Strategies for Approaching Social Media Paid Buying

Ever since Facebook changed the organic content algorithm in 2013, paid media support has been an important part of social media strategies. There are two strategies for approaching paid media buying: directly from the platform or through third-party software companies. This post will look at the pros and cons to each of these two strategies.

 

Trends in Paid Social Buying

Paid social media spending continues to increase at steady rates year-over-year. According to eMarketer, spending on social media ads increased 3.5% over 2016 and is expected to hit $31B by 2019. With more money being devoted to paid, brands need help placing and optimizing these buys. There are more options than ever with platforms, ad units, and targeting.

Buying Direct vs. Through Third-Party Software

Choosing between buying direct or through a third-party software has pros and cons. There are 4 key areas that should be considered when determining your strategy. Those areas include: support, offerings, fees and approach.

 

Buying Direct from the Platform:

  • Channel Specific Support: Contacts provide channel-specific recommendations, troubleshooting support, and the information on the latest product offerings.
  • Access to Latest Ad Offerings: Early access to use the latest product offerings before third-party platforms have integrated these offerings into their system.
  • No Usage Fees: 100% of media budget is used for media placement.
  • Individualized: More channel representatives, logins/passwords, and multiple insertion orders.

 

Buying Through Third-Party Software:

  • Platform Support: Contacts may not be channel-focused.
  • Limited Ad Offerings: Delay on new offerings as the platform is testing product prior to release on platform.
  • Cost of Service: Using an automated platform has a cost which means less funds available to spend on the media buy.
  • Centralized: Fewer channel representatives, logins/passwords, and insertion orders.

At Ignite, our in-house approach and the one we recommend to current and potential clients is to buy directly from the platform. We believe this is the most efficient and effective way to spend your media dollars. This approach doesn’t have usage fees and allows us to optimize campaigns as often as we like. It also allows us to be nimble and test new units as soon as they are available. In our opinion, the pros outweigh the cons when it comes to buying direct vs. through a third-party software.

Need help managing your paid media buying? We would be happy evaluate your current efforts and look for efficiencies.



Ignite Social Media