Advertising delivered through social media platforms using paid targeting and promoted content formats.
A channel used to expand reach, generate traffic, build awareness, and drive conversions.
Short and sweet:
Advertising delivered through social media platforms using paid targeting and promoted content formats.
A channel used to expand reach, generate traffic, build awareness, and drive conversions.
See also: Social Media Marketing, Paid Reach, Behavioral Targeting
Paid social covers any advertising placed on social platforms like Instagram, Facebook, or LinkedIn, where a brand pays to reach a specific audience rather than relying only on organic reach from its own followers. Because platforms give advertisers granular targeting by interest, behavior, and demographic, paid social can reach people who’ve never interacted with a brand at all, unlike organic posts that mostly reach existing followers. Budgets here are typically flexible enough to test creative and audiences quickly compared to slower-moving channels.
A DTC mattress brand like Casper relies heavily on paid social, running Instagram and Facebook ads targeted at people who recently searched for sleep products or followed home decor accounts.
Fashion Nova built much of its early growth through paid placements on Instagram, paying to boost product posts directly into the feeds of shoppers who’d never heard of the brand.
Local businesses can run similarly targeted campaigns on Facebook and TikTok, spending as little as a few dollars a day to put a promotion in front of people within a five-mile radius.
