Reaching buyers before they search
Search ads catch people already looking. Paid social reaches people who fit your buyer profile but have not started looking yet, or who looked once and moved on.
That changes what the ads need to do. A social ad has a second or two to make someone stop scrolling, and it usually asks for something small: download a checklist, see a short explanation, request a quote when they are ready. Asking a cold audience to book a sales meeting in the first ad rarely matches where they are.
Paid social work therefore spends more effort on audiences, creative and the offer than search work does, and it measures responses through the Meta pixel and Conversions API or the LinkedIn Insight Tag, so the platforms can tell which responses matter to you.
The first month of a paid social campaign
- Access and audit. Get access to your Meta business portfolio or LinkedIn Campaign Manager, check pixel or Insight Tag status, and look at any past campaigns.
- Tracking and forms. Set up or fix conversion events, build lead forms or confirm landing pages, and connect form submissions to your CRM or inbox.
- Audiences and creative. Build the first audiences, write copy, prepare a first round of creative, and check whether a special ad category applies.
- Launch and watch. Start with a modest set of ad sets, check delivery and rejections daily at first, and gather your feedback on the first leads.
After that the work moves to the weekly routine: frequency, creative refresh, budget shifts and lead quality checks with you.
What you supply for paid social
- Access to your Meta business portfolio (formerly Business Manager) or LinkedIn Campaign Manager, as a partner or user.
- Admin or editor access to your Facebook Page, Instagram account or LinkedIn Company Page.
- Access to Google Tag Manager or your website, for the pixel and Insight Tag.
- Your logo, brand colors and any photos or video you are happy to use.
- A description of your buyer: role, company size, industry.
- Customer or prospect lists for audiences, if you have consent to use them that way.
- A monthly ad budget.
- Someone to approve ads and give feedback on the leads that come in.
Questions about paid social campaigns
What is the difference between a lead form and a landing page?
A native lead form opens inside Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn and is often prefilled, so it is quick to submit. A landing page sends people to your site, where more drop off but those who finish have read more. Many advertisers test both. See landing pages and forms.
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.
How often does ad creative need changing?
There is no fixed schedule. Creative needs refreshing when the same people have seen it often and stop responding, which shows up as a falling click rate and rising cost per lead. Small B2B audiences, especially on LinkedIn, tend to wear creative out sooner than broad ones.
You keep the accounts and the data. Ask a service partner to quote the hands-on work.
Ask for a quoteOther services
Paid search
Account audits, campaign structure and weekly upkeep for Google and Microsoft search ads, with a short report you can read quickly.
Page builds
Copy, layout, form setup and tracking for new landing pages, or fixes to pages you already send paid traffic to.
Conversion tracking
Google Tag Manager, GA4, the Meta pixel and the LinkedIn Insight Tag set up, tested and documented in your accounts.