Why the Benefits of Advertising Through Social Media Are Too Big to Ignore
The benefits of advertising through social media are real, measurable, and available to businesses of every size — here’s a quick summary:
- Massive reach — Over 4.2 billion people use social media globally
- Precise targeting — Reach users by age, location, interests, and behavior
- Lower costs — Average Facebook CPC is just $1.68 across all industries
- Retargeting — Re-engage the ~70% of shoppers who abandon their carts
- Brand awareness — 83% of Instagram users discover new products on the platform
- Measurable ROI — Real-time analytics show exactly what’s working
- Lead generation — Drive traffic, sign-ups, and direct sales from a single ad
Unlike organic posts — which depend on algorithms to reach your followers — paid social ads put your message directly in front of the right people, at the right time, on the right device.
And the numbers back this up. One real estate firm ran Facebook lead ads and generated 4.3 times more sales leads than the previous year, at half the cost. That’s not a fluke. That’s what happens when targeting is done right.
The average person spends nearly two and a half hours on social media every day. Your customers are already scrolling. The question is whether your brand shows up while they do.
I’m Milton Brown, a paid media specialist with experience managing social and search campaigns across budgets from $20,000 to $5 million since 2008 — and the benefits of advertising through social media are something I’ve seen drive real growth across e-commerce, healthcare, and beyond. In this guide, I’ll walk you through exactly how these benefits translate into business results you can act on.
Simple benefits of advertising through social media glossary:
The Core Benefits of Advertising Through Social Media
In the early days of social media, a business could post a photo and expect a good chunk of their followers to see it. Today, organic reach has plummeted as platforms prioritize content from friends, family, and high-engagement viral videos. This shift is exactly why we focus so heavily on the advantages of social media advertising. Paid ads allow us to bypass the “algorithmic lottery” and ensure our message gets seen.
One of the most powerful benefits of advertising through social media is the ability to build massive brand awareness quickly. When you run a campaign, you aren’t just waiting for someone to search for you; you are introducing your brand to people who didn’t even know they needed you yet. This is often called “top-of-mind” awareness. By appearing in a user’s feed consistently, you ensure that when they are ready to make a purchase, your name is the first one they think of.
Beyond just “being seen,” social ads allow us to humanize our brands. We can use video ads to introduce our team in Raleigh or showcase how our neighbors in Durham are using our products. This builds what industry experts call “Meaningful Relationship Moments.” It turns a faceless corporation into a relatable entity, which is vital considering that company alignment with personal values was 74% more important to consumers in 2022 than the year before.
Precise Audience Targeting and Lookalike Audiences
If you bought a billboard on I-40 between Raleigh and Durham, you’d be paying to show your ad to everyone from college students to retirees, regardless of whether they need your services. With social advertising, we don’t have to waste a single cent on irrelevant impressions.
The precision available today is staggering. We can target based on:
- Demographics: Age, gender, education level, and job titles.
- Geofencing: We can set a virtual perimeter around specific neighborhoods in Chapel Hill or target users within a five-mile radius of your storefront. For more on this, check out our guide on geofence advertising on social media.
- Behaviors: People who have recently moved, users who frequently buy organic dog food, or even those who are likely to be in the market for a new car.
One of our favorite tools is lookalike audience creation. This allows us to take your existing customer list, upload it (securely and anonymously), and ask the platform to find “lookalikes”—people who share the same interests and behaviors as your best buyers. By using AI and uploading campaign data from your CRM, the algorithms learn exactly what a “good lead” looks like for your specific business.
Driving Conversions and the Benefits of Advertising Through Social Media for Sales
At the end of the day, we aren’t just looking for “likes”—we want sales. The benefits of advertising through social media extend directly into the bottom line through advanced lead generation and conversion tools.
For instance, Instagram product discovery is a massive driver for e-commerce. About 83% of users say they discover new products on the platform. By using “Shop Now” buttons directly in the feed, we reduce the friction between “seeing” and “buying.”
For service-based businesses in North Carolina, we often utilize lead generation ads. These are ads with built-in forms that pre-fill with the user’s contact information from their profile. It’s incredibly low-friction. In one real-world example, a real estate company used these ads to produce 4.3 times more sales leads than traditional digital prospecting, and they did it at a cost that was two times lower.
To get the most out of your budget, match the right format to your goal. Whether it’s a carousel showing off different angles of a product or a short-form video for TikTok, choosing from the various social media ad formats is key to driving that final click.
Maximizing ROI with Retargeting and Analytics
Have you ever looked at a pair of shoes online, only to have those same shoes “follow” you around the internet for the next week? That’s retargeting, and it is one of the most effective benefits of advertising through social media.
Statistics show that nearly 70% of online shopping carts are abandoned. People get distracted, their phone rings, or they just aren’t ready to pull the trigger. Retargeting allows us to give them a “second chance.” In fact, retargeting conversion statistics show that users who see retargeted ads are 70% more likely to eventually purchase.
To make this work, we use tools like the Meta Pixel (formerly the Facebook Pixel). This tiny piece of code on your website tells the social platform which products a user viewed. We can then serve them an ad featuring that exact product, perhaps with a small discount to sweeten the deal.
Below is a breakdown of what you can expect to spend on different platforms to reach your audience.
| Platform | Average CPM (Cost per 1,000 Impressions) | Average CPC (Cost per Click) | Primary Audience |
|---|---|---|---|
| ~$7.19 | $0.97 – $1.68 | Broad (all ages) | |
| $9.46 | $0.50 – $3.56 | Under 35, Visual | |
| TikTok | $4.00 – $9.00 | Variable | Gen Z & Millennials |
| ~$6.59 | $5.26 | B2B, Professionals | |
| $4.67 | $1.50 | High Purchase Intent |
Measuring Success and the Benefits of Advertising Through Social Media Tracking
One of the biggest frustrations with traditional advertising (like a radio spot or a newspaper ad) is that it’s hard to know exactly who saw it and what they did next. With social ads, every single cent is trackable.
We use UTM tracking tags to see exactly which ad, which headline, and which image drove a specific sale. This real-time feedback allows us to be agile. If we see an ad is underperforming on a Tuesday morning, we can tweak the copy or change the image by Tuesday afternoon.
This level of detail is vital for measuring ROI and tracking performance. We don’t just look at “vanity metrics” like likes or follows; we look at the cost per acquisition (CPA) and the return on ad spend (ROAS). If you spend $1,000 and it generates $5,000 in revenue, we know we have a winning strategy that we can scale.
Choosing the Right Platforms for Your Strategy
Not all social platforms are created equal. The benefits of advertising through social media depend heavily on where your specific audience hangs out.
- Facebook: With over 2.3 billion monthly active users, it remains the king of reach. It is particularly effective for local businesses in Raleigh or Durham looking to reach a broad demographic. If you’re new to this, we have a complete guide on how to advertise on Facebook.
- Instagram: Owned by Meta, Instagram is the place for high-quality visuals and influencer partnerships. It’s where 83% of users go to discover new products.
- LinkedIn: For B2B companies, LinkedIn is indispensable. It allows us to target by job title, industry, and company size. It’s where 90 million senior influencers and decision-makers spend their time.
- TikTok: If your audience is under 40, TikTok is where the attention is. TikTok creator ads have been shown to improve watch time by 25%.
- Pinterest: This is a “search-based” social network. People go there with the intent to plan projects (weddings, home renovations, meals), making it a goldmine for high-purchase-intent advertising.
For those managing their own campaigns, keeping up with Facebook Ads Manager tips is a full-time job in itself, which is why many businesses choose to partner with experts to navigate the constant updates.
Cost Advantages Over Traditional Media
When we compare social ads to traditional media, the cost-effectiveness is clear. Most social platforms operate on a Pay-Per-Click (PPC) or Pay-Per-Impression (CPM) model. This means you only pay when someone actually engages with your ad.
Contrast this with a local TV ad in the Raleigh-Durham market. You pay a flat fee regardless of whether anyone actually watches the commercial. With social ads, you can start with a budget as small as $5 or $10 a day to “test the waters.”
This flexibility also allows for incredible “ad recall lift.” For example, Stillhouse Spirits achieved a 17-point lift in ad recall by running a targeted Facebook campaign. They didn’t need a Super Bowl budget to get people to remember their brand; they just needed a smart, targeted social strategy.
Frequently Asked Questions about Social Ads
How does social media advertising differ from organic social media?
Organic social media is about building a community and talking to your existing followers. It’s “free,” but its reach is limited by the platform’s algorithm. Social media advertising is “paid reach.” It allows you to proactively target people who don’t follow you yet. Ads are marked with “Sponsored” or “Promoted” labels and offer immediate scalability that organic posts simply cannot match.
What are the most common challenges in social advertising?
The most common hurdle is “ad fatigue”—when users see the same ad so many times they start to ignore it (or worse, get annoyed by it). This is why social media ad creative needs to be refreshed regularly. Other challenges include rising competition, which can drive up costs, and constant algorithm changes that require advertisers to pivot their strategies frequently.
What trends should businesses watch for in 2026?
Looking ahead to 2026, we expect to see AI-generated creative becoming the norm, allowing for thousands of ad variations to be tested simultaneously. Social commerce—where the entire checkout process happens inside the app—will also dominate. We also anticipate a continued shift toward “privacy-first” targeting as platforms move away from traditional tracking cookies toward more sophisticated, first-party data modeling.
Conclusion
The benefits of advertising through social media are no longer a “nice-to-have” for businesses in North Carolina; they are a fundamental requirement for growth in a digital-first world. From the precise geofencing of customers in Chapel Hill to the global reach of a viral TikTok campaign, the tools available to us today are more powerful than ever.
However, as these platforms grow more complex, the “set it and forget it” approach to advertising no longer works. It requires constant monitoring, A/B testing, and a deep understanding of data to truly maximize your ROI.
At Multitouch Marketing, we specialize in navigating these complexities. We live and breathe PPC, and we’re here to help you turn those social media scrollers into loyal customers. Whether you’re looking to boost your brand in Durham or scale your e-commerce store across the country, our team has the expertise to make it happen.
Ready to see what social ads can do for your bottom line? Start your social media marketing journey with us today, and let’s get your business the attention it deserves.