The only constant in social media is change. One platform rises to prominence, only to be replaced a few years later. Hashtags drive visibility and discoverability until the rules shift and now they don’t. Static images with long captions are effective—wait, no, now it’s short-form video—wait, no, it’s aesthetically designed carousels.
Sitting down to plan your social media advertising can feel like trying to hit a moving target, so it’s high time for us to take a fresh look at the paid social landscape and figure out what moves you should make before the start of 2027.
Segmenting and Targeting
We’re going to start from the assumption that you’ve already defined your goals and objectives—whether it’s brand awareness, lead generation, etc. If you haven’t, bookmark your spot here and go do that before reading on. Once you have, you’re ready to talk about audience segmentation, personalization, and targeting.
You’re likely already doing this to some degree—we definitely talk about personalization all the time—but the number of tools and strategies has grown, many of which are paired with AI to make it easier than ever. Take a look at what types of information and insight you’re collecting about your audience, analyze it, and tailor your paid social content to speak more directly to each segment.
Retargeting
Users who have already expressed interest in you and your brand are more likely to be receptive to your messaging and more likely to turn into conversions. Make sure when you’re managing audience segmentation that you build retargeting audiences into it.
Customizing Platforms
There are a lot of different platforms out there, but not all of them will be a good fit for your brand and your business. Trying to be everywhere at once might end up being a waste of budget if your audience is on Facebook and YouTube, but not really active or engaged on TikTok. It’s better to focus on one or two social sites that produce results.
Each platform also needs different tactics when it comes to content. If you write a professional, thought leader post on LinkedIn, you’re not likely to see as many benefits cross-posting that same essay to Instagram. Whichever social sites you decide to focus on, make sure you know the types of content that drive views and engagement and don’t try to make things one-size-fits-all.
The Best Time to Post
As popular as this question is, the answer is: it depends. Far more important is setting up a content schedule that is consistent. Social platforms love it when you show up regularly. Your audience is unique, so use analytics to discover when they show up and adjust to that.
Stopping the Scroll
It’s the era of the attention economy, and capturing it is one of the biggest challenges in the social media landscape. It’s so easy for users to quickly scroll past your content, so you need to really invest in compelling, visually eye-catching creative. Think: clean, engaging designs, no clutter; a strong hook; messaging that’s direct and to-the-point; and a clear call-to-action.
Develop multiple versions of your creative assets so you can run A/B comparison tests and collect information about what makes your audience do a double-take.
Ad-Supported Streaming
YouTube, Netflix, Disney, Tubi—streaming video currently reigns supreme. Almost all of these companies have ad-supported tiers for customers who can’t or won’t pay for premium levels, and many of them offer very sophisticated targeting. It’s worth it for you to take a look and maybe experiment in this area to see how it helps you reach consumers.
Measuring, Adapting and Updating
Measure twice, cut once. Except, in marketing, it’s more like: measure twice, adjust your tool, try a few cuts, go back and measure again. This is especially true for social media because there’s such an opportunity there for real-time data gathering, monitoring, and adapting. Many social platforms have their own dashboards to show you engagement and efficacy, which means you can quickly start gleaning insights to inform your ad spend.
That’s where all those different creative versions come in handy for testing because you can get nerdy and granular with it. How does this visual compare to that one; what about this headline versus that headline; which CTA performs better, etc.
Chasing Trends
As much as social media shifts constantly, we don’t advise our partner clients to go out of their way to chase trends either. Most of the time, a viral fad is over before brands are even aware of it, and the high number of views it drives are not necessarily going to result in conversions.
Budgeting Smart
The best way to avoid wasting time, energy, and money throwing spaghetti at the social media wall is to start small and focused. Perform tests that target specific platforms, specific audience segments, specific goals, and don’t invest big numbers until you know something works.
Be Strategic With Your Social
The end of 2026 is coming up fast; we need to be ready to start off the new year strong. Taking the time now to assess and reset your paid social campaigns can get you back on the right track and ready for 2027. And if you’re not sure where to start or what additional optimizations might work for you, EdwardsSchoen is ready to partner with you to make the most of your social strategy.
