It’s no secret Facebook is beyond popular in the world of social media. In fact, statistics show more than one billion people visit the site every day! With numbers like that it’s no wonder why businesses are turning to Facebook to advertise their services. Studies have shown that Facebook is the most effective paid option out of all of the social networks. Where else can you reach as many as one billion people daily? Portside Marketing can help you integrate Facebook ads into your strategy to increase your business by understanding what Facebook ads are and how to best use them.
What are Facebook ads?
You see Facebook ads all of the time when you’re on the site. They pop up on your news feed whether you’re on your phone or on a desktop computer. The content can vary from vacation spots to acne medication. You’ll see ads for everything on Facebook.
You may wonder why certain ads pop up right after you’ve searched a specific topic or maybe purchased something online. That’s because Facebook partnered with data companies back in 2013 which allows brands to match data from shopper loyalty programs to your Facebook profile. This allows businesses to reach more people beyond their CRM databases and really target more potential customers.
Advertisers can look at different purchasing behaviors as a parameter for their ads or they can base their ads around life events. Many Facebook users post about life events like marriages, pregnancies, and even death. Advertisers can use this information to provide ads associated with a particular life event.
Ad content can also be related to actions your friends have taken such as liking a page. That news is only shared with people you are friends with, not the entire Facebook community. For example, if your friend liked a local flower shop, ads for a company that sells flowers may magically appear. Facebook says it does not sell your information to advertisers.
Another way advertisers use Facebook ads is to target certain customers to create a custom audience based on a customer phone list or email subscriber list. They do this by uploading this information to Facebook. This allows them to stay connected to previous customers. There is also an option to target a lookalike audience that is similar to those who are already involved in your business or service. The Facebook ad marketing options are mind-blowing. That’s why so many advertisers take advantage of them.
How do Facebook ads work?
Portside Marketing can help you create a Facebook ad that not only reaches a wide customer base but also gets them interested in your product or service. There are several different advertising objectives within Facebook ads. Portside Marketing can help you decide which objective is best for your business. You can choose to increase traffic to your site as an objective as well as work to get more people engaged in a particular post. Perhaps you want to increase lead generation to get email addresses and information from people who are interested in your business. Whatever objective you choose, it should align with your business goals.
Once you choose an objective, you create a campaign within Facebook which walks you through the ad process. You can also hand pick your audience with parameters such as age, demographic, or geographic location, just to name a few. The Portside Marketing team can help you through the process so that you create the best possible ad for your business.
Facebook Ad Marketing Lingo
When learning more about Facebook ads, there are some common terms thrown around a lot to not only describe the ads, but also their performance. Here are a few to be aware of:
Impressions
This is the term used to describe the number of times an ad appears on the screen. This will indicate how many people saw the ad. Remember, just because they physically saw the ad does not mean it is automatically hit home with them.
Reach
Not to be confused with impressions, reach indicates how many people were exposed to the ad while impressions may include multiple views of the ad by the same person. Even if they don’t click on it, reach reports how many actually saw it.
CTR (Click through rate)
This refers to the number of clicks you receive on your ad per the number of impressions. You want to have a high CTR in order for your ad to be considered successful.
Tracking pixels
These are pixel-sized images that serve as tiny trackers of information such as number of website visits, sales conversions, and other web activity.
What makes a successful Facebook ad?
If you want a successful Facebook ad, you need to do your homework. The ad itself should:
- Target the right audience. Use the Facebook ad tools to make sure you are targeting the right audience. Not doing so is a waste of time and money.
- Be placed strategically. You want ads to be located in places where people will actually see them and pay attention to them.
- Be visually appealing. People need to like what they see, simply put.
- Have a clear call-to-action. Your ad has been seen, now what? Make sure your viewers clearly know what to do next.
How much do Facebook ads cost?
Another benefit of advertising on Facebook is that an advertiser can control the budget. It is not required to lock into a basic plan or price. The advertiser can decide to spend just $5 on an ad or hundreds of dollars. The advertiser can choose to spend money based on conversions or impressions. Facebook will never spend more money on an ad campaign than what has been budgeted.
How do I know if my Facebook ad is reaching people?
Whether a customer spends $5 or $500 it is important to know that an ad is reaching people; and not just people, potential customers. Facebook ads provide an Ads manager function that allows the customer to see the click through rate (CTR) as well as the number of impressions and reaches. If the ad is not performing as hoped, there could be a number of reasons. Perhaps the budget is too low or the ad is not targeting the right audience. Whatever the case, Portside Marketing can help sort through it all so that the ad is reaching enough people and resulting in more business. It is also possible to track click through (CTR) to your website.
It’s important to know that Facebook users are able to control the ads that pop up on their feed. Facebook has set up some options that allow users to do several things. Users can click on options like “about this ad” which gives more information about the sponsor. They can also choose to ask Facebook not to show the ad anymore. Despite that option there is no doubt that Facebook ads have the power to reach a huge potential customer base.