Facebook advertising is something every business should consider. Facebook is the biggest social network by far, you are bound to find a good number of your target audience on the platform.
But how should you make the most of Facebook ads?
It’s a big site and there are so many options for reaching out to your audience, so here are some tips to get started.
Get Super Specific with Your Targeting
Think of your target customer. Where do they live? What are their hobbies? Where to they live? How many children do they have? How old are they? What pets do they own?
Facebook allows you to get incredibly specific with you ad targeting, more so than anywhere else online. You can reach out to a huge number of highly targeted prospects, so make sure you make use of it.
Target Your Existing Leads
One of the really useful features of Facebook ads is that you can target your existing leads. If you have collected email addresses over the last few years, you can feed these into your ad campaign using the Custom Audiences feature.
This allows you to create your ad around your existing audience rather than trying to reach out to everyone.
You could use it to upsell to existing customers or reach out to people on your list who are not engaging with your emails. Or you could reach out to people who downloaded a specific white paper.
There are loads of possibilities, and it’s a great way to personalise your ads.
Target Similar Audiences
Another technique you can use on Facebook is the Lookalike Audience feature. This allows you to upload your leads and it will search out similar people for you to target. Make it your best-performing audience, and this is a way to clone your best leads and customers so you can find more of them without much effort.
Decide on a Specific Goal
Be very specific with your goals. Don’t just go in and start seeing what happens, but instead decide:
• Do you want more people to visit your website?
• More conversions?
• More awareness of your business?
• More engagement with your fans?
• More leads?
• More Likes?
You can use Facebook’s options to choose your objectives before you create your ads, and this will give you more direction with your advertising.
Use Engaging Images
Images are big on Facebook. Images are what will get your ads noticed by people who are spending their time watching funny videos and checking out pictures of their friends.
The copy is important – really important – but the image is what is going to capture attention.
Make your images fun and different. Make them stand out rather than boring corporate images that will get ignored. Use bright colours, find a way to get a person’s face into it.
Make it intriguing, enough that your targets will notice your ads and pay attention.
Don’t Be Afraid of Using Humour
Facebook is not a place for dry and dull advertising. Humour can work well here, which could involve a funny image, a light tone of voice and a bit of playfulness.
In AdWords, people are searching for something specific. They don’t need humour: they just want to find what they are looking for.
But Facebook is a disruptive form of advertising. Your prospects are not actively searching for anything, and you want to make them notice your ad without annoying them. Humour can help.
Take Full Advantage of Facebook Advertising
These are a few of the most important steps you can take to make the most of your Facebook advertising. If you have not used this platform yet, start experimenting. Ads are the best way to reach out to your audience on Facebook. They are scalable, you can control your budget and they can be highly effective. Start small, use the techniques outlined here and see what you can do.
