A-Z of Facebook ads
Facebook is the king of social media. With over 2.80 billion monthly active users and 1.84 billion daily active users, Facebook is slaying on the internet. It has become a part of our day-to-day lives; people can't imagine their life without surfing on Facebook for a day. The reason is its powerful algorithm and social connections. We love to stay connected with our long-distant friends and family, and FB has become a medium that allows us to talk and engage with their posts.
The average time spent on Facebook is 38 minutes which is huge compared to other social media sites. There is also a misconception amongst people that youngsters have given up on Facebook, and it is used by the older generation only. However, data says that 65% of the people under the age of 35 still prefer to use Facebook.
Why Facebook ads?
Facebook's organic reach has become almost zero, and that's why worldwide marketers are promoting their products through Facebook ads. Day-by-day, Facebook is becoming smarter in terms of advertisement. Marketers are making huge profits by promoting their products through FB ads. Facebook ads are simple to use as the algorithm on which it works is very strong. It takes time for your ad to set up properly and start incurring profits for you, but once it's done, you have to get off the way and let FB take the steering. Money starts flowing automatically. That's why it is advised never to edit an Advertisement after you launch it. Instead, run a parallel one.
In this blog, we'll discuss how you can leverage Facebook ads to achieve your business goals effectively.
Today's agendas:
Have clear goals
Set your objective
Target the audience
Select channels you want to display your ad
Choose Budget
Upload the Ad file (Image or video)
Add a good copy with URL and Headline
Hit publish and start tracking
Retarget people through Facebook Pixel
1. Have clear goals
Setting quantified goals is very important. Before You start with anything, pick pen and paper, and start writing your business goals. Ask yourself some fundamental questions like what product am I promoting, the number of sales I want to make this month, who my target audience is, their basic traits, their pain points, what exactly I want from them, etc. You might know the answers, but it is important to put them on paper.
Once you finish writing your goals down, you'll feel lightness in your mind as your crumpled thoughts are now properly written on a piece of paper. You'll feel motivated to move ahead. The best thing about setting goals is that you can trace if you are moving in the right direction or not. You can see if your actions are garnering the right results or you need to change the strategy.
2. Set your objective
In the very first step, you have to select the objective of your campaign. It is where your goals come into play. What exactly do you expect from the campaign? Is it sales, engagements, leads, views, or just brand awareness? You have to select your objective from the given options to move forward. There is an explanation given on each prospect, which you can read to understand the objective properly. Options go like, Brand Awareness, Reach, Traffic, Engagement, App installs, Video views, Lead generation, Messages, Conversions, etc.
Each option serves you differently, and they are very carefully designed to aid you with an exact solution; if you want to make sales, then 'conversions' would be the right objective. Whereas, if you want traffic on your website, then 'Traffic' would be the right choice. But don't be stiff; a true marketer does multiple split tests before concluding anything. Although Facebook always gives you the right option based upon its historical data. But you are human for a reason. You can choose to split test and see what's working best for you.
3. Target the audience
It would be best if you were very careful while targeting the audience. Although there is no sure-short route to targeting perfectly, there should be no room for silly mistakes; otherwise, it may cost you a lot of money. Facebook does its best to guide you optimally for targeting your audience properly. It also provides you with a pointer that tells if the targeting is right or not.
You can define your target market on various given parameters. There are enough options for you to let Facebook know whom to target initially. You can add their age range, gender, demographics (where they possibly are in the majority), and interests. Apart from this, you can also target your email list and those similar to them through a lookalike audience. Your targeting helps in the initiation of the process. Once the ad starts running, it keeps learning with people's response and keep getting better with time. You'll eventually start seeing better results.
4. Select channels you want to display your ad
In the next step, you have to choose where you want your ad to be displayed. A list of multiple channels will be there in front of you, and you have to select the options very carefully. The possibilities include Instagram stories, Instagram feeds, Facebook stories, Facebook feed, Facebook marketplace, Articles' banner, etc. You can also select all the options to check the response of people on each platform. This way, you can learn a lot about your target market. Some experts recommend selecting all the options, whereas others oppose it.
5. Choose budget
In this step, you have to select the right budget for your campaign. Facebook automatically predicts your campaign's results based upon its historical events or experience if you see the right bar. There is a certain minimum amount that Facebook gives you to start your advertisement. You can always change it and set it according to yourself. Facebook also lets you know if your budget is too low or too high.
You can either choose a daily budget or a lifetime budget. You can also select certain times or days to run the ad. It is phenomenal to realize that you have so much control over everything.
6. Upload the ad file (Picture or video)
Now select the file you want to upload. Make sure either your ad file is high in quality and unique so that it can catch people's attention very easily. Video ads and Carousels show the highest click-through rates, which is why we have seen a sudden spike in YouTube ad spent. Whether it's YouTube or Facebook, videos are slaying the advertisement world. Build curiosity in people to make it irresistible for them not to click on that 'learn more' button.
You can also study what kinds of campaigns your competitors are running. Take ideas from their content type and style but do not copy them. Upload high-quality pictures that reflect your personality and set a bar. Include all the important stuff in the photo, carousel, or video. Marketers usually make big promises in this section that grabs people's eyeballs and force them to click the damn button.
7. Add a good copy with URL and headline
Now is the time for you to include an eye-rolling copy with the necessary details about your displayed advertisement. Make sure the document is captivating enough for your audience to take action. The copy could be long or just two liners. Short copies seem to perform better than long ones, but it depends on various other parameters, like the product, brand image, credibility, etc.
Your copy should drive traffic to the desired landing page from where they can buy your product. Don't forget to add the link of where you want to send the traffic. You can also choose the CTA button from various options like learn more, book now, contact us, etc. Also, type the headline that you want to flash below the advertisement.
8. Hit publish and start tracking
Now hit publish and relax for a day; wait for Facebook to collect some numbers. Don't expect to make a lot of sales on the very first day. It takes time for Facebook to identify the right market and target the right kind of people. Don't feel low if the numbers are not promising, have patience. Track the analytics every day. You'll soon notice a spiked improvement in the numbers. This data keeps improving with time because once Facebook identifies who is taking actions from your ad, it starts showing it to more similar people incurring better results.
9. Retarget people through FB pixel
Suppose you want to target only those who clicked on your landing page or have taken certain actions on your website. In that case, Facebook has a feature called FB-pixel. You can track everybody who visits your link and create a custom audience to leverage to build a lookalike audience and show your ad to those people. It increases the CTR of an ad and also gives you better results with less expenditure.