Ahh Facebook – it’s simply one social media platform that shouldn’t be ignored by small business.
Latest statistics indicate 1.37 billion people on average log onto Facebook daily, which represents a 16 percent increase year over year (Source: Facebook as at 01/11/17).
It simply makes good business sense to tap into this potential, especially when paid advertising on Facebook is an affordable and effective way to get your message to market.
The challenge is standing out from the crowd.
Creating a killer Facebook ad campaign is about making the most of this social media platform by understanding the features at your disposal – while avoiding costly mistakes.
The good news? We’ve put together a few simple ways you can improve your Facebook ad campaigns.
1. Start at the end.
Setting an end goal is vital – but so many small business owners overlook this step.
From an advertising standpoint, setting goals is essential because it helps you measure results and discover whether or not your ads and campaigns are actually getting bang for your buck.
The facebook ad type and campaign objective type you choose will depend on what you are trying to achieve.
What do you want from your Facebook ad?
- Is it sales? Awareness?
- More visits to your website?
- Do you need leads via newsletter sign ups?
Each of these goals has its own objective within the Facebook ad structure. Setting this correctly at the beginning can make a significant impact on the success (or not) of your ad campaign
2. Hit the target.
One of the best things about Facebook advertising is the ability to really focus in on your target audience.
The Facebook Audience Insights tool is free to use (yep, I did say free) and holds a huge amount of data about the gender, age, interests and behaviour of Facebook users.
And another thing.. this tool is great news for businesses who service specific towns (like Rockhampton or Yeppoon) because you can also specify in which geographical locations your ads will be shown.
Drill down and learn about your target market before spending your budget.
3. Be visually appealing.
Fast fact: Visual content is more engaging and it helps your ad stand out in a flooded newsfeed.
Just remember, there are Facebook ad rules that dictate the maximum amount of text on images. If you exceed that, Facebook may reject your ad (or not show it to as many people).
You might also like to try video – some new statistics show that videos are gaining twice the level of engagement of other post formats on average. (source: http://buzzsumo.com/blog/facebook-engagement-brands-publishers-falls-20-2017/)
4. Plan their landing.
There’s more to Facebook advertising than the ad. If your Facebook ad is going to work, you need to also plan where you want people to “land” once they click on your Facebook Ad.
This is often a page on your website.
What people see when they hit the landing page should compel them to do something – eg buy, learn more or sign up for something – or do whatever your starting goal was (remember tip # 1 ?)
Bonus tip: with an incredible majority of internet being viewed on smartphone, you need to ensure you website is mobile friendly or you could be limiting your ad results. If your Facebook ad is sending people to a non-mobile optimised site, you not may be doing more than limiting your ad results, you could also potentially be frustrating your target market. Need to check if your website is mobile friendly? Click here.
5. Avoid the “spaghetti at the wall” approach.
If you throw enough spaghetti at the wall, some of it will stick. Similarly, if you throw enough money at your Facebook ads, eventually some people will see it.
Take the smarter (and more budget friendly) approach.
Test and measure.
Facebook provides many, many options for testing your ads text and images, as well as several analytic tools for looking at the results of campaigns.
Review your campaigns against your goals (there’s tip # 1 once again). This gives you the power to make informed decisions about which campaigns to throw more money at, or ditch all together… thus maximising the bang for advertising buck.
Being familiar with the possibilities of Facebook advertising opens the door to new opportunities for your business.
Ready to give it a shot?
Get started and create your own Facebook ad campaign. We’d love to hear how you go. Email us with your campaign feedback and questions.