With U.S. digital marketing spend climbing its way to a predicted $119 billion by 2021, marketers are tasked with determining where to spend that budget. Forrester Research foresees that digital advertising options, like social media and display ads, will represent 46 percent of all advertising in the next three years.

Social media continues to thrive, and deploying targeted ads on social platforms is one of the most cost-effective methods of digital marketing. Leveraging social to promote your brand is a key tactic for competing in today’s dynamic marketplace. Although paid social is sometimes relegated to top-of-the-funnel marketing efforts, it can be used throughout the buyer’s journey—and that’s powerful.

For instance, once an audience has become aware of a brand, paid social can more easily be used to promote specific materials and products, and then to retarget before and after the purchase decision. This serves to guide and reinforce the buying decision. Social media allows a customer to warm up to your brand in a comfortable setting.

Unlike other forms of advertising, in which ads can be seen as an interruption of the primary content, social media advertising is an expected—almost welcome—distraction. Consumers tend to trust what they see in their social feeds because that’s where their communities are. Shoppers who might otherwise suffer from decision fatigue are motivated by their social networks , where recommendations feel more personal and relevant to them. Social ads are also interactive.

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