Until Facebook entered our lives, the first things that came to mind when thinking about the advertising industry were billboards, televisions, and newspapers. This was a strategy that reached large audiences but made direct targeting very difficult. The new model created by Facebook and the growing phenomenon of social media over the years has fundamentally changed advertising. For all brands, from betting sites like BasariBet, to world-famous sports brands like Nike, social media platforms are now the first things that come to mind when thinking about advertising.

Which Sites Are Most Preferred for Advertising?

First and foremost, Meta, Facebook’s parent company, stands out for developing today’s model; it has become a platform where you manage both Instagram and Facebook ads, making it the first company that comes to mind for social media advertising. Instagram, which tops the list in our country in terms of active users, is the ideal platform for directly B2C-focused companies. The recent trend, TikTok, has also seen a significant rise in the field of advertising. Especially for brands targeting Generation Z, TikTok now appeals to brands wanting to advertise.

For those working in the advertising departments of B2B-focused companies, LinkedIn remains an important platform. If you are in a position aiming to sell directly to companies, it would be beneficial to include LinkedIn in your plans. If you are getting what you expect from these platforms and are curious about other platforms, you might try Twitter’s advertising algorithm. For those targeting the American market directly, Reddit can also be tried as an alternative.

Brand Awareness-Oriented Ads

Social media ads are divided into subcategories based on their goals. If you have a new brand or if you are satisfied with sales but want to reach a wider audience, your primary goal should be to increase brand awareness. This type of social media advertising is actually closer to old-style advertising because, with unmeasurable conversion, your first goal will be to appear in front of more people. Brands using this type of advertisement are either world-renowned companies whose priority is prestige or companies in the early growth stage.

For example, the short film-style ads of brands like Coca-Cola and Nike or the artistic film-style ads introducing new products from Apple are examples of this. These types of ads can be used in both online and traditional media in the same way.

Conversion-Oriented Ads

The biggest advantage of advertising through social platforms is the ability to directly measure conversions. After creating the ads and setting up the pixels, you can see who made purchases through the ads.

In terms of analytical data, Meta stands out in terms of the quality of the data it offers. It provides the most detailed analysis opportunities.This allows you to see whether your ad is profitable and how much you are earning and adjust accordingly. Companies that sell e-commerce and digital products will primarily prefer this type of advertisement. In fact, the reason why social media has fundamentally changed advertising lies in this type of advertisement. Before the Internet, this type of advertising model was not possible, and the direct impact of the advertisement could not be measured. Social media advertising made this possible.

Reaching the Target Audience

Even before social media, target audience analyses were done for advertising mediums, but now it is possible to prepare much more specific targeted ads. It is possible to target users based on the city they live in, their age group, which sport they like, and which musical instrument they are interested in. For advertisers who can perform this targeting, these possibilities are a great blessing. Of course, the message you use to reach your target audience is also very important. The creatives you use are among the important factors that determine how much your ad spreads or converts.

Innovative Marketing Strategies

Social media ads initially appeared in our Facebook feed, but with the entry of Instagram into our lives and the new features it brought, the Story and Reels sections have also created significant potential for advertising. Live broadcasts are again a different strategy that is included in brands’ advertising tactics today. For example, a fashion brand can hold its new collection show directly through a live broadcast on Instagram. Kitchenware brands can share recipes using their products in short Reels on Instagram.

These strategies are just small examples, but brands wanting to reach users and make sales must effectively use visual and video aspects of social media. This way, brands can establish much closer communication with their target audience. Many brands use a much friendlier tone on social media and can interact directly with their target audience. Netflix’s Twitter account is an important example of this. Brands that advertise in a warm and sincere manner, like an ordinary individual, help account users feel closer to the brand.

The Future of Social Media Advertising and Marketing

Even though new social media platforms have been added over the years, the old ones have not completely disappeared. For example, TikTok was not mentioned as a medium for big brands 2-3 years ago, but now almost all brands have a TikTok page. In the coming years, new platforms will definitely find a place on our list in this way. It is absolutely important for brands to quickly take place in these types of new environments. Especially after establishing the brand language in early-entered platforms, reaching audiences becomes much faster and easier.

As every new platform increasingly appeals to young people, what is expected from brands is to use the language of young people and move away from corporate identity. For this reason, brands may use a more friendly tone on these platforms in the future. Although there are already many brands that have adopted this tone, we can predict that these brands will increase even more.