A Beginner’s Guide to Paid Advertising
During my internship this summer, one of my tasks was to help run a few Facebook ad campaigns. I learned a lot about paid advertising from it that I had no idea about before. Paid advertising can be confusing and complicated when you first start, so I’ve gathered a few tips that I learned to get a handle and better understanding of it.
What is Paid Advertising?
As defined by Skyword, “Paid advertising is any kind of advertising that you have to pay for, versus owned or earned advertising. There are several categories, including pay-per-click (PPC), pay-per-impression (PPI), and display ads.” Paid advertising is a great way to reach a specific target audience on social media. It is used by most advertising and PR agencies and is a great way to increase brand awareness and reach more people faster.
How It’s Used
Paid advertising is used to promote businesses online by using social media like Facebook or search engines like Google. PPC is paying for advertisements using a publisher. These ads bring traffic to your website and create brand awareness. There are many ways to use paid advertising and learning the basics goes a long way. This type of advertising can reach millions of people and is a great strategy when it comes to public relations and advertising.
Where to Start Learning More
One of the best ways I have found to get a start on paid advertising and learning the basics is to get an online certification. Google Ads Certifications is a great tool that allows you to learn the basics on many topics in the advertising and PR world, including paid advertising. If you want to learn how to start a campaign using paid advertising, getting an online certification is the best way to do it. Hootsuite, Facebook, and many more companies also offer free courses that allow you to receive a certification. My first Google Ads certification took me around a month to complete, but it was truly worth the time and effort. When I started my internship this summer, I was able to use many of the things I learned from the online course. These certifications will also look good on your resume and will show employers that you know the basics of paid advertising.
Additionally, YouTube can be a great resource that many of us are familiar with to start learning about paid advertising. The amount of information that is on Youtube can be extremely helpful. For my summer internship, I learned a lot about Facebook ads and how to run a campaign with Youtube. There are great channels like Neil Patel and HubSpot that upload almost daily videos on paid advertising. Since discovering these channels, I have expanded my knowledge greatly. If you are just beginning digital marketing and advertising, YouTube is a great way to learn more from experts themselves.
Understandably, paid advertising can be a difficult topic. There are so many things to learn about, and everyday there are new trends and topics that change how paid advertising works. When you start learning things about PPC, target audience, and keywords, creating a campaign becomes a lot easier. If you have an internship, ask your boss or co-workers questions you have about digital marketing. Professors are also great resources and will be happy to help you out with any questions or problems you have regarding paid advertising. Taking the step to start learning about advertising and PR on your own will definitely help you out in the long run. Remember to keep working hard towards your goals and ask questions.
About Desmond
Desmond Ray is a junior this year majoring in Advertising & Public Relations with a minor in Marketing. Desmond is currently working at Goldman and Associates Law Firm as a marketing intern. This will be Desmond's first year with GrandPR, where he will serve as an Account Executive in the fall.