As a media producer with over seven years experience producing Web content, I have been able to find out the best practices to advertising for different companies.

Before a company sets an advertising budget, before a company opens their doors, and before they pick out a spot for the business, the first thing a company should do is create a new product that fills demand. Once the company has gauged the amount of revenue they will collect in comparison to spending costs, then they can start to create engaging ways to deliver the product to a mass market.

The big problem for a lot of businesses is instant gratification. 

Our generation in general is rushed to failure or success without taking the steps to refine their business plan.

With my company, I’ve been mirroring other media outlets growth cycle on a smaller scale. I understand that I will take a loss year after year during development, but I have been wise enough not to get in too much overhead to run the company. Currently, I am building more revenue to balance the operations cost. This is a pivot I should have taken during the first year.

As the company brings in more revenue, I continue advertise on Google AdWords. The return on investment for my company fits best with Google AdWords overall.

That being said, I have used Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube for social media advertising. Out of the three, I find YouTube to be the most effective medium for most companies.

Vanity metrics are similar to the amount of followers on a social media platform. It is important to note, that those numbers do nothing to increase revenue and growth for a company.

Advertising on social media is like putting lipstick on a pig. 

The false conception that people are viewing, liking or sharing a piece of creative work is important can be another big problem.

The reality behind advertising is that television-based ads work the best overall. During my time as an undergraduate student, I attended marketing classes at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. The professor noted that television and radio use a reoccurring model that displays the ad several times during a viewing or listening experience.

When a consumer is shown an ad over 20 times it will start to attach to their long-term memory. Also, when a consumer goes to make a buying decision, their long-term memory is a very important piece to the purchase.

Furthermore, social media advertising does display ads to a specific audience, but after the viewer has engage with the ad once, and if the advertising budget runs out, they will not be likely to see the ad several times in one day.

This creates a false impression that people will be interested in buying the product when it comes to making a decision.

Many of my friends use social media advertising, and I hope they watch the YouTube video below to find out more on how to strengthen their product before going after a larger audience.