Facebook used to be just a social media where you could create a simple account, add your sister and your college crush as your friends. In 2022, A LOT has changed! Facebook now boasts of a very robust advertising platform that small business owners can leverage to build traction, engage their prospective audience and showcase their latest products or services.
If you are very clueless about how Facebook Ads work, or you have wasted money by testing the waters ignorantly, this guide will surely be of help to you.
Before I proceed, I would like to say Hello. It has been months of inactivity, and I apologize for the long silence. Just like you, I usually have so many issues to attend to offline- so I had to take a painful break from blogging.
Back to the subject topic,
How can Facebook Ads help your business grow?
That is a perfectly reasonable question, no matter how familiar you are with social media or social media marketing. Fortunately, there’s a short, easy answer: Many Ways!
However, rather than leave it at that, I want to just examine the reasons why Facebook Ads should be included in your business’s digital strategy. In this guide, I will walk you through everything you need to know, from learning how Facebook Ads work, to planning your first ad and developing advanced campaign strategies!
How Does Facebook Advertising Work?
I used to have this question on my mind, trust me- until very recently when I sat down to understand the entire process.
You may plenty of money, but trust me- if you do not have a solid understanding of the Facebook Ads framework, your results will show for it, because they will be ineffective, as your Ads will hardly convert, or land you a client.
Facebook Ads helps facilitate business growth by allowing you to target specific audiences that are likely to be interested in what you have to offer by taking advantage of the massive wealth of data Facebook has gathered about its users.
I don’t want to sound too complex, or unnecessarily deep. So, How can what I am saying translate into business growth for you?
First, you need to be clear about your campaign objective- which basically refers to what you want your Facebook ads to accomplish. You may want to get more website traffic or encourage visitors to download your app, generate leads, or multiply your sales.
Once you’ve identified your campaign objective, you will then need to tell Facebook the kind of audience you are targeting- the category of people that should see your ad. Compared to offline advertising, I think this helps you conserve energy and money by focusing on the specific audience you need. There is no point in trying to sell a hip enlargement cream to a male medical doctor. Do you understand the point now?
How does Facebook do this? How is your target audience filtered- among the millions of Facebook users all around the world? It is done by what we call audience segmentation – the process of giving Facebook a description of your ideal audience, so Facebook only displays your ads to people who exhibit the behaviors and belong to the demographics you’re interested in.
Facebook has thousands of custom audience parameters, allowing you to create an amazingly refined audience for your campaigns. You can also create custom audiences by uploading data on existing customers that you already have, which enables Facebook to create “twin” audiences, based on the parameters that you choose.
Setting Your Facebook Campaign Objective
First off, you need to be clear about your campaign objective- which basically refers to what you want your Facebook ads to accomplish.
The wisest step to take before implementing any marketing strategy is to set your Campaign objectives.
Usually, in the world of marketing, we classify Facebook Ads into four major categories:
- Ads to Grow your Page Likes
- Ads to Convert Visitors into Leads
- Ads to drive traffic into your website
- Ads to Increase Engagements.
Because I understand how confusing these can be, I explain all of these to you right away. All you need to do is to continue reading, and you will get the gist.
How to Run Facebook Ads to Grow Your Page Likes
This is the kind of Facebook Ad you need to run if you want your target audience to Like your Facebook Page. To carry out this kind of ad effectively, you must select the Ad’s Manager Option: “Promote Your Page”.
Why should you consider this kind of ad? It’s actually very important to grow your community on Facebook that mirrors your real-life community. The best and fastest method to achieve this is to target your market area and use Facebook ads to promote your page.
Creating a vibrant, engaged Facebook page fosters customer loyalty and increases the likelihood that fans will turn into customers.
Use these general rules when creating all your Facebook ads:
- Decide what you want to say in the ad and create a compelling message.
- Don’t forget a call to action.
- Choose an image that will stand out in the newsfeed. Show people using your product instead of just the product alone. Make sure it isn’t cluttered with text or your ad will be unsuccessful.
- Determine who you want to reach and be specific as possible. A local business will want to target people in their market area (or your competitor’s market area). We typically recommend choosing the name of the city where the business is located +50 miles.
- Include specific attributes about your audience that you feel are important. Narrowing the target audience keeps costs in line and your message resonating.
- If you’re new, start with a budget of $10/day. That way you can learn without going broke.
- Track your results daily and make changes as needed to achieve your objective.
The “Promote Your Page” ad specs:
- The recommended image size is 1200 x 444 pixels
- Headline limit of 25 characters
- Text limit of 90 characters
- The image should include minimal text.
How to Run Facebook Ads to Convert Visitors Into Leads
This is the kind of Facebook Ad you need to run if you want your target audience to Like your Facebook Page. To carry out this kind of ad effectively, you must select the Ad’s Manager Option: “Get Your Leads”.
Disclaimer: This is the most advanced option for Facebook ads. And this is so because you aim at running Facebook ads that promote conversions on your site. If done well, you can generate higher-quality leads.
The “Increase Conversions to Your Website” ads specs:
- The recommended image size is 1200 x 628 pixels
- The headline limit is 25 characters
- Text: 90 characters
- Link description: 30 characters
- The image should include minimal text.
How to Run Facebook Ads to Drive Traffic to Your Website
This is the kind of Facebook Ad you need to run if you want your target audience to visit your website. To carry out this kind of ad effectively, you must select the Ad’s Manager Option: Send People to Your Website.
I am a very big advocate of SEO– You should probably know that by now. The good news for people who have a phobia of the various SEO principles is that SEO is not the only means of traffic generation out there.
The thing is, if you are paying attention to search traffic alone, you are seriously missing out. Social media has evolved from being just an engagement medium to being a major source of website traffic, and we all know that more traffic equals more opportunities. Who doesn’t want more website traffic? If you do not have a website yet, consider taking an advantage of Namecheap’s latest web hosting discounts, or getting a superb Web Development agency.
You will need this Facebook ads strategy if you want to:
- Increase your email list.
- Send people to specific product pages.
- Increase blog readership and influence.
- RSVP for events.
- Participate in contests and giveaways.
The “Send People to Your Website” ad specs:
- Recommended image size is1200 x 628 pixels
- Headline: 25 characters
- Text: 90 characters
- Link description: 30 characters
- The image should include minimal text.
How to Use Facebook Ads to Increase Fan Engagement
This is the kind of Facebook Ad you need to run if you want your target audience to Like your Facebook Page. To carry out this kind of ad effectively, you must select the Ads Manager Option: “Boost Your Posts”.
Till now, engagement is the number 1 metric of successful Facebook marketing. The best way to get people engaging (liking, sharing, and commenting on) with your content is to promote your posts so that people see them in their feeds.
The “Boost Your Posts” design ad specs:
- Recommended image size is 1200 x 900 pixels
- Right column size: 254 x 133 pixels (Note: ad can be placed in the newsfeed, right column, and/or mobile)
- Text: 90 characters (longer posts may be truncated on smaller screens)
- The image should include minimal text
Target “Fans and Their Friends” to start and test it. I found out that it’s better to build engagement with people who already like you. And, many campaigns to increase engagement end up getting a lot of new pages likes as a bonus.
Bonus: How to Get Organic Facebook Likes For Free!
You can actually grow your page likes organically by increasing engagement. This works too, but you will need to be consistent. All you need to do is to make sure your Facebook posts are engaging in nature, or they touch something in the heart of your audience.
The more your followers engage with your posts (by liking, commenting, and sharing), the more likely they are to end up in their friends’ newsfeeds because of what I can call “marketing echo”.
Here’s the kind of content you want to focus on:
- Famous quotes as part of your branded image
- Pictures of people in your organization as well as company events
- Using latest trends to create entertaining content.
- Branded memes and entertaining cartoons
- Surveys, coupons, contests, sweepstakes, or raffles
- Videos
Contests, sweepstakes, and raffles in particular are an excellent way to grow your Facebook engagement and get more likes.
Conclusion:
When done right, Facebook ads give you the ability to target very specific audiences using advanced tools that are just not available through traditional or offline mediums.
Before doing any marketing or advertising, it’s always smart to start with goals and a strategy. Set goals for the results you want to achieve and that will help you plan your Facebook ads strategy. That’s the first thing to do.
If you have questions regarding Facebook ads and how they can help grow your business.
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