Advertising Channels Worth Exploring That aren’t Television or Radio
- 5 Advertising Channels You Should Explore
- Diversify Your Platform Advertising to Have the Greatest Impact
The first two mediums that many people initially think of when they hear “advertising” are television and radio. Television spending in the United States alone in 2020 accounted for a whopping $60 billion in marketing expenditures. That said, television is only the second most profitable medium for advertisers behind Internet ad spending. Among advertising channels, it is significantly lagging in terms of pure performance. The changing landscape of advertising has been in motion for many years now. But it seems like some people are caught a little behind the times.
Diligent marketers looking for their next opportunity need to look for additional advertising channels beyond television or radio that have serious potential behind them.
Some readers at this point may scoff at the notion that they don't understand the importance of Internet advertising. They are already plowing money into Google ads and Facebook marketing materials as well. For a long time, these two methods of marketing were highly effective at getting their point across. However, even this is not enough any longer. Privacy changes at Facebook and constant tweaks to the Google algorithms make it more challenging than ever to get your marketing materials to hit their peak performance. Thus, we must look at alternative ways to get the point across to your ever-expanding audience by maximizing your appropriate advertising channels.
5 Advertising Channels You Should Explore
Twitter: Great for Quick Snippets of Inspiration
It might seem like pivoting from Facebook marketing to one of their top competitors at Twitter is just swapping out one social media channel for another with similar issues. But that is not the case. Twitter is an entirely different platform. It offers advertisers a myriad of ways to get their messages out to consumers in a unique way. There are three exciting ways for a marketer to get their message out on Twitter that you should know about.
Promoted Tweets
The thing that is special about promoted tweets is often just how ordinary they really are. This is to say that any advertiser can take something that they want to speak to a broad audience and pay to have it promoted. It is relatively easy to pay for promoted tweets as the barriers for entry from a cost perspective are very low. A marketer can set their advertising budget for the tweet, send the message out, and then watch the interactions light up their notifications tab as people favorite, retweet, and reply to whatever they have to say.
Promoted Account
People aren't going to hear what you have to say if they aren’t following you in the first place. An excellent way to expand your outreach is to build your follower base. And a great way to make that happen is to pay to have your account become a promoted account.
As the follower base grows, marketers can enjoy more people organically reacting to the messages that they put out. Those organic reactions are worth their weight in gold as they represent real people who genuinely want to respond to what an account has to say.
Promoted Trend
Finally, a promoted trend is an option for those who want to stir the pot and start a conversation. Trending topics are where many people first go on Twitter to see what is being discussed the most on the platform at any given time. It could be anything from a sporting event to a funny trend that people are jumping into. Whatever the case may be, a brand that pays to promote a trend can start to see many people jump on the bandwagon to talk about their products and how they impact their daily life.
YouTube Advertising: Unappreciated Among Advertising Channels
Start advertising on YouTube, and you may begin to feel as though you have struck gold. This is because so many marketers overlook and undervalue the platform. As of 2021, there are an estimated 1.86 billion YouTube users, and the number continues to grow. That represents nearly a third of the entire population on Earth!
The beautiful thing about YouTube is that it provides a massive number of users. It also brings an audience that is paying attention to the material that they are consuming. People turn on YouTube to see a particular video that they would like to view at that time. They aren't lazily scrolling through their feed like they might on many other social media platforms. Instead, you can expect their eyes to be on your ad when it plays.
YouTube also provides excellent value because they don't make you pay if the video does not play for at least 30 seconds. If a user simply skips over your message to get to their video, you won't be charged for that ad. That is an integrity move and helps you avoid burning money on people who clearly show that they are not interested.
Pinterest: An Affordable Alternative Social Network
For some reason, many advertisers skip over a massive opportunity available to them via Pinterest marketing. Perhaps it is just the fact that Pinterest is not as well known as some other social networks and that advertising on it is not mentioned as often in popular media. But it is still one of the worthwhile advertising channels to spend some money on.
Right now, there are approximately 250 million users on Pinterest who are willing and eager to see your marketing messages. The advertising price tag for this social media network is less costly than some of the others. It does have a somewhat smaller audience, and it gets less attention from the traditional advertising world.
If your marketing budget is tight, or if you notice that a significant portion of your customer base spends some time on Pinterest, it is likely worth your while to put some money to work on this site.
Instagram: A Facebook Property You Should Not Skip
Facebook wholly owns Instagram. However, that doesn't mean that you should ignore it. You might want to shift some of your advertising dollars away from Facebook due to their privacy standards. But you can place that extra money on their Instagram platform instead.
Instagram caters to people who are bored and want to spend a few moments of their time scrolling through the pictures of people's lives that they know. Strange as it might sound to some people unfamiliar with the technology, this is quite common among users. They get some joy from seeing the activities, life milestones, and other pictures that fill up Instagram without the additional context and bickering that often populate Facebook posts. Sliding a little advertising in between the photos is a great way to get attention to new products you have to offer in particular. And it might improve your ability to reach people who have shirked other platforms in favor of this simpler one. It is worth including in your list of advertising channels.
Amazon: The Online Retail Behemoth is Also an Ideal Marketing Partner for Some
The word Amazon has become synonymous with online retail. Generally, online shoppers start at Amazon when they are looking for a specific product or good. They will look at this online retailer first because they understand that they will likely carry the product. Moreover, they know that it is perhaps more effective to start at a source like this than to navigate other websites to find what they are looking for.
Searchenginejournal.com says that nearly half (49%) of online consumers begin their search for any given product on Amazon. They also state that more than 55% of Amazon sales come from third-party providers. This is why small business owners, in particular, should focus a considerable amount of their marketing on Amazon's platform. They can open doors to many more customers. They can also leverage the incredible logistics network that Amazon has built to help get their products out to many more people than ever before.
Amazon indeed charges hefty fees for advertising on their site. Hence, marketers are wise to keep a tight leash on their Amazon marketing budget. They could see a significant drop in their ROI on marketing if they let it get too out of control. It is perfect as a supplementary channel to the others, but don't let it become your sole advertising focus.
Diversify Your Platform Advertising to Have the Greatest Impact
Intent on reaching a wider audience with your marketing message? Then there's no better way to do so than to diversify the platforms where you host your marketing messages. These five advertising channels are a great place to start, and they can inform more decisions about where to place your ads in the future.
At Viral Solutions we are committed to seeing YOU succeed. It is our goal to grow your business with proven digital marketing strategies that will help your business for the long haul.
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