Paid Social Media Advertising
Reach more of your audience with paid social
Paid social media advertising services help brands reach more of their audiences as part of a social media strategy.
What is paid social media advertising?
Organic reach alone rarely gets a brand in front of a new audience anymore; most platforms now expect real investment to reach people who don't already follow you.
Lele leads paid social at Blu Mint, covering campaign setup and audience targeting, and just as importantly, the ongoing work of watching for ad fatigue before performance starts to slip.
Where your audience actually is
Watching for ad fatigue
Launching a campaign well is only half the job.
Audiences stop responding to the same creative over time, and a campaign left unattended past that point quietly wastes spend rather than converting it.
Lele monitors performance on an ongoing basis and refreshes creative and targeting before fatigue actually costs you, rather than after.
| Platform | Monthly Active Users (2026) | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| ~3.1 billion | Broad reach, detailed targeting, retargeting | |
| ~2.3 billion | Visual products, influencer-adjacent reach, B2C | |
| YouTube | ~2.5 billion | Video-first campaigns, in-stream and discovery ads |
| TikTok | ~1.6 billion | Trend-driven, younger audiences, video-first creative |
| 1+ billion members | B2B targeting by role, seniority and company | |
| X (Twitter) | ~570 million | Real-time relevance, news-adjacent conversation |
| ~500 million | Visually-led, unbranded, discovery-intent audiences |
Facebook Ads
Still the largest paid social platform by reach and the most flexible for targeting by demographic, interest and behaviour, with formats spanning photo, video, carousel, slideshow and Instant Experiences.
READ MORE ABOUT FACEBOOK ADS →
Instagram Ads
Runs through the same Meta ecosystem as Facebook, a strong second step for brands with genuinely strong visual content. Ad formats and targeting options mirror Facebook's, structured around objectives like website clicks, conversions and awareness.
READ MORE ABOUT INSTAGRAM ADS →
X Ads
X's core strength is real-time relevance; campaigns built around news, launches and live conversation tend to outperform evergreen content here. Targeting includes keyword and follower-lookalike options distinct from other platforms.
READ MORE ABOUT X ADS →
Discord Ads
Discord's ad product, Quests, works nothing like a traditional placement; users earn in-app rewards for actual time spent playing a sponsored game, making it genuinely native to how the platform is used. It's sold directly through Discord's sales team rather than self-serve, and suits gaming and Web3 audiences specifically far better than a general brand campaign.
Pinterest Ads
A discovery platform more than a social one, most searches are unbranded, meaning users are genuinely open to finding new products. Keyword and interest targeting both matter here, and it's worth using them together.
READ MORE ABOUT PINTEREST ADS →
TikTok Ads
Video-first by necessity; image and static formats underperform badly here. Best suited to trend-aware, younger-skewing audiences, with targeting by demographics, interests and behaviour.
READ MORE ABOUT TIKTOK ADS →
YouTube Ads
The world's second-most-used search engine and video platform, YouTube supports short, 6- to 15-second in-stream ads and longer discovery-style ads, targeted by demographics, interests and keywords.
LinkedIn Ads
The most expensive per click of the major platforms, and usually worth it for B2B. Sponsored Content, Sponsored InMail and Text Ads let you target by industry, seniority and company size in a way no other platform matches.
READ MORE ABOUT LINKEDIN ADS →
Which ad type drives which result
| Ad Type | Where It Runs | Best Result It Drives |
|---|---|---|
| Static image ads | Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, X | Straightforward awareness and traffic, cheapest to produce |
| Video ads | Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn | Engagement and storytelling, essential on TikTok specifically |
| Carousel ads | Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn | Showcasing multiple products or features in one placement |
| Story ads | Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat | Full-screen, native-feeling reach among mobile-first audiences |
| In-stream and discovery ads | YouTube | Video views and awareness at genuine scale |
| Sponsored Content and InMail | B2B lead generation and account-based targeting | |
| AR Lenses and Filters | Snapchat | High engagement and brand recall, especially for beauty, fashion and retail |
| Quests (rewarded, gamified ads) | Discord | Deep engagement with gaming and Web3 audiences, sold direct through Discord's sales team rather than self-serve |
FAQs
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It depends entirely on your audience and goals. B2B businesses usually see the strongest return on LinkedIn despite the higher cost per click. B2C and visually-led brands often do better on Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest. We assess your audience and goals before recommending where to actually spend budget.
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Ad fatigue is what happens when an audience has seen the same creative too many times, engagement drops and cost per result climbs even though nothing else has changed. Left unmonitored, it quietly erodes campaign performance. We track for it continuously and refresh creative and targeting proactively.
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PPC targets people actively searching for something specific, on Google or Bing. Paid social targets people based on who they are and what they're interested in, reaching them before they've started actively searching. Most businesses benefit from both working together.
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We're actively exploring this space as new platforms launch. Get in touch if you're interested in early-stage, next-generation ad channels alongside established social platforms.
If you want paid social campaigns that stay sharp over time, not just launched and left, get in touch to speak with Lele, our paid social lead.
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We’ve collated all the social media image sizes and social media posting times into one handy guide you should bookmark.
Reach more customers in an affordable way.
Chat with the team at Blu Mint about social media advertising and we can suggest which platforms to use.
Request a free quote online, and a digital media strategist will get back to you.
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