide a variety of social media solutions like boosting presence, account management, and content creation. If the focus is less advertising and more engagement-based tools, these are a great choice. 

Social media monitoring software: If a business wants to focus on understanding its audience, then social media monitoring software could be a great alternative. To better understand a strong base of users or the landscape of a market, using a social media monitoring tool (also called social listening) is the best bet. These products are used to track competitors, identify trending topics, and understand consumer sentiment. Social media monitoring software is great for brands with clear and ongoing marketing strategies and who are looking for a deeper understanding of the present to better plan for the future. 

Social media analytics software: Some teams find that they need no assistance with social media account management, but may need help to gather and interpret the data. All social media platforms have some type of analytics to help gather information on user's tendencies and practices. Social media analytics software helps grow businesses by focusing on the success of paid social campaigns. They measure metrics around brand awareness, engagement, and other data points to improve future success and customer experience down the line. 

Challenges with Social Media Advertising Software

While paid social tools come with many benefits, there are also some challenges. These types of software are complex when it comes to learning how much time to dedicate to it, how much use a tool like this will get, and what kind of results the team is hoping to achieve by integrating these products into a daily routine. When considering including social media advertising solutions, buyers must be sure to weigh in some of these potential challenges.

Reporting and customization: Most of these products can report on how the campaign or one-off posts performed. Although, there can often be a disconnect when digesting it to direct strategy. The reporting feature will not provide solutions to problems and will only offer insights into what was done well and what needs improvement.

A lot of information all at once: Social media promotion software provides information on traffic, content, analytics, and so on. First-time users may find it difficult to read and interpret this data or use this type of platform. The number of reports, upload criteria, clicks, etc., can be overwhelming at first. Tooltips, onboarding, and customer support for the product can help users understand how best to use this product. 

Price vs. value: Normally these products will come with a basic package that will offer bare minimum tools for free. This is a simple and cost-effective solution. But oftentimes, a team will need to go beyond the basic package to achieve the results they’re looking for. It is important to evaluate exact needs before investing in these tools. Is it just SEO or hashtag competitor analysis, or an entirely comprehensive suite of tools? Once exact needs are decided along with budget and stakeholders’ approval is taken, social media advertising platforms will make a great addition to any marketers’ toolbox.  

How to Buy Social Media Advertising Software

Requirements Gathering (RFI/RFP) for Social Media Advertising Software

Requirements should include offering the ability to upload and create social ads, being able to buy and launch campaigns on at least one social media platform, provide clear and effective workflows to manage trafficking ads, and be able to track key success metrics such as reach and conversion. 

Compare Social Media Advertising Software Products

Create a long list

Buyers must start from the very beginning of the buyer journey by understanding which products won’t be a good fit. The next step is to compile the features that would be essential (such as, automation, real-time analytics, or content creation) and remove any products that don’t include those features. If there’s one specific thing from a product that others don’t have—but isn’t critical to the business goals—buyers can consider leaving that product behind to find one that checks all the boxes. It is recommended to check if these tools can integrate with other social media marketing software and digital advertising platforms to ensure a full-circle approach to advertising a brand online. 

Create a short list

Once a main selection of features is made of needs and wants, buyers must start identifying products that fit into this mold and make sure that these shortlist products meet all requirements important to the key business objectives. Once the options have been narrowed down, businesses should take into account reviews and objective third-party analysis. Potential mobile marketing campaign needs must be met too, and buyers should ensure that the product of choice will work across iOS and Android. This will help better identify an all-encompassing product. After this, there should be about two to three options that are under consideration for purchase. 

Conduct demos

For this type of software, there will be an option to take part in a free trial (usually ranging from a week to a month of use) that will help make the decision. Often after the trial period, vendors will include a tiered pricing plan that best suits the needs and size of a business.  

Some options will even have a pop-up that encourages a prospective buyer to discuss a plan to purchase with a member of their sales team. This could lead to a demo where the sales team will walk through the product, but buyers must keep in mind that most social advertising software will either have an account manager or an internal onboarding team that will help answer questions too. 

Selection of Social Media Advertising Software

Choose a selection team

Unless the decision is made to use the free version of a product, internal stakeholders (immediate manager or department head) must be included in this purchase. They will be the ones directing the strategy, and in order to collaborate effectively they will need to have visibility over cost and implementation. Smaller teams (startups or new businesses) must evaluate why they need the software and how it will help them achieve their business goals. 

Negotiation

Most of these products won’t require negotiation but that doesn’t mean buyers should compromise on features, add-ons, services. If there is a specific feature that might cost extra but will garner better results, buyers should consider it. It is also important to look for any opportunities to get discounts or contract riders that would benefit the contract length. Before making the final decision, buyers must go over the details with the team to ensure a confident purchase of any specific social media advertising software. 

Final decision

This decision to purchase should be made with team goals and budget top of mind. Making sure all internal parties are aligned on how this purchase or addition will benefit the business is critical. It should be based on the digital advertising needs of the business.