The New Generation of Social Platforms for Paid Advertising in 2020

It’s time to think beyond Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. With everyone and their mother’s trying to advertise on these channels, they’ve become saturated.

But are there other roads your business could take in 2020 to avoid this advertising traffic? Of course there are, that’s why you’re here, after all.

Below, check out the four social channels that should be part of your paid advertising roadmap next year…

TikTok

The time has come for the TikTok takeover. The Chinese-born, short-form video app has taken the world by storm since it was introduced in 2018, clocking in over 660 million worldwide downloads. That’s more than both YouTube and Instagram.

Aimed at Gen Z (16-24 years old), TikTok continues to enjoy exponential growth. But will it fail like the previous quick-video app, Vine? It’s a fair question, given the similarities between the two apps, but TikTok is made of sturdier stuff. TikTok already has a strong user base of 500 million active users, which is more than double of Vine at its peak.

In April 2019, TikTok launched a beta version of its biddable ad software. With this current option, you can produce fun, engaging in-feed video ads with three action models:

• CPC (cost per click)
• CPM (cost per thousand views)
• CPV (cost per view (over six seconds))

To make things easier for you, TikTok recently introduced a Video Creation Kit, letting you easily build hilarious video ads that your audience will love.

Don’t forget the majority of TikTok users are 16-24 years old, so it’s important that you stay up to date on the Gen Z trends and opinions. To help you do so, and to keep track of what your audience is saying about your brand online, then you should think about using a social media monitoring tool to give eyes and ears to your business.

Overall, TikTok’s still ironing out the paid advertising kinks, but it’s definitely one of the most exciting – and fast-growing – social platforms that you should be thinking about for your paid advertising campaigns in 2020. If you want to get ahead of the curve, the TikTok clock is ticking.

Pinterest

Bored of Instagram? Pinterest should peak your interest. Over 300 million people use this image and video-sharing platform every month, and it’s one of the latest social marketing channels to keep tabs on.

Pinterest is relatively new to the PPC game, but it still offers an impressive range of campaign avenues, which can be tailored depending on the goal you want to achieve.

For instance, if you’re focusing on brand awareness, then you can pay per 1000 impressions (CPM) for your ads, or you can pay per video view (of two seconds or longer).

If your main goal is to drive users down the marketing funnel, then you have a few paid advertising options:

• CPC links to your website or app download page
• CPA (cost per acquisition/conversion)
• CPM/CPC on your product catalogue

It’s worth noting that you can only benefit from the CPA format if you generate 50+ conversions per week, so it’s suitable for large brands only.

Pinterest’s ad targeting options are impressive, too. Not only can you can filter by age, gender, device, and location, but you can filter your adverts to a very specific level.

The platform’s algorithm will tailor your adverts based on each user’s interests which they have ‘pinned’ to their board (this is how Pinterest works, after all), whether it’s coffee, autumnal walks, or surfing. Pinterest’s level of targeting personalisation is what sets it apart from Facebook and Instagram.

Snapchat

Like TikTok, Snapchat is a Gen Z favourite and should be your starting point when advertising to 16-24 year olds. Also, with over 3.5 billion snaps every month, it’s showing no signs of slowing down in 2020.

Snapchat is fun to use, and fun to monetise. It allows more room for creativity than Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram does, thanks to its AR (augmented reality), crazy filter tools, and young user base. With Snapchat, the advertising options include:

• Snap ads – users will see these when they are clicking through their friends’ stories.
• Collection ads – Snapchat’s latest ad function allows you to add your products to your story. In fact, eBay saw a x5 higher engagement rateusing Collection Ads than with the snap ads promoting the same products.
• AR lenses and filters – Snapchat’s USP lets you add filters and augmented reality to the user’s selfie camera, on which you can add links to your website or app. Don’t hold back on this one, the crazier the better!
• Story ads – these appear in the ‘for you’ section within the ‘discover’ option which can be tailored to your users’ interests.

You can already see how Snapchat can supercharge your digital marketing campaign, but it doesn’t stop there. It tells you which data provider your customer insights are coming from, providing access to a much deeper level of customer information than with other social channels.

With this detailed information, you can filter your adverts to categories like BBC news viewers, rugby fans, recent visitors to Sainsbury’s, and much more.

LinkedIn

By no means a new social platform, LinkedIn is still underused by advertisers. It offers lots of potential, and there are many reasons why you should get LinkedIn-to your 2020 digital marketing strategy.

LinkedIn’s 660 million active users are all professionals. This means each user you advertise to is likely to be closer to the sales funnel than a Snapchatter, Instagrammer or Tweeter would be.

Also, thanks to the skills-based nature LinkedIn, you can target your PPC ads with very specific, professional filters including degrees, work experience, industries, skill sets, job title, and many other factors.

Houzz advertising

Houzz is a great way for home improvement companies to connect with customers who are looking for home improvement ideas. Houzz Pro+, the network’s paid platform, allows you to increase your photos and visibility, get more insights about your profile, and choose multiple categories and service areas.

In terms of advertising options, you can create sponsored content on the newsfeed, sponsored InMail (private message), or some text ads. LinkedIn is more expensive to advertise on than other social channels, but you’re paying for quality over quantity when it comes to your audience.

With social media advertising becoming saturated by the day, it’s time to rethink your strategy in 2020. TikTok, Pinterest, Snapchat, and LinkedIn represent new, or otherwise underused, roads for your paid marketing. Start using these channels, and your business should stay ahead of the trends, and ultimately ahead of your competitors.