Should You Use Paid Ads?

What Ads Can (and Can't) Do For You

I’ve never really been a fan of paid ads in the social media scene. It’s not because they never work, but rather they are often misunderstood, overused, or used incorrectly. They can give you momentum, but shouldn’t be used as a crutch. Ads might bring attention, but if your direction isn’t clear, they won’t take you anywhere meaningful.

If there’s one piece of advice I can give about ads, it’s this:

Paid ads are not a strategy, they are a tool, and not necessarily just a tool for boosting your reach or leads. Used intentionally, they can also reveal meaningful insights about what your audience actually wants from you. They can work with a small budget and they don’t need to run forever.

The catch is, like any tool, ads only work when the rest of your foundation is in place. Your content should be clear, your brand aligned, and your offer ready. Otherwise, you risk amplifying confusion and driving people away.

As I’m building, I just had to try a few ad experiments for myself – to expand my reach, to learn about the audience I hadn’t connected with yet, to share my experience, and to test my own advice – while giving you thoughtful insights you can put into practice.

The Experiments

#1: Newsletter Launch Post

The first ad I ran was for a quick turnaround post: “My first newsletter goes out tomorrow!” It was time-sensitive and I wanted to give it one last visibility boost.

• Budget: $5
• Duration: 1 day
• Goal: Final visibility push
• Results: Over 1,300 accounts reached, 12 link clicks, 3 new newsletter subscribers

Was it groundbreaking? Not so much, but it did its job. It resonated with with 3 complete strangers that they wanted to sign up for updates from me! Over 1,300 views was huge for me and hopefully the people who saw will recognize me and follow along in the future.

#2: A/B Test: Encouragement vs Education

Next, I ran a true experiment: two very different posts, same budget, same audience, same timeline.

Post A: You Are Seen – a motivational message about reach, a reminder that your value isn’t measured by likes and comparing yourself to accounts with million-dollar ad budgets won’t get you anywhere.

Post B: Selling Platform Fee Comparison – an educational breakdown of the costs of selling on Etsy, Whatnot, and other platforms (10 - 20% of sales total in various fees) versus running your own e-commerce site (~3% for credit card processing fees).

• Budget: $10
• Duration: 5 days
• Goal: Engagement & Insights
• Results: The informative post clearly outperformed the motivational one. It got higher reach, more saves, and more profile visits and follows. On the flipside, the motivational post did get more likes.

My takeaway? Encouragement connects, but information drives action. People crave clarity, and when your content provides actionable guidance, the right people will pay attention.

Bonus: Designing a Client Ad for Ebeus33

I also designed a client ad for a Pokémon card trading and grading business, Ebeus33. The goal was to promote a giveaway, increase traffic, and attract more followers ahead of a product giveaway valued at more than $650. The ad was a success, bringing in more entries than he could have originally imagined! Click here to watch him pick the winners.

So, even with just a couple experiments and $15, a few patterns became clear:

1. Small budgets = big insights. Even $5 can show you what’s working if you’re paying attention.
2. Education outperforms encouragement, at least when it comes to results. That doesn’t mean I’ll stop posting motivational content, but I know not to rely on it entirely. I know my audience wants actionable marketing tips.
3. Content matters. A good post will perform better than a boosted “meh”.
4. Not all metrics are equal. Success is hard to measure exactly in this world. Low likes but high saves? That’s still a win.

So… Should You Run Ads?

Maybe, but don’t use ads on every post. Use ads with intention, and if you’re not too familiar, play around with a small budget, or reach out for guidance.

My Recommendations:

• Start organically. See what resonates with your audience before putting money behind it.
• Pick one goal per ad. Clarity leads to better results that are easier to measure.
• Try a small budget test. See what you can learn from it.
• Don’t expect magic.  Ads amplify what’s already working, and they can amplify what’s broken too.
• Check your results. Actually look at your metrics, think about them, learn from them, apply them.

Final Thoughts: Presence over Pressure

I don’t run ads often and that’s intentional. Threadlined Presence is built on clarity, conversation, and trust. That kind of marketing takes time, but it sticks and is sooo worth it.

I still believe the best visibility comes from consistency, alignment, and showing up with something worth saying. That said, when used thoughtfully, a little ad spend here and there can support that.

If you’re not sure whether ads are right for you, or you’re thinking about trying one but don’t know where to start, I’m happy to talk it through. Reach out to me! No pressure, just presence.

Contact me today to book a free consult!

More soon,

Bernice