What paid social campaigns are
Paid social means ads you buy inside Meta (Facebook and Instagram) and LinkedIn. Unlike search ads, they do not wait for someone to type a query. You choose an audience, and the platform shows your ad to people in it while they scroll.
That makes the work different. You are interrupting someone, so the creative and the first line of copy carry most of the load. Audience choices decide who sees it. A lead form inside the platform, or a landing page on your site, decides how easy it is to respond.
Managing paid social covers all of that inside Meta Ads Manager or LinkedIn Campaign Manager, in accounts you own, along with the tracking that tells the platforms which responses count.
Creative and copy formats in rotation
Paid social runs on creative, and creative wears out. Part of the work is keeping a steady supply in the formats each platform supports.
- Single image ads, the simplest to produce and test.
- Short video, often with captions, since many people watch with sound off.
- Carousels, a few cards that can walk through steps or services.
- Document ads on LinkedIn, which let people page through a guide in the feed.
- Text and conversation ads on LinkedIn for some offers.
Copy matters as much as the visual. The first line of primary text, the headline and the call-to-action button each get tested. Ask the provider whether they produce creative themselves, adapt what you supply, or brief a designer.
Tell the provider about regulated offers
Some offers carry extra rules on paid social. If your ads touch housing, employment, credit or other financial products, Meta requires a special ad category, which restricts targeting by age, gender and ZIP code and changes how lookalikes work. Ads about social issues, elections or politics have their own authorization process.
Mention it in your quote request if any of this might apply: staffing and recruiting, lending or financing, property management, insurance and similar fields. The provider can then plan audiences and copy within the rules from the start.
Whether an offer falls in a category, and what your ads may say, is your decision to make with your own counsel. The provider sets up the campaign to match.
Questions about paid social campaigns
What is a special ad category?
Meta requires it for ads about housing, employment, credit or other financial products, and social issues or politics. It restricts targeting by age, gender and ZIP code and limits lookalike audiences. Whether your offer falls in a category is your decision, ideally checked with your own counsel.
Can you produce the ad creative?
That depends on the service partner and the scope you agree. Some produce images, short video and copy; some adapt material you supply; some write briefs for your designer. Mention in your quote request what material you already have, and the partner will say how they would handle it.
Can I upload my customer list for targeting?
Both Meta and LinkedIn accept customer lists and hash the data before matching. You need the right to use that data for advertising under your own privacy policy and any consent you collected. Lists also help exclude existing customers from prospecting ads, so they see fewer offers they do not need.
Not sure where to start? Describe your offer and current tools, and a service partner will ask the right questions.
Start a requestOther services
Paid search upkeep
Search term pruning, bid strategy checks, ad tests and budget adjustments, done on a set schedule and noted in a change log.
Lead capture forms
Forms with the right fields, consent wording you supply, thank-you pages and connections to your inbox or CRM.
Lead source reporting
A simple report showing inquiries by channel and campaign, built from your own CRM and analytics data.