As we approach a New Year, social marketers are preparing to face down an array of new challenges and opportunities. In 2024, various factors will significantly influence how companies strategize and execute their paid social marketing campaigns. From evolving consumer behavior to emerging creative trends and platform advancements, these dynamics will shape the effectiveness and efficiency of brands’ paid social marketing efforts.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at ADM’s top paid social advertising predictions for 2024.
The Conversions API Will Be an Essential Tool
Meta tracking changes can’t be ignored. iOS 14 came and went, but there are further changes on the way that will impact how digital marketers can track and verify conversions—like the end of third-party cookies. If you haven’t set up the Conversions API for your Meta tracking yet, do it now. Many brands might drag their feet on getting it set up because it’s a highly-technical process, but in 2024, it can’t be ignored.
The Conversions API will allow you to stop relying on just Facebook pixel data to evaluate your successes and shape your approach. Given all the changes regarding how user activity can be tracked online, pixel data is increasingly unreliable, so having your tracking and attribution solutions in place has become paramount.
AI Will Continue To Play A Bigger Role in Paid Social
Over the last year, the volume of AI tools rolled out to Meta advertisers has skyrocketed, and it’s our prediction that more will be on their way next year. As new features like Advantage + campaign types, advanced audience optimizations, and AI-powered ad features become available, it will continue to be important for media buyers to test and learn which features can legitimately improve the bottom line—and which ones Meta has rolled out simply for their own ad revenue and efficiency.
Many of these new tools, like the Advantage+ campaign type, put audience targeting in the hands of Meta’s algorithms. This campaign type has proven to be extremely effective for many brands when best practices are followed. However, this solution is no rocket to the moon without additional emphasis and importance being placed on the biggest level for paid social in 2024, creative.
Quality Creative Will Matter More Than Ever
Playing off the last point, the rise of AI and increasingly visual and video-based social ad platforms means the quality of your ad creative will continue to be the biggest driver of performance and success on paid social channels. With AI getting smarter in its targeting and basing its placements on how different people interact with your assets, you need to be deploying strategic creative that is designed to connect with your desired audience in order to successfully generate strong results. In 2024, having eye-catching, endearing, and platform-appropriate creative assets will make or break your campaigns.
Creative is also the biggest representation of your brand on these social platforms. Reputation, effectiveness, and community building all come back to the creative a brand pushes out in its paid social advertising.
Audiences Will Expect Authentic, Responsive Creative
An emerging trend we believe will have a big impact in 2024 is the use of reactive or conversation-driven creative. This involves sharing conversations that brands have had with their audience through content in paid social media. Some examples of this creative approach include stitching videos on platforms like TikTok (where users can add their own content to existing videos on the platform), and responding to comments with videos (which adds a personal touch to interactions with the audience).
Another prediction for 2024 is that authentic user content will surpass paid influencing. With the rise of influencer marketing, audiences have been bombarded with sponsored content to the point that influencers’ “#ad” content has begun to be perceived in the same way a post from the brand would be. As a result, people are now seeking more genuine reactions and honest reviews from users who aren’t being paid by the brand. They value authenticity over paid promotions, even going as far as looking for content without the #ad hashtag in the caption from their favorite social media stars to follow. Overall, brands will begin embracing more creative that fosters genuine connections with their audience, whether it’s through conversations, authentic content, or real reactions.
TikTok’s Influence Will Only Grow From Here
There’s more to paid social advertising than just Meta, and if your brand is not on TikTok yet, you’re probably late…and it’s best to not wait any longer. TikTok is routinely in the news with questions of restrictions and shutdowns, but its popularity has not wavered, and it seems unlikely to go anywhere given that 2024 is an election year, and polling suggests a ban would be very unpopular among young people.
TikTok is still a “young” platform with evolving advertising utility, but it has continually proven effective for advertisers across industries. Many of ADM’s eCommerce clients are already seeing impressive results since expanding to the platform. TikTok is set to become an even bigger player for digital marketing in 2024. Brands that achieve social omnipresence are better prepared to amplify their promotions and take advantage of important sales periods, like the holiday season.
The Early Bird Will Still Get The Worm
Alright, so this isn’t a prediction so much as an adage, but it’s one that should stay top-of-mind as digital marketing continues to change throughout 2024 and beyond. Early adopters will be rewarded for their quick mastery of new platforms and new strategies within those platforms. While not every platform or innovation will stick, brands that continue to invest in assessing the marketing value and learning best practices early on will put themselves in a better position to grow and scale their social efforts. Companies that built a strong organic following early on with TikTok were well-positioned to leverage its advertising suite once it launched.
As digital marketing continues to change, don’t rest on your laurels: Explore new opportunities, test, and be decisive about what is working and what isn’t. If your brand needs a partner to navigate through the noise and uncover new marketing growth, the ADM team is always here to help.
