Paid advertising lets you reach people beyond your existing followers by paying for placement -- search ads (like Google Ads) appear when someone actively searches a related term, while social ads (like Meta Ads Manager on Facebook and Instagram) appear within a person's feed based on their interests and behavior. Every ad platform asks you to choose a campaign objective (such as awareness, traffic, or conversions) before you set a budget, since the platform optimizes delivery differently depending on the goal. Targeting options typically include demographics (age, location, language), interests, and retargeting -- showing ads specifically to people who already visited your website or engaged with your page. Starting with a small daily budget and testing a few ad variations is safer than spending heavily on an unproven campaign.