Staying on the Facebook theme from last time, this week I want to discuss paid Facebook ads. Facebook ads help your business find prospective customers by targeting specific audiences that are likely to be interested in your business/service by using Facebook's data.
Why you need to start investing in Facebook ads:
- Facebook provides detailed analytics such as weekly reach, engagement, likes, clicks and conversions.
- The reach is greater than organic Facebook posts.
- You can specifically target your audience based on behaviours, demographics, interests, age, location, language and connections.
- Facebook ads are customised to your objectives, such as likes, clicks, shares etc.
- With good targeting, Facebook ads are cheap. Remember, the most expensive part is testing your ads, as they rarely work on the first go and often need tweaking.
- Facebook ads allow remarketing to users who have previously visited your website. The more times a user sees your brand the more likely they will take action.
- They allow you to add a call-to-action button.
- Your customers are on Facebook constantly. Facebook is everywhere. If your customers are on Facebook, you should be too.
Steps to creating your Facebook ad
1. Identify your campaign objective
These might include driving traffic to your website, encouraging users to enquire with your service, generating leads etc.
2. Tell Facebook who your target audience is (audience segmentation)
Audience segmentation involves providing Facebook with a profile of your ideal target audience so they know who to show your ad to. Facebook can track people and their behaviour to allow you to refine your target audience. You can also create custom "lookalike audiences" by uploading data on existing customers.
Note: Facebook ad auctions are used to determine which ads are shown to which users. Facebook uses the competitive value - the sum of an advertiser's maximum bid (how much an advertiser is willing to pay each time a user takes the chosen action) and the intrinsic quality bid (how much engagement an ad provides Facebook). Things like click rate, likes, shares and ad feedback are included in this calculation. This process is highly complex and is guarded by Facebook.
4. Create the ad
Visual design is paramount for a successful Facebook ad. Ensure you have unique visuals and clever copy that align with your brand. Remember, your ad needs to be optimised for both desktop and mobile devices.
5. Evaluate data and analytics
Facebook allows you to view the data and analytics to determine the success of your ad. This allows you to make changes to improve your metrics for the future.
The key takeaway
Facebook ads are a cheap and effective marketing tool. Using Facebook's intelligent targeting features and analytics, you can create successful marketing campaigns that reach a large audience who are likely to be interested in your product or service.
Originally published on Jul 13, 2021
