Marketing and Advertising on Facebook works! The platform is a budget-friendly, smart way to reach qualified customers, and it should be a key platform included in your digital marketing strategy. Here are the eight essential best practices you should be focused on when creating your Facebook advertising campaign.
1. Ads vs. Boosts: There is a Difference!
Marketing and advertising on Facebook is very different than boosting posts. The latter is a simplified, fundamental tool that is significantly less efficient and does not allow for advanced customization to reach your target audience. If your business is going to invest money into Facebook, spend it wisely by setting up Business Manager and implementing paid ads rather than boosted posts.
2. Know The Types and Placement of Facebook Ads
Be careful about the placement of your ads. You can address this in the advertisements’ set-up by choosing an ad type that drives “Traffic” or “Conversions” to your website. This step will ensure your ad is placed in a high-impact location, predominantly the News Feed on Facebook. If you choose other ad types, such as “Reach,” your ad will often be served in the right-hand column of someone’s Facebook profile page, a space where users don’t usually pay as much attention. Depending on the ad type you chose, there is an advanced feature later in the set-up process that allows you to customize where people see your ad. As mentioned, we recommend focusing your spending on appearing on the News Feed.
3. Customize Your Audience
Be overly specific in what you and your customers are searching for when customizing your audience. It would be best if you focused on your core customer, rather than being all-inclusive. If women are your bread and butter, then it is perfectly acceptable to target women. This type of targeting: gender, age, location, and behaviors are crucial to limiting your waste and controlling your results. You can target (or omit) people by income, household size, marital status, and most importantly by their Facebook habits, i.e., people who have expressed an interest in cultural attractions, or in high-end jewelry, or in gardening. Spending extra time exploring and customizing your target will pay dividends in the effectiveness of your ad campaign.
4. Identify Your Goal
When marketing and advertising on Facebook, consider your objectives and where you want to send your potential customers, as you can customize the button and call to action when users see your ad. For example, if you sell a product online, it is vital to send people to your website to purchase. If you offer a service that requires a personal touch, consider having them message you through Facebook. If you’re pushing a cause, consider a button that directs them to follow your Facebook page. Facebook ads allow you to customize the message and the response you get from the people who see your ads. Make sure you think about the correct call to action and the appropriate landing page to accomplish your goal!
5. Use the Right Creative
The most interactive ad units on Facebook are short, high-impact video advertorials. This ad type will drive the most comments, likes, and ultimately shares of your ad. You can make your ad factual rather than promotional. You will also increase the interactivity as customers will find the ad more trustworthy and organic.
6. Monitor The Response
Once your ad is live, be sure to monitor people’s interactions with it; after all, it is your brand and your livelihood! We highly recommend deleting outright negative comments that impact your bottom line, such as “This product is on sale at Costco for half the price!” or “Seems dangerous to me.” Comments like these drive negative discussions on your ad like it is a message board. And yes, Facebook’s algorithm is set up to prioritize those comments in your ad, making it the most visible comment people see beneath your ad. It’s essential to continue to control your brand message after the ad is live. Please don’t set it and forget it!
7. Understand the Metrics
There are plenty of metrics on Facebook advertising. You can get all the reporting you need, but if you are a novice Facebook advertiser, two metrics are vitally important to pay attention to:
a. Relevancy Score: Calculated through the positive and negative feedback of your Facebook ads, this number is Facebook’s way of telling you how their systems/algorithms are rating your content. The more relevant your ad is to your audience, the higher the score. When your score is high, your cost per result will be significantly less. Alternatively, if your ad has a low rating, consider tweaking the ad’s creative and/or targeting to increase the score.
b. Frequency: Frequency is impressions (the number of times your ad was displayed) divided by the reach (the number of unique users your ads reached). In other words, frequency is the average number of times your ad was served to each Facebook user. We recommend that our clients not exceed a rate of 3.5 on any given ad for a ticketed attraction. If your frequency creeps too high, your cost per result will increase, your success will decrease. Once frequency reaches 3.5, consider adjusting your creative and/or audience.
8. Don’t Forget to Retarget!
On Facebook, you can retarget the customers who visit your website to ensure that they go all the way through your purchase process. Facebook also has a tool called Lookalike Audiences. You can target more people with your ad who “look like” your current customers, visitors to your website, and/or fans of your page. This step is a simple but effective way to create a customized and broader audience for your ads. Facebook has detailed tutorials, but Immerse Agency is available to help you retarget successfully!
These are the eight best practices when advertising and marketing on Facebook. As technology is advancing quickly day-by-day, be sure to keep on top of the trends, metrics, and new features that Facebook creates. Immerse Agency is here for all your Facebook and other digital advertising needs. Need your Facebook video designed or other creative? We can create your ads, too! Contact us today to discuss your brand and Facebook marketing goals.
