We’ve said it once and we’ll say it again: standing out on social media is a full-time job, and sometimes you gotta pay-to-play in the big leagues. While organic social will always serve it’s purpose, sometimes going the paid route is a more sure fire approach to maximizing your reach, creating conversions, and building brand awareness. 

Paid Ads Can Be Complicated

Running an ad (or several) on social media is no easy task. In fact, it’s considered one of the most high-pressure and complex avenues of marketing. This is likely due to the fact that you have money riding on your decisions (kind of like gambling), so it’s important that you know what you’re doing before you pull out the credit card and start pumping out paid content. 

While learning the in’s and out’s of ads may take you more than one ready through a blog, we thought we’d help give you a quick crash course to at least get your head in the game when it comes to the world of ads, the terms you need to know, and expand on the difference between a proper ad and a boosted post. Sound good? Well grab a pen and paper, because Packsia Ads 101 is in session. 

Paid Ad Terminology

To understand how to properly run good ads, first you should know the language. Here are some of the most common elements of a digital ad campaign that you need to know. 

CPC (Cost Per Click)

Understanding Cost Per Click (CPC) is fundamental in the video advertising world. CPC represents the amount you pay for each click on your video ad, making it a vital metric to gauge engagement and determine whether your ad is successful or not. A good CPC is around $0.30, so try and keep your ads around that. If your ads are costing over $1 per click, it might be time to strategize your creative.

Hold Rate

Hold rate essentially refers to how good the ad is at keeping your audience engaged, kind of like an attention span meter. Creating compelling and relevant video content is your secret sauce to improve hold rates and keep viewers hooked till the very end of the ad.

Hook Rate

You know the term “hook” by now, which is the first impression in a text or post, and a hook rate to how effective your ad is at capturing your audience's attention within the first few seconds. 

Impressions

Impressions measure the total number of times your video ad is displayed. While impressions alone don't guarantee engagement, they are crucial for assessing the reach of your campaign and making informed decisions.

Ad Spend

Keeping your boat afloat in the video advertising sea requires understanding and monitoring your ad spend. The more you spend on an ad, the more it will be shown to your audience, so it’s important to start small with your budget to make sure the ads are worth investing in when going bigger with your budget. 

A/B Testing

A/B testing involves creating multiple versions of your video ad to identify what resonates best with your audience. This is a great way to test hooks, meaning you can create two of the exact same ad and slightly change the beginning to see which one does a better job of captivatin attention. This iterative process helps refine your campaign and maximize its impact.

Conversion Rate

Similar to the social media metric measuring the percentage of users taking desired actions, video advertising conversion rate assesses the success of your video ad in prompting viewers to make a purchase or take another specific action, such as visiting your website or signing up for a newsletter. 

Click-Through Rate (CTR)

CTR gauges how effectively your video ad motivates viewers to take action. A high CTR indicates a compelling and relevant video that resonates with your audience.

Running an Ad vs. Boosting a Post

Drawing parallels to the evolution of social media trends, understanding the difference between running an ad and boosting a post is essential in video advertising.

Running an Ad

Running an ad provides more control over elements like audience targeting, ad format, and optimization. It's the detailed approach to video advertising where you will need to know all of the terms above and be familiar with the back end of Meta Ads Manager or TikTok Ads Manager, which can be complicated. But, once you get the hang of it, you’ll be happy you went this route!

Boosting a Post

Boosting a post from your feed involves amplifying the reach of an existing piece of content that you think could serve as an ad, as well. It's a simplified method, often user-friendly, suitable for those with limited experience in advertising.

Just as staying on top of organic social media trends is crucial for success, mastering the basics of paid ads is vital for brands and content creators looking to expand their reach and control their narrative online. Whether it's optimizing for CPC, creating engaging content with high hold and hook rates, refining your A/B testing strategies, or deciding between running an ad and boosting a post, we're confident that you can ride the waves of paid ads and connect with your target audience effectively. We hope this guide helped you feel a bit more comfortable pursuing the paid ads world!