Social network advertising

Social network advertising, also known as "social media targeting," is a group of terms that are used to describe forms of online advertising and digital marketing that focus on social networking services. One of the significant benefits of this type of advertising is that advertisers can take advantage of the users' demographic information, psychographics and other data points to target their ads appropriately.

Social media targeting combines current targeting options (such as geotargeting, behavioral targeting, socio-psychographic targeting, etc.) to make detailed target group identification possible. Important factors also include what the user likes, comments on, views, and follows on social media platforms.[1] With social media targeting, advertisements are distributed to users based on information gathered from target group profiles.

Social network advertising differs from social media targeting. Social media targeting enhances social media advertising by leveraging profile data to deliver ads directly to individual users. On the other hand, social network advertising involves aligning social network users with target groups specified by the advertiser. Social media advertising encompasses the creation of content on social media platforms, interaction with followers, and the execution of social media advertisements

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People who use social networking sites give various personal information about themselves, including their age, gender, interests, and location, which are then stored as cookies. This stored information allows advertisers to create specific target groups and individualize their advertisements. The advantage for advertisers is that their ads can reach a particular set of audiences who are interested in the product or service. The benefit for users is that they can see advertisements that may be more relevant to their interests.

Facebook

Facebook has developed targeting technology that allows advertisements to reach a specific audience. This is within the Facebook product called Facebook Ads, available to users and businesses alike. While posting an ad through the Facebook Ad Manager, an advertiser is provided with a set of characteristics that will define their target market. These traits include geographical location, gender, age, work, relationship status, and interests such as music.[2] Facebook claims that advertisers can even customize their target audience based on their behavior, such as purchasing patterns, device usage, and other activities. This makes the ads less intrusive and more successful in delivering the appropriate content to the right audience. The advertisement algorithm is also capable of monitoring performance so that advertisers or Facebook marketers can modify their audience as well as the nature, budget, and duration of the ads based on their performance. Many new advertisers use Facebook as a platform because they have easy-to-use dashboards that are free to access while at the same time having a large audience to view their advertisements.

Instagram

Currently, there are about 1 billion users on Instagram, and about 500 million users scroll through the app every day.[4] On Instagram, companies can employ influencers for advertising, post from a corporate account, or buy ads from Meta, Instagram's parent company.[5] Social media programs, such as Instagram, use digital engagement to allow companies to advertise different products.[6] Instagram creates photo ads, video ads, carousel ads, and story ads ranging from $5-$6 per engagement advertisement.[7] The programs evaluate how a consumer engages with the content based on the number of likes, amount of followers, and specific interests based on the preference of the user. The program (Instagram) takes the information gathered about the consumer and creates an environment for the advertisement.[8] Fashion, beauty, and lifestyles are common brands to advertise on Instagram; because about 80% of Instagram users follow at least one brand, usually a fashion brand.[7] Instagram is used on average around 72 minutes a day, with users seeing many different advertisements while they scroll through the app.

Snapchat

Snapchat is a multimedia messaging app developed by Snap Inc., originally Snapchat Inc. One of the principal features of Snapchat is that pictures and messages are usually only available briefly before they become inaccessible to their recipients. Facebook is the most popular social advertising platform, but an increasing number of young people use Snapchat. Pew Research Center data show that 78% of young Americans (18–24 years old) use Snapchat (the number goes down to 54% in the 25–29-year-old group).[10] Snapchat engages in targeting ads by Snap Audience Mix, Pixel Custom Audience, Ad Engagement Audience, and Third-Party Custom Audience.[

Twitter (X)

X, first known as Twitter, was founded on July 15, 2006.[12] Advertising on Twitter is based solely on the interactions an individual makes on the app. Advertisements shown on an individual's Twitter feed are based on the information provided in that individual's profile. Ads that are shown on Twitter are classified under three names: promoted tweets, promoted accounts, and promoted trends.[13] Certain advertisements that are placed on an individual's feed can be based on what is famous around the world or even local to that individual's location if location services are on. Twitter's product manager, Deepak Rao, stated that Twitter runs tests on their timeline every month to help Twitter’s critical metrics increase. The platform also does not have a complete algorithmic timeline, unlike Instagram’s feed and Facebook news

LinkedIn

The LinkedIn social media platform was created as an online platform to help employers connect with potential employees. The most common type of advertisement on LinkedIn is sponsored posts or direct sponsor content. These advertisements are used to share content and company updates and direct users to a landing page.[15] LinkedIn uses location, and audience attributes such as company, job experience, education, demographics, interests, and traits. as well as custom audiences you’ve created using matched audiences.[16] All of these indicated ads are displayed on a LinkedIn account if you are targeted for what they are promoting.

WhatsApp

Launched in 2009, WhatsApp is a free, multi-platform messaging app that lets users make video and voice calls, send text messages, share their status, and more with just a Wi-Fi connection.[17] WhatsApp has gained popularity as it allows international calling through Wi-Fi only, leaving a meager price for communicating. WhatsApp is the most popular messaging app worldwide and is used in over 150 countries.[18] Since Meta owns WhatsApp, there are going to be targeted ads. In saying so, Facebook announced that it will use WhatsApp to show ads on the platform. The ads will be displayed in WhatsApp statuses like Instagram and Facebook stories to promote paid content.[19]

YouTube

YouTube is a free video-sharing website that makes it easy to watch online videos. Created in 2005, YouTube is now one of the most popular sites on the Web, with visitors watching around 6 billion hours of video every month.[20] The demographics of YouTube are:

82% of U.S. adults who identify as male report using YouTube. ( Pew Research)

80% of U.S. adults who identify as male say they use YouTube. ( Pew Research)

45.8% of YouTube's total advertising audience identifies as female. ( Hootsuite)

54.2% of YouTube's total advertising audience is male

YouTube participates in targeting ads by analyzing Google searches and reviewing content searched. Any "Topics", "Placements", "Display/Video keywords", and "Exclusions" for all types of content targeting.[22] All of these strategies are considered to be used when an ad pops up on YouTube for an individual.

Operation

Within social communities, users provide demographic information, interests, and images. This information is accessed by social media targeting software and enables advertisers to create display ads with characteristics that match those of social network users. The critical component of social media targeting is providing the users' socio-demographic and interest information. Using this information, social media targeting makes it possible for users to see advertisements that might interest them. The availability of user data allows for detailed analysis and reporting, which is a big part of social media targeting and what makes it more effective than statistical projections alone.