With an increase in cost and clutter in the digital space, brands are feeling the need for more targeted marketing. Digital media buying has certainly matured over the years, enabling more accurate targeting

The way people communicate has been revolutionized. Now more than ever, people interact with one another from behind the comfort of a screen, sharing every detail of their life―digitally. With that in mind, here are 3 types of advertising that a brand can use to reach the connected consumer.

Social Media Advertising 

Facebook’s microtargeting features allow you to reach your exact target audience based on demographics, location, interests and behaviors. All you need to do is think about your ad objectives, choose your ad placements and set your budget and format.

You can then track your ads using Facebook’s Ads manager, and make any tweaks or adjustments based on your performance

Instagram

Facebook owns Instagram, so their ad objectives are pretty much the same: awareness, consideration and conversion. Similar to Facebook, you can edit and view your campaigns in Instagram’s Ads manager to ensure you’re getting the most out of your budget.

You can also reach the right people at the right time based on location, interests, demographics, behaviors, custom audiences, and lookalike audiences.

Instagram offers five ad formats: story ads, photo ads, video ads, carousel ads, and collection ads.

Story ads

Instagram story ads appear between users’ stories and expire after 24 hours. You can make use of face filters, video effects and other creative features to make your story memorable and add call-to-actions in the form of a swipe-up.

Photo ads

Photo ads allow you to showcase your brand through compelling, engaging images. They’re particularly effective if you sell visually pleasing products, such as furniture, jewellery or clothing.

Video ads

Video ads are ideal for promoting successful ad campaigns, demos of your product in action, or even a sneak peek of something that’s coming soon. Whatever your business, you can use them to interact with your brand and keep users engaged.

Carousel ads

Carousel ads let users swipe through a series of images of videos with a call-to-action button linking directly to your website. They can be used to highlight one product or showcase multiple different items.

Collection ads

Collection ads are one of the newest ad formats and allow users to purchase products directly from your ad. They bring together photos, videos and direct-response, making it easier for users to buy

YouTube

YouTube is a great way to get the most from your budget as you only pay when someone interacts with your ad.

Plus, there are over 1 billion unique visits  to YouTube each month with visitors watching over six billion hours of videos. The best thing is YouTube ads run on a cost per thousand impressions (CPM) basis, which means they’re a cost-effective way of increasing visibility.

You can also connect with users in a more interactive and memorable way than other social media platforms via TrueView ads.

TrueView ads

TrueView ads come in two types.

• In-stream ads/pre-roll ads: These ads play before or during a YouTube video. Viewers can skip the ad after 5 seconds or continue watching, but you only pay when someone watches at least 30 seconds.

• Video discovery: These ads appear on YouTube’s homepage or on the results or recommendation section. When your ad is clicked, a banner display ad will appear prompting viewers to learn more about your business.

Bumper ads

Bumper ads are the shortest but most memorable type of YouTube ad. They are six second videos that help increase brand awareness with brief, memorable messages. They work well alongside TrueView ads and are particularly effective on mobile when people are watching videos on the go

• Pay per click (PPC)
  PPC advertising is a form of online advertising where you pay a fee each time someone clicks on your ad. Google Ads is the most popular PPC service, but there are others you can use.
  
  When someone searches using one of your keywords, your ad will appear at the top of the results page. When they click your ad, you pay. This method is more hyper-focused than social media advertising as you’re only paying for targeted users to see your ad rather than a bunch of people who probably aren’t interested.
  
  It also allows you to track how many people have seen and shown interest in your ad, which you can’t do with other forms of online advertising. On top of that, you can enable ad extensions to include extra information and increase your chances of converting. This could be your business address, phone number, or opening hours, which can prompt users to make an inquiry straight away.

• Remarketing
  Remarketing allows you to connect with users who left your site without converting by re-engaging them with subtle ads on different websites. Because you’re advertising to people who’ve already shown interest in your brand, it’s more likely they’ll take a second look or revisit your page to complete a purchase.
  
  In fact, the click-through rate (CTR) of a retargeted ad is 10 times higher than the CTR of a typical display ad. 
  
  It can also be highly effective in increasing brand awareness, as previous viewers will be reminded of your brand, product or service as they’re browsing other sites.