Understanding How PetRadar’s Social Media Ads Work: Posts vs. Ads Explained
Key takeaways
Posts vs. Ads: Understand the difference between posts for those you know and ads that reach beyond. Discover why ads are so effective for searching for lost pets.
How PetRadar Uses Facebook and Instagram Ads: Learn how ads are placed across platforms to maximize visibility.
Why You Might Not See Your Own Ads: Discover why not seeing the ads yourself is a good thing.
Why PetRadar Posts on Facebook but Not Instagram While Advertising on Both: Find out why we use Instagram and Facebook for ads, but only post on Facebook.
Checking Your Ads' Visibility and Progress: Explore how to track your ad's performance and how we ensure transparency.
Quick Navigation
Key takeaways
Posts vs. Ads - What is the difference?
How PetRadar Uses Facebook and Instagram Ads
Why You Might Not See Your Own Ads
Why PetRadar Posts on Facebook but Not Instagram While Advertising on Both:
Checking Your Ad's Visibility and Progress
A Final Note
When your pet goes missing, every resource matters. 🐾 At PetRadar, we provide a complete toolkit to support your search - QR posters that protect your privacy, a secure sighting form that sends updates directly to you, a listing on our website, personalized guidance to navigate this challenging time. But one of our biggest strengths lies in our sponsored social media ads 📢.
Unlike traditional methods like flyers, which for example can be affected by bad weather or go unnoticed, these ads ensure your message reaches thousands of people in the right area - quickly, and in places where they're already paying attention. Together, these efforts create a powerful strategy for finding your furry family member.
In this guide, we'll walk you through everything you need to know about PetRadar's social media ads, including how they work and why they're such a powerful tool for raising awareness and improving the chances of bringing your beloved pet home 🧡.
Posts vs. Ads - What is the difference?
Spreading the word quickly is essential when looking for a lost pet. Social media offers two key tools to raise awareness: organic posts and sponsored ads. While they may seem similar at first glance, they work very differently.
What is a Post?
A post is the content you share on your social media profile for free. Think of it as a message sent to your friends, followers, and anyone who happens to visit your page. Posts are great for:
Engaging Your Close Circle: Sharing updates with your friends, family, and followers who already know and care about your search.
Encouraging Shares: Asking your network to reshare your post can help you reach more people organically (friends of friends).
However, organic posts have limitations. They rely heavily on your existing network and may not reach the broader audience needed to find your pet.
What is an Ad?
A sponsored post (an ad or advertisement) is paid content designed to reach people beyond your network. Unlike posts, ads are strategically shown to specific audiences based on location and behavior. This is where geo-targeting comes into play - allowing ads to focus on the people most likely to spot your missing pet.
💡 Think about when you're watching a YouTube video, fully invested in the content, and then - boom! - an ad pops up out of nowhere. Maybe it's for something completely random, or maybe it's weirdly relevant to something you were just thinking about (thanks, internet 👀). Either way, that ad was placed there on purpose, targeting you based on your interests and location.
The same thing happens on social media with PetRadar ads - except instead of trying to sell you a random gadget, our ads are designed with one purpose: to help bring missing pets back home.
Creating and managing ad campaigns on Meta's Facebook and Instagram requires you to be a registered advertiser with access to Meta's complex tools and systems ⚙️. But at PetRadar, we handle everything for you: creating the graphics, the ad, setting up geo-targeting, placing it on many different placements (feeds, stories, reels, video etc) and managing the campaign to ensure your message reaches the right people. You can focus on what matters most - bringing your furry baby home - while we take care of the technical side of things.
How Does Geo-Targeting Work?
🎯 Geo-targeting allows us to show your ad to people in specific locations, such as the area where your pet was last seen. For example:
If your pet went missing near Main Street, the ad will be shown to people living, working, or passing through that area.
With geo-targeting, we can ensure your search has a far wider reach than organic posts alone, focusing on the people who can make a difference.
Why Are Ads So Effective?
👀 Connecting Beyond Your Circle: Ads go beyond your network and connect with people who might not otherwise hear about your missing pet.
📱 Showing Up Where It Counts: Ads appear in Facebook and Instagram feeds, stories, reels, and more, ensuring they're seen in the spaces people browse most.
🎯 Guaranteed Views: PetRadar ensures your ad is seen a set number of times by people within the target area.
How PetRadar Uses Facebook and Instagram Ads
PetRadar taps into the way we all use social media - endless scrolling, tapping through reels, and catching up on stories. By placing your missing pet's ad in multiple placements across Facebook and Instagram - like feeds, stories, reels, and even videos - we make sure it pops up exactly where people are already spending their time. This strategy gives your search the best chance to reach the right eyes at the right moment.
🌟 Where Do Ads Appear?
Below, you'll see real examples of where Ziggy's ad appeared across social media - strategically placed to reach people where they naturally scroll, tap, and engage the most 📲.
🖱️ What Happens When Someone Clicks on an Ad?
When someone clicks on your pet's ad, they are directed to your pet's dedicated Sighting Form on our website. This form allows them to report a sighting directly to you, securely and instantly.
Quick and Easy Reporting: No need for long explanations - just a few clicks to share crucial information.
Immediate Alerts: The sighting is sent directly to your personal dashboard + You'll be notified immediately via email and/or text so you can follow up on the lead without delay.
🚫 It's Not About Likes
At PetRadar, our focus isn't on racking up likes 👍. While those interactions can feel reassuring, they don't necessarily lead to tangible leads. The ads focus on gathering views, raising awareness. Every view counts because it increases the chances of someone seeing and reporting your furry baby, not just liking the ad.
Why You Might Not See Your Own Ads
Here are a few reasons why you might not see the ad:
💻 Algorithmic Targeting Facebook and Instagram use complex algorithms to decide who sees specific ads, based on user behavior, interests, and location. Even if you're frequently on these platforms, the algorithm may prioritize showing you other content instead of your own ad.
📍 Reaching Beyond Your Circle The ad's goal isn't to remind you or your friends that your pet is missing - you already know that. Instead, it's designed to reach new people in your area who don't yet know about your search but might actually see your pet. Showing the ad repeatedly to you wouldn't help bring them home - but making sure fresh eyes see it just might.
📱 Ad Placement and Behavior As shown before, the ad can appear in various placements - like feeds, stories, reels, or videos. If you or your friends tend to engage in specific ways (e.g., scrolling reels but skipping stories), the ad might simply not appear in the spaces you expect to see it.
🌆 Population Density In densely populated areas, even an ad seen thousands of times might not appear to everyone. For example, 4000 views might cover a significant portion of a community but won't reach every single person in a busy city.
Why Not Seeing the Ad Is a Good Thing
It's a question we hear very often: "Why haven't I or my friends seen the ad?" While it might feel concerning, the truth is that this is actually a good sign. You and your close network already know your pet is missing, and the goal of the ad is to reach new people who might not otherwise hear about your search.
👀 Every ad view counts, and using them to target new people is the most efficient way to increase the chances of a sighting. If you saw your own ad over and over again, it would mean the campaign wasn't working as intended.
Rest assured, even if you haven't seen the ad yourself, it's out there, helping to spread the word to those who may be able to help.
Why PetRadar Posts on Facebook but Not Instagram While Advertising on Both:
At PetRadar, we help pet parents all over the world. However, Instagram imposes us a strict limit of 50 published posts within a 24-hour period 😔. This cap would prevent us from posting for everyone, and we believe every pet and pet parent deserves equal attention and effort. So instead, we've started using Instagram for other types of content, like raising awareness about lost pet scams or sharing valuable pet care tips. Facebook, on the other hand, doesn't impose this limit, allowing us to post for every missing pet registered on our platform.
That said, now that you know posts and ads work differently, here's the key takeaway: we do advertise on Instagram. These ads aren't tied to any page or post and work independently to spread the word about your missing pet 🐾.
Checking Your Ad's Visibility and Progress
We know how important it is for you to stay informed about your search efforts. That's why we've created your very own Personal Dashboard - a dedicated space designed just for you and your search.
Why the Dashboard Exists
As mentioned earlier, managing advanced ad campaigns requires access to Meta's tools, which are available only to registered advertisers. Since pet parents don't typically have direct access to this, we built the dashboard to bridge the gap. It's directly connected to Meta's advertising platform, fetching data every few hours to ensure you have the most up-to-date information.
Through your dashboard, you can monitor key metrics like:
Views: The number of people who have seen your ad
Likes: How many people have liked your ad
Shares: The number of times your ad has been shared
Comments: Any responses or feedback your ad has received, which could include sightings or other comments
Daily Updates in Your Inbox
💌 To keep you even more connected, we send daily emails that not only offer valuable tips and tricks to help in your search but also include campaign statistics if your ads are active. These updates are designed to always keep you informed as you work to bring your beloved pet home.
Meta's Ad Library: A Global Transparency Tool
In addition to the PetRadar Dashboard, Meta provides a tool called the Ad Library, which ensures transparency for all advertisements running on Facebook and Instagram. This tool allows you to view any active ads associated with a specific page, including those from PetRadar.
Social media ads are an incredibly powerful resource in the search for your missing pet. But as powerful as ads are, they're just one part of the bigger picture. Combining them with posters in high-traffic areas, talking to neighbors, visiting shelters, and leaving no stone unturned makes your search even stronger. Think of it as a team effort, with every method playing a unique role in bringing your pet home.
And don't underestimate the role your determination plays. Every small action gets you one step closer to a happy reunion.
Stay hopeful, stay persistent, and know you're never alone in this journey - we're here to support you every step of the way! 🐾
Written by
Alexandra Soanca
I’ve gained a deep understanding of the challenges and emotions that come with searching for a missing pet, and I’m here to provide guidance, support, and a little bit of hope along the way.
When I'm not helping reunite lost pets with their pet parents, you’ll likely find me spending time with my own furry companion, Valla - a curious gray tabby with a **very** independent spirit.
