How To Use Facebook Ads Effectively

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This week, Facebook announced a big expansion of their ad network. Now, any business that advertizes with Facebook is going to be seen not only on the site, but on third-party apps, too. This expansion just sweetens the deal for businesses wanting to get their word out, so it’s a great opportunity to look at what makes a social media ad campaign work. Here are 5 simple rules on how to use Facebook ads effectively:

1. Know Your Audience

Facebook ads aren’t meant to reach everybody, so pay close attention to targeting when identifying your ideal customers demographics and interests. Facebook users skim the site, so a Facebook ad isn’t like a TV commercial. Without targeting your ad first, it “will do nothing but get you a lot of clicks and waste a lot of money for the most part,” according to Business Insider.

Fortunately, Facebook offers 11 different filters for their ads. You can target your ad according to criteria like not only age and sex, but workplaces, education, interests and connections. It’s these latter bits of data, especially interests, that send your ad to the most interested people. A Facebook ad will only be as effective as its targeting, so take advantage of it.

2. Set Yourself Up For Success

Buying ads on Facebook is an investment like any other, so you’re going to want to see ROI. If you’re only trying to grow you number of followers, set benchmarks and have an idea how many likes you are trying to reach.

More likely you’re trying to drive sales. In this case, set up a unique landing page on your website for your Facebook campaign. After all, if someone sees a great-looking deal on Facebook and clicks it, they want to be taken to a page that answers all their questions, not to a homepage. Do a little work beforehand to make conversions easier.

3. Keep Posts Concise

Even though Facebook’s Audience Network gives your ads greater reach, you still have to vie for people’s attention on the internet. The ideal length of a Facebook post is 40 characters, so try to stick to that.

A 40 character post has 86% higher engagement than a longer post. Even an 80 character post has 66% engagement. After that, it tapers off steeply. It makes sense—after all, your ad has to compete with a lot of cat pictures.

4. Remember: You’re On Facebook

Most of us are on Facebook for the same reasons—we like to keep up with our friends, stay connected with what’s going on, look at cool pictures, and generally just waste a little time.

The people you’re selling to are there for the same reasons, and that means playing by different rules than traditional ads. Since social media is image-heavy, make sure your ad has an eye catching picture or video. People also aren’t on Facebook for a hard-sell, so make your pitch less obtrusive. Avoid corporate slogans in favor of something more natural.

In this vein, make sure to keep a human voice. People are on Facebook to talk to their friends, not read ad copy, so let your prospective customers know there’s a person on the other end.

5. Create Something Worth Clicking

You’re paying good money for your ad, it may as well be something good.

Entice those people seeing your Facebook ad to click on it by offering a great deal—something time-sensitive or exclusive.

We suggest sending people to a unique landing page you set up. This will provide a direct way to measure the click-rate on your ad, and provide a page that makes buying easy.

These are 5 steps to a great Facebook marketing campaign. Advertising through social media is a relatively new medium, but it offers targeting like no other marketing platform. Have you had a positive experience marketing through social media? Let us know in the comments below!

Are you looking to start a Facebook marketing campaign? Contact us for a no obligation consultation, and we’ll help you gain more clarity and focus regarding your digital strategy.

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