Updated September 2024.
Running paid advertising campaigns on social media has become a staple in any digital marketing strategy. But in a turbulent environment where bids fluctuate, and new ad types become available, advertisers struggle to stay up to date with the latest changes. That’s where a paid social media agency comes into play.
Teams of experienced media buyers in these agencies continue to help clients exceed their objectives profitably without the hassle of hiring any new employees.
In this article, you’ll learn more about what a paid social media agency can do for your business, how to pick the right one and our curated list of the top five paid social media agencies.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
What Do Paid Social Media Agencies Do?
A paid social media agency is a marketing firm that specializes in strategizing and executing advertising campaigns on multiple social media platforms.
These agencies tailor their advertising campaigns to various social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube.
So, what do these agencies bring to the table when it comes to paid social media? Let’s take a gander:
- Define a Robust Audience Persona: Conduct in-depth research to identify and define the target audience, including their demographics, interests, behaviors, and preferences. This ensures your advertising campaigns target the people most likely to be interested in your product.
- Organize Scalable Campaign Structures: Design campaigns that can be efficiently scaled up or down based on performance, budget, and marketing goals. Structure paid media campaigns to accommodate growth and changes without losing effectiveness.
- Define Bids and Budget Allocation: Set and adjust bidding strategies across various advertising platforms to optimize the use of the advertising budget for maximum return on investment.
- Write and Design Ads: Agencies craft compelling, research-backed ad copy and design engaging visuals that resonate with your target audience. The best of the best agencies will A/B test different versions to determine which ads perform best.
- Set Up Conversion Tracking: Implement tools and methods to track the performance of ads based on user actions, such as website visits, purchases, or sign-ups. This data is crucial for measuring ROI and making informed campaign adjustments.
- Monitor and Optimize Continuously: Continuously monitor campaign performance, using data analytics to make real-time adjustments in targeting, content, and spending.
- Manage Cross-Platform Campaigns: Handle campaigns efficiently across various platforms, tailoring content and strategy to each unique feature and audience.
- Report and Provide Insights: Provide detailed reports and insights to clients, helping them understand the performance of their campaigns and the effectiveness of their advertising spend.
All these tasks are complex and time-consuming for most brands who are busy actually running their companies, which is why it makes sense to hire a paid social media advertising firm.
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Is It Worth Hiring a Paid Social Media Agency?
A paid social strategy plays a key role in digital marketing, as it is an excellent way for businesses to target potential customers. By running paid media campaigns on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn, brands large and small can tailor their messaging to specific demographics so that their content reaches those most likely to engage and convert.
But to do this efficiently can take hundreds if not thousands of hours devoted to mastering the field and identifying the best tools to do it well. That’s where hiring a leading paid media agency for your brand makes a lot of sense because their specialized expertise and access to advanced tools can do a lot more, to a higher degree of quality, than you likely can.
So let’s look a bit closer at why hiring a paid media agency to help you out makes sense:
- Expert Strategy Development in Social Media Marketing: Paid media agencies bring expertise in crafting effective, targeted advertising strategies tailored to your business goals.
- Advanced Targeting Capabilities: These agencies possess the tools and knowledge to accurately segment audiences, ensuring that your Facebook, TikTok or LinkedIn ads and other social media marketing efforts reach the most relevant users.
- Creative Content for Social Media Management: Professional content creation, from eye-catching visuals to compelling copy, is a hallmark of a skilled paid media agency, resonating with your target audience.
- Time and Resource Efficiency in Social Media Marketing: Outsourcing to an agency saves time and resources, allowing you to focus on other aspects of your business, a critical component of effective social media management.
- Up-to-Date with Social Media Trends and Algorithms: Agencies constantly adapt to new trends, changes, and tools in the fast-evolving landscape of social media marketing.
- Data-Driven Insights for Refining Marketing Strategy: Valuable insights from campaign data aid in making informed decisions and continuous improvement in your marketing strategy.
- Diversification in Advertising Across Platforms: Expertise in diversifying advertising, including exploring platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn, is part of the comprehensive service offered by a paid media agency.
- Scaling Campaigns in Social Media Marketing: A social media marketing company skillfully scales campaigns while maintaining profitability, and addressing issues proactively.
- Optimizing ROI in Social Media Campaigns: Agencies are adept at optimizing campaigns for higher return on investment, a key goal in social media marketing.
- Comprehensive Campaign Management: From planning and execution to monitoring and optimization, agencies manage all aspects of paid social media campaigns.
- Access to Advanced Tools and Technologies: Agencies provide access to premium tools for analytics, targeting, and automation in social media management, essential for effective marketing strategies.
Top 5 Paid Social Media Agencies
Here is our curated list of the top five paid social agencies!
1) Single Grain
- Top Clients: Amazon, Crunchbase, Airbnb
- Platforms Covered: Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, X
- Pricing: Projects start at $10,000+
Single Grain is a full-stack paid advertising agency with over 12 years of providing social media advertising services to both B2B and B2C companies in industries like crypto, SaaS, and e-commerce. As a Google Premier Partner, you can trust our paid media experts to custom-build a social ads strategy for your specific goals.
What do you get when partnering with Single Grain?
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- Dedicated Team: We assign a team of paid media specialists to each of our clients, (this isn’t too common in the industry, for whatever reason 🤷♂️).
- Constant Experimentation: One of our core focuses is iteration. We make sure to A/B test all sorts of copy, ad creatives, campaign types, ad types, platforms, placements, lookalike audiences, and targeting settings. We cling to the principle that “If you’re not iterating, you’re not improving.” And that alone prevents our approaches from growing stale.
- Measurement: We utilize robust reporting software curated to help our clients understand how our inputs translate to outputs that grow your bottom line.
We pride ourselves on having managed profitable and scalable advertising campaigns for clients like Nextiva and Twenty20 on channels like Facebook, TikTok, and Pinterest.
To learn more about the difference between organic social vs paid social, check out this video from Single Grain founder Eric Siu:
2) Firebelly
- Top Clients: Sony, Netflix, Cisco
- Platforms Covered: Facebook, TikTok, Pinterest
- Pricing: Projects start at $2,000
Firebelly is an award-winning social media agency with a mission to make brands more likable. The firm specializes in both organic and paid campaigns on every major social platform. Some of the services they provide include:
- Social media audits
- Social media ads
- Content production (includes video, photography, and web design)
The company states that every client gets assigned a social media manager with over five years of professional experience. Their extensive advertising services allow them to fulfill everything their clients need in order to reach more people on social media.
3) Harvest Growth
- Top Clients: Nabisco, TruthFinder, CreditNinja
- Platforms Covered: Facebook, Instagram, YouTube
- Pricing: Projects start at $5,000
Harvest Growth is a social media agency with over $2 billion in revenue generated from its campaigns since its launch in 2006. The company defines itself as a “one-stop-shop for video production and social media.”
Some of the services they provide include full-service infomercial TV campaigns, video production and SEM campaigns on channels like YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.
With only six employees, the company states that they have been responsible for over 350 product launches, 150 national TV campaigns, and more than 500 social media marketing campaigns.
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4) NoGood
- Top Clients: Amazon, Nike, P&G
- Platforms Covered: Facebook, TikTok, Instagram
- Pricing: Flexible pricing models for different budgets and needs.
NoGood is a paid social advertising firm specializes in creating and executing data-driven marketing campaigns on various social platforms. Their approach involves tapping into historical data to reach audiences similar to a business’s existing consumer base, aligning with specific business goals like building brand awareness, growing a community or driving conversions.
One of their big focuses right out of the gate with their clients is rapid experimentation. They identify the highest-opportunity channels for a brand, starting with small investments and scale up based on performance. Industries serviced include e-commerce, fintech, SaaS, healthtech, and edtech.
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5) Spin Brands
- Top Clients: Moët & Chandon, ASUS, Merrell
- Platforms Covered: Facebook, YouTube, TikTok
- Pricing: Projects start at $1,000
Spin Brands is a social media agency that specializes in connecting brands to the modern consumer. They define themselves as an agency that “combines big ideas with perfect execution.”
The firm executes cutting-edge social ads strategies to build brand relationships with the aim of achieving the greatest performance. As a Meta Business Partner, Spin Brands has 24/7 access to advanced tools, training and best practices that allows its clients to stay ahead of the curve.
They combine a world-class team of creative strategies with highly competent marketers to create social advertising campaigns that boost ROI, increase engagement and further advance a brand’s online presence.
How to Choose the Best Paid Social Ads Agency
The easy part is understanding all the benefits you’ll get by hiring a paid media agency. The hard part is how to choose not only the best agency that aligns with your social media marketing strategy goals, but a reputable one that can get the job done. Here’s what to look for.
Skilled in Content Production
Optimizing for bids and writing ads for social media campaigns is great and all, but a crucial part of successful social media marketing campaigns is the content. Without great content, you won’t stand out and engage your audience.
The top paid social media agencies excel at producing persuasive creative ads. Whether they shoot videos, create pixel-perfect graphics or work with influencers, these firms can produce persuasive creative ads for any company.
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Certified by the Major Social Media Platforms
All the major social platforms give certifications to their top advertisers and media buyers. These courses allow companies to stay up-to-date with the latest changes and learn the best practices that all professionals should follow.
Here’s a shortlist of certifications the top networks offer for social media marketing:
- Facebook has a Meta Business Partners program and eight “Meta Certifications” for media buyers and creative strategists.
- TikTok has a Marketing Partners program and several courses in its Business Learning Center.
- Google has a Google Partners program for top agencies. It also offers a whole set of courses for marketing professionals.
- LinkedIn has a Marketing Labs certification program for LinkedIn advertising foundations and strategies:
Check whether your chosen agency is a partner in any social network and the certifications their employees have in order to make sure you hire the right one.
Case Studies
Case studies showcase the capacity an agency has to deliver the desired results for its clients. More importantly, it shows whom they work with, how they analyze the challenges their clients have, and how they strategize the proper solutions by crafting effective paid media advertising campaigns.
Before you decide to work with a paid social media agency, ask for case studies from companies in your space. Pay special attention to their age and relevancy. A company that succeeded in doing Facebook Ads eight years ago doesn’t mean they still know how to deliver results in 2024.
Similarly, you want to work with an agency seasoned in your industry. The more they know how to communicate with your audience, the easier it will be to craft content and fulfill your campaign’s results.
We’re an open book here at Single Grain, and we’re happy to share our success stories and figure out how we can <a href=”javascript:;” data-toggle=”modal” data-target=”#getStartedModal”><strong>achieve the same for your brand.</strong></a>
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How Much Does a Social Media Marketing Agency Cost?
Paid social media agencies charge clients using the following three methods:
- Flat fees: Under this structure, an agency charges a flat fee that covers their entire services. The benefit of this option is that you know clearly what you will spend per month. This method is ideal when your spending is small (under $10,000 or so).
- Project-based: In this case, you pay based on a set of deliverables and objectives. For example, you may pay $1,000 to set up one campaign and another $1,000 to generate a certain number of sales.
- Ad spending-based: The most common type of pricing structure allows the agency to get a commission on top of the advertising budget. This fee is usually around 10-15% of the overall spending. The benefit is that it aligns the agency with your company’s incentives, which leads to better results.
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Ready to Hire the Best Paid Social Media Agency?
Social advertising is one of the preferred channels brands use, thanks to its scalable, profitable and loyalty inducing effects. Hiring a paid social media agency makes the most sense if your business:
- Runs paid ads campaigns in at least two social media channels
- Your team can’t handle the work of running campaigns on different channels
- You are trying to scale campaigns but can’t seem to do it
- You have seen success in one channel and want to replicate the success in new channels
- Your campaigns are dwindling and you don’t know why
An agency with the right social media advertising skills will uncover the problems your campaigns have and take the day-to-day management out of your fatigued team. With their help, social media will become one of your most profitable digital marketing channels to date.
Schedule your FREE consultation with Single Grain’s paid social media experts to discuss your needs. 👇
