The outdoor advertising environment is no longer a space just for big brands. It has become a competitive space where every brand wants to grab the attention of their target audience. In fact, the market for OOH is projected to hit more than USD 40$ billion in 2025 globally, and will continue to grow. But relying solely on outdoor advertising might not be the best marketing strategy for your business. Combining OOH and social media marketing is proven to help brands achieve their marketing goals. So read on to find out why digital advertising + OOH is the perfect strategy and how your brand can benefit from it.
Why Brands Prefer Combining Traditional and Digital Advertising
- More than 60% of worldwide online users use social media (almost 86% of total population), spending at least 2 hours per day on various social media platforms.
- The total social media users has increased 2x from 2015, from 2.07 billion to 5.24 billion in 2025.
- Popular social media platforms include YouTube, Meta (formerly, Facebook), WhatsApp, TikTok, and Instagram, where more than 80% users have seen pictures of outdoor advertisements in their feeds.
- A study revealed that 35% of social media users check the company online when they see a good outdoor advertisement, and almost 50% visit the company’s website, along with 27% users following the brand on social media platforms, all this because they have seen a picture of the OOH Ad.
- The younger generation of social media users (85% of Gen Z and 78% of Millennials) don’t just post the creative outdoor ads on their social media pages, but they are also more likely to buy from that brand or ask about it with their friends/family.
- Just by having a social media handle name or a campaign hashtag on the outdoor advertisement, more than 50% of social media users have engaged with the brand.
All these data hint that social media amplification is not a choice anymore, but a strategy that is not be missed for brands looking to increase reach for their OOH ads.
Benefits of Social Media For Outdoor Advertising
- Cost-effective: Outdoor advertising is relatively affordable than other advertising media, and when it is combined with social media strategies, brands find it as a cost-effective marketing strategy.
- Brand Awareness: Just a photo of your outdoor advertisement on social media can increase brand awareness by instantly amplifying the reach due to sharing, hashtags, and brand highlights on various platforms.
- Measurable Results:The results from outdoor advertisements can be hard to measure, but using social media can help brands easily track the performance of their outdoor ad to find out increase ad reach with OOH or engagement rate once their OOH campaign is live.
- Organic Engagement: Unlike targeting users with paid ads on social media, OOH ads feel less invasive to users since they feel their data is not being used to target ads for them. And when the advertisement is shared on social media, brands do not have to go for paid ads, instead, they can just use hashtags or other strategies to increase their ad reach.
Outdoor Advertising + Social Media Strategies That Your Brand Can Use
Cross-Channel Advertising Strategy: Here, brands can launch outdoor advertising campaigns in select locations and on social platforms simultaneously using QR codes, hashtags, etc., to stay consistent offline as well as online.
Billboard Advertising With Social Media: A creatively designed billboard with a hashtag or a QR code is quickly noticed by passersby in a certain locality, and when someone shares a picture of the billboard on social media, it picks up fast and reaches more users.
Real-World Examples of OOH + Social Media
- Oatly: Their clever way of creating murals, placing objects to change the murals, and then sharing them on social media by the brand itself and the users got them noticed quickly.
- Britannia: A well-designed billboard for their outdoor advertising campaign got thousands of users talking about them on social media, sharing how creative, sustainable, and clever the ad was.
- BLACKPINK: When Spotify used the digital billboard at New York’s Times Square to feature BLACKPINK for their ‘New Music Friday’ campaign, the fans stood in front of the ad and posted it on social media, which led to more reach for BLACKPINK on social media.
Key Takeaways
- Creating integrated marketing campaigns with social media and OOH ad gives more visibility and reach for brands.
- Outdoor ads + social media is a very affordable marketing approach even for small startups.
- Cross-channel (OOH and social media) advertising strategies help brands stay consistent on various platforms.
- Organic user engagement is highly possible by using both social media and outdoor advertisements.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why should I use both outdoor advertising and digital marketing for my brand?
Using both outdoor advertising and digital marketing, like social media channels, has proven to work by increasing brand reach, awareness, and traffic from these channels in a short time.
What are some key benefits of OOH + social media for my marketing campaigns?
Key benefits of OOH + social media for your marketing campaigns include measurable results, cost-effectiveness, organic engagement, and an increase in brand awareness.
What is the best strategy for combining social media and outdoor ads?
The best strategy for OOH + digital marketing (social media) depends on your brand goals and marketing goals. Take inspiration from Oatly or Britannia to create a campaign for your brand.
How can I increase my brand awareness by using various channels of marketing?
Using outdoor advertising with social media platforms like Instagram or Meta (Facebook) is a great way to increase your brand awareness and get measurable results in a short period of time.
