Why diversifying your social spend across a range of platforms can boost the impact of your Paid Social advertising?
Today users are spending an average of 2 hours and 20 minutes on Social Media platforms every single day, but only 38 minutes of these are on Facebook, one third of the ‘big three’ in advertising. The average number of social accounts per person is also up from 4 in 2013 to 8 in 2018. All of this tells us that there are big opportunities to engage with a target audience throughout their day on a broader number of platforms.
The POV below touches on the benefits of focusing on a multi-platform approach, touching on more traditional benefits such as increased Reach and lower costs, alongside a bigger industry move towards delivering attention, not just impressions. We will then touch on the role creative continues to play within the space.
When reviewing Reach a multi-platform approach will tap into audiences across a range of social platforms. The lower ad costs and lower overall competition seen on additional platforms will drive this increased Reach, helping brands increase the share of audience that see the ads with their given budget. This at the most basic level can help drive increased awareness and purchase consideration.
But there are also some really exciting benefits for activating a multi-platform approach. Whilst the last few years have focused on a real efficiency led approach, the years ahead will focus on attention. As media planners we will be looking at platforms to deliver engaging moments, looking at metrics like dwell / play time and hashtag mentions, alongside the more traditional media metrics.
It is these newer platforms that are really driving the industry forward. Snapchat was the first to bring a truly engaging AR experience into consumer hands, allowing brands to excite consumers with fun filters and lenses. This has accelerated to the point where brands can now showcase their products within an AR ad unit. Auto brands create AR versions of their cars for consumers to place on their drives and walk around.
The explosion of TikTok also can’t be ignored. In 2021 the percentage of people exposed to ads on TikTok nearly doubled from 19% to 37% according to Kantar. There is a huge opportunity to reach younger segments of the audience on the platform, but recent figures show that 53% of the available audience are actually over the age of 30.
Brands on TikTok need to understand the consumer mindset, with users coming to the platform to be entertained, not sold to. TikTok however makes it easy for brands to tap into their huge network of creators to drive that authentic engagement with the target audience.
Pinterest is gaining momentum as a place where brands can tap into seasonal and life moments using targeted keywords and interests and showcase their ads within a platform that sees over 444 million daily visits, and one that users use as a visual discovery engine. 97% of all searches on Pinterest are unbranded, showcasing that users are looking to discover new and exciting ideas.
A multi-platform approach is one that complements itself, rather than being about creating bespoke campaigns per platform. Each of these platforms have become increasingly sophisticated and offer a lot of the advanced features that Meta does meaning that there is no dilution of impact within the plans.
Creative is arguably the biggest consideration when planning and activating a multi-channel plan within Paid Social. In short there is no getting away from the need to have creative that looks and feels native to the different platforms. Anything else and performance will not be as strong. Brands will be addressing this by shooting bespoke Social ads, simultaneously producing 1:1 and vertical video, and editing the creative with all social best practices in mind. When it comes to more advanced AR creations we at mSix have close relationships with the likes of Snapchat, who will be on hand to help produce the ads. Additionally when minimum spends are allocated Snapchat will build the AR experience free of charge. TikTok also offer a very hands on approach that helps brands drive all creative best practices to truly support advertisers to win on the platform.