Like it or not, Facebook remains a juggernaut for how Americans consume media today. There were nearly 1.5 billion daily active users on Facebook in September 2018, and more than 2.2 billion monthly active users on Facebook as of September 30, 2018.
Unfortunately, having a Facebook page for your business does not guarantee your messages will get seen, even by those who follow your business page. To cut through the clutter of what your target customers are consuming on Facebook, Facebook Advertising is the only way to guarantee placement. The good news is, if people interact with your advertising, your ad reach will increase organically through likes, comments and shares.
Facebook Advertising is especially helpful for new businesses who need to gain exposure and build awareness. Here are seven Facebook Advertising tips to make the most of your campaigns.
1. Start with a Strong Offer
If there’s nothing to entice Facebook users to interact with your ad, then why pay money for it? Use buyer personas to determine what content will be helpful and valuable to your target audience. Think “what’s in it for them” when determining the offer(s) to feature in your ads. Your content doesn’t necessarily have to be a coupon or an offer worth monetary value. A stellar piece of content could also be something you promote in a Facebook ad.
With any offer you’re promoting in Facebook ads, make sure it’s trackable. Link up your website, landing page or wherever you’re driving traffic to with an analytics tool like Google Analytics, so you can track your ads. We recommend landing pages — more on that next.
2. Send Ads to Landing Pages
Sending those who click on your ad to your website homepage or a product page where there’s no clear call to action means users will be more likely to drop off the buyer journey. If you’re going to invest money in Facebook ads, make sure you create targeted landing pages for them, too. The landing page should:
- Deliver what the ad promised
- Keep the user engaged
- Deepen the relationship with the visitor with a clear call to action
You can ask the visitor to subscribe to your blog by inputting their email address, or sign up for an email newsletter where you’ll send them a free offer. Don’t let the journey stop at the landing page.
3. Create an Emotional Appeal
As we covered, emotions play a significant role in decision-making, and that includes whether or not a Facebook user will click on your ad. Make sure your ad speaks to your target audience’s emotions. Do this by conveying the benefits of your products or service into how users will feel when they use it. Or, use engaging storytelling, scarcity tactics or altruistic appeals to get eyeballs on your ads.
4. Capture Attention with Powerful Images
The human brain can process entire images in as few as 13 milliseconds, MIT research confirms. Your ad must contain striking visual imagery, since that is likely the most significant factor in getting users to notice your ads in the first place.
When you’re choosing visuals, go back to the emotional appeal. What kinds of images can you use that will resonate with your target audience? Users may turn a blind eye to generic stock photography, but a unique image they can relate to is powerful.
5. Include a Clear Call to Action
Just like you need a clear call to action on your landing page, you need one for your Facebook ad, too. A call to action directs users on what to do next. A good call to action:
- Is brief – stick to five words or less.
- Uses action verbs – give the user an action to complete.
- Is noticeable – Facebook makes adding the CTA easy, and you can preview how it looks before you publish your ad.
Direct users to your Facebook ad landing page with a call to action that is clear and motivates action. You can still make it creative, but make sure it explains what you want users to do.
6. Refine Your Target Audience
Facebook ad targeting can get super-specific, which is why it’s such an attractive place for business owners to advertise. You can target based on income, ZIP code, what users are interested in and much more.
You can also target your ads based on lists you already have. Say you have an email subscriber list of 3,000 users. You can upload that list to Facebook, and then Facebook will start showing ads to users whose emails match your list.
You should install the Facebook Pixel onto your website when you run ad campaigns. This is a powerful ad tracker that monitors Facebook users who are also visiting your website. Facebook will then show ads to those users, so that you’re showing relevant ads to users who have already shown an interest in your site.
You can create multiple ad sets and ads targeted toward different users, and then compare their effectiveness – which brings us to testing.
7. A/B Test Your Ads
A/B testing is important for email marketing, and it’s vital for Facebook ads, too. By manipulating a single prominent element in two comparable ads, you gain rich insights into what elements are most effective. Then you can tweak the ads to gain more conversions at a lower cost. This is conversion optimization.
Some elements you might consider testing in Facebook ads include:
- Image
- Copy
- Headline
- Call to action
- Offer
- Targeting
- Landing page
- Ad placement
- Ad type
Within targeting alone, you can tweak gender, interest, age, income, relationship status, education and more. Any ad that you publish should have an ad you’re testing it against. Then, apply those insights to future ads.
Get Help with Facebook Advertising
Creating Facebook ads allows your business to get really creative with advertising and reach hyper-segmented audiences. But as you can see from these brief best practices, there are many details that must be manipulated to create effective Facebook ads. You don’t want to waste your money with Facebook ads – you want to get more conversions.
We can help. Contact us for a free consultation on paid advertising campaigns for your business.
