Imagine yourself as a small business owner who uses Facebook to promote your products and services, connect with your followers and increase sales. Everything was working according to the plan until an algorithm update came and changed everything for the worst. Facebook declining organic reach proves to be too much to handle so you resort to Facebook advertisements.

Unfortunately, the move did not pay off as the Facebook ad prices are on the rise after alterations in the news feed. CPM and CPC for Facebook ads increased 91% to 92% respectively on a yearly basis. The higher cost of Facebook Ads leaves you pressed for choices because you don’t have any other option left.

Don’t worry, there are many worthy alternatives that your business needs to consider. In this article, you will learn about cost-effective alternatives to Facebook ads.

1. Pinterest’s Promoted Pins

A few decades ago, we were exposed to an influx of ads every day. Today, we are surrounded by a barrage of ads every living moment. This information overload means that customers must sift through tons of information and ads on a daily basis, subjecting them to ad fatigue, which makes it even more difficult for small businesses to attract them.

What’s the solution? Create eye-catching visual content and share it on platforms such as Pinterest. Promoted pins are akin to traditional pins but you pay to get it in front of more people and they stay timeless, unlike traditional pins. Since these pins are integrated into the user experience, the user doesn’t see it as a hinderance hampering their user experience. Secondly, these promoted pins can help you increase brand awareness and generate more impressions and traffic. If you are looking for inspiration, BeFunky Designer offers you pre-built templates to work with.

2. StumbleUpon

With other social networks stealing the limelight, StumbleUpon rarely gets the attention it deserves from businesses and has taken a back seat in the recent years. StumbleUpon’s paid discovery tool is a gem for small business advertising as it delivers amazing value for your money. It works like a PPC AD, which means that you only pay when someone visits your website.

If you want to increase your website traffic, StumbleUpon’s paid discovery tool is an ideal choice. It helps you present your content in front of the user without forcing them to leave the site. If correctly utilized, it can deliver some astonishing results. Stephen Maescher used StumbleUpon ads to generate more than 60,000 visitors just for $128 a year, which translates to 0.2 cents per visitor.

3. Snapchat

If you want your prospects to take the desired action, you will have to create a sense of urgency and excitement around your offers. There is no better social platform than Snapchat for this purpose. According to social media examiner, “The limited lifespan makes Snapchat the perfect tool to deliver a call-to-action that creates excitement and a sense of urgency.”

Snapchat offers small businesses some creative features at an affordable price that enables them to leverage their products and services. You can give your followers a sneak-peek into upcoming products or give away limited-time discount coupons. This not only provides incentives to the users but also persuade them to become repeat customers and come back to you again, which would convert them into loyal customers.

4. Reddit

Rightly known as “The front page of the internet”, Reddit is the most popular online forum on the web. You will find thousands of community members engaged in animated debates on a wide array of topics. While most businesses might consider Reddit as a news and social media juggernaut, it has an enormous potential as an advertising platform as well. Reddit touts more than 300 million monthly active users but what makes Reddit an appealing advertising option for small businesses to consider is the host of surprisingly low-cost advertising options it offers.

The office-furniture designer Haworth advertised on Reddit by creating a thread titled, “If you care about your gaming, you should care about your chair.” It generated more than 400 responses but more importantly, it helped them connect with the relevant audience and get valuable feedbacks about products along the way. Traditional Reddit ads cost you much less as compared to other ads. Reddit ads have a CPM of $0.75 while Facebook has a $1.25 CPM.

5. Product Hunt

Product Hunt is not as popular as other platforms, but it is a platform that attracts both product enthusiasts and frequent shoppers. Similar to Reddit, community members can come together under one umbrella and discuss the next important thing. It also draws inspiration from Reddit’s voting system. Members can upvote or downvote a product. The more upvotes you get, the more chances you have of getting “Product Hunt Boost.”

With more than 1.2 million registered users, imagine the exposure your product can get if it collects the much coveted “Product Hunt Boost.” If your product ranks well on product hunt, you can see some big spikes on your graphs in no time. Some brands have received 10,000 website hits in a day after their product got featured in Product Hunt. If you are selling gaming accessories, gadgets, publishing communities, Product Hunt might the best platform for you, but it’s invited only membership system may deter some businesses from it. If increasing brand exposure is your priority, look no further than Product Hunt.

Conclusion

Big brands will continue to fight for their share on the Facebook marketing platform, but small businesses look for other viable alternatives because of dwindling organic reach on Facebook and increasing ad prices. Use StumbleUpon to increase traffic, use Snapchat for a call to action and leverage promoted pins to garner maximum exposure on your posts. Don’t ignore less popular social platforms just because very few people use them. If you make the most of it, you can get amazing results.

Which alternative would you choose over Facebook ads and why? Feel free to share it with us in the comments section below.