Social Media Advertising Vs Traditional Advertising

As the year goes by, evolution is bound to happen. That can very well be said for advertising. The title could very well have been old advertising vs new advertising. Why? Well, let’s shed some light upon the reasons for how social media marketing or digital marketing as a whole is changing the game for advertising. But, before we get into the discussion of social media advertising vs traditional advertising. We need to understand both of these channels.

Traditional Advertising channels are rather a broad category. These are the ones that we are exposed to daily be it the ads running on television, the radio we listen to while driving, the billboard on the roads, the magazine covers, these all come under the category of traditional advertising. Whereas Social media advertisement is an online marketing method done purely on social media platforms; Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, TikTok, etc. So what is it that makes social media advertisements so hyped up about? Let’s take a look.

Why Social Media Advertisement is More Effective?

Marketing Expense:

Not everyone has the budget to run their ads on the billboard or as a matter of fact afford the traditional advertising channels. Advertisement costs have always weighed heavy on organisations. But, now things are changing with the ever increment in popularity of social media platforms. Small organisations are the ones who have benefited most from social media advertising. The monopolistic share of giants in every industry is now being challenged by many startups and small firms as advertising has become more affordable for them with the help of social media advertisement.

The average CPM (Cost Per Thousand Impressions) lies anywhere from 2$ to 10$ depending on the location and that to the audience which only proves the effectiveness of social media advertisement.

Targeting:

One of the noticeable advantages of social media advertisement and which distinguishes it from traditional advertising channels is the feature of targeting audiences. The number of users present on social media currently is around 3.6 Billion. What social media enables advertisers to do is narrow down their audience amongst those 3.6 Billion from around the globe and advertise specifically to the location of their choice and to the audience that might be interested in their product or service. This is one thing that traditional advertising can’t manage to do or atleast to the extent that social media advertisement enables its users to.

Tracking:

Social media advertisement is trackable and measurable. You don’t have to put a budget into an advertising campaign and wait for days or months to measure its effectiveness. Social media tools allow you to constantly track the progress of your campaign, you can find out the exact number of web page clicks, how many conversions you secured through any particular ad, how many impressions your post got, these are all factors that prove how social media advertisement can better measure the success of your campaign.

While, such accuracy in measurement is still not possible through traditional advertising channels.

Flexibility:

When it comes to social media advertising vs traditional advertising. Social media enables advertisers to instantly make any revisions to their content if there is any need. This is one thing that is not possible in the case of advertising done through most traditional channels. If an ad is published in the newspaper then there might be no going back.

Other than that, marketers relentlessly test their ads on multiple audiences on social media. If one audience is not performing well then the ad can be immediately stopped and the audience can be changed accordingly.

 In the argument of social media advertisement vs traditional advertising. It is fair to say that traditional advertising channels do have their advantages and big organizations continue to utilize the platform but it is noticeable that those organizations continue investing in their online presence as well. This signifies that the world is changing and it is changing for advertising as well.