Paid Social Platforms Compared – Which Should You Choose?

In theory, it’s never been easier to get your business noticed. Thanks to the power of the internet – and particularly social media – anyone can share their thoughts and opinions (and products or services) with billions of people across the globe.

But that’s the thing: everyone has the ability to post on social media, so standing out and cutting through the noise is extremely difficult. When you’re competing with thousands of other businesses in the same industry, it’s tough to win customers over purely with organic social posts.

Thankfully, there’s a solution. Paid social ads are a great way to get your brand seen by potential customers, with a vast array of different platforms and ad types to choose from. Unlike organic social posts, paid ads won’t leave you at the mercy of the algorithm (or at least, not to the same extent). They’re a far more controllable and efficient way to generate a return on your investment, allowing you to target a specific audience and bring in revenue in a matter of hours. If you get everything right, that is.

With so many different options to choose from, knowing which paid social platform to go with can be tricky. To help you get started, we’ve compared some of the most popular options below, detailing their pros and cons.

Meta

There’s no man more synonymous with social media than Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and CEO of Meta. The American company owns both Facebook and Instagram, as well as a number of other platforms (like Threads and WhatsApp).

All this means that, in terms of reach, Meta ads are absolutely unrivalled. Facebook alone has more than three billion monthly active users, making it by far and away the planet’s biggest social media platform. Instagram isn’t that far behind, with more than two billion monthly active users – and because of the homogeneous structure of Meta ads, you can target users on both Facebook and Instagram simultaneously.

If you’re intent on building brand awareness, Meta ads are the perfect place to start. With such a broad reach and a wide range of audiences to target, the potential of Meta ads is as close to limitless as it gets. Facebook ads have a slightly higher click-through rate than Instagram, making them a little cheaper, but Instagram ads are often more visually striking (stories and reels, for instance). Both have their advantages, which is why so many brands use Facebook and Instagram ads together. 

TikTok

Although TikTok is primarily associated with a younger demographic, its growing user base includes more than a billion viewers of all ages. It’s not just the new kid on the block any more. It’s a major player, and it’s here to stay (in the UK at least – there’s still a chance it could be banned in the US during 2025). 

Although advertising on TikTok is more costly than many other platforms (Meta included), there are a number of benefits. Just like Meta, TikTok offers a wide variety of targeting options (like interests, browsing habits and location), allowing you to direct your ads towards a specific audience. 

But that’s par for the course nowadays. What makes TikTok different is the user experience. Its in-app shopping functionality makes it great for ecommerce brands looking to sell directly through social media, and the way ads are seamlessly integrated into users’ feeds guarantees excellent visibility. You’ll need to produce engaging visual content if you want any success on the platform though – otherwise, everyone will just scroll right past. 

LinkedIn

Here’s another social platform with more than a billion global users – but this one’s different. Like a cross between Facebook and Indeed, LinkedIn is the world’s largest employment-focused social platform, which makes it ideal for B2B brands who want to get noticed by professionals in relevant industries.

If you’re selling directly to consumers, you’ll probably want to skip LinkedIn ads. But if even part of your business model involves selling to the trade, LinkedIn is an option that’s well worth considering. Although it’s more expensive, per-click, than most other platforms, LinkedIn’s comprehensive suite of targeting options allows you to pitch your ads directly to professionals in specific industries and job roles. You can even send paid messages directly to users’ inboxes, potentially leading to a steady stream of sales and leads.

YouTube

Despite operating as an extension of Google Ads, YouTube is nonetheless a social media platform, hence its inclusion on this list. For context, it has more than 2 billion monthly active users and remains the world’s largest video-sharing platform. 

With plenty of different ad formats to choose from (including in-video ads, images and even text display ads) and a diverse range of targeting options, YouTube is a great way to get your brand out there – particularly if you’re already running Google ads. YouTube has a relatively low cost-per-click and a wealth of content to advertise against, too.

X

Although it has more than 500 million monthly active users, X (formerly Twitter) is the smallest platform on this list. 500 million is hardly an insignificant number, but there are indications that some advertisers have lost trust in the platform of late, particularly since the ever-divisive Elon Musk took over the company.

Statistically, X users are more likely to be male and between the ages of 18-34. They’re also more likely to have a degree than the rest of the population as a whole – which might explain why X remains a popular choice for B2B brands. 

Although X ads tend to be less visually engaging than those of other platforms (TikTok and Instagram in particular), the flipside is that they rely more heavily on words to get their message across. If this approach suits your brand better, X is well worth considering. It’s not short of targeting options either, allowing you to narrow down your audience based on behaviour, interests, location and so much more.

Want to explore your options?

Unsure which paid social platform is the right fit for your brand? We’re here to help. Learn more about our PPC ad services today, or check out our case studies to see how we’ve helped other brands get noticed on social media. Could yours be next?