Best Practices for Paid Advertising on Facebook
If you’re not already leveraging Facebook’s Advertising platform for your brand, you should be. According to Sprout Social, 93% of marketers use Facebook Advertising regularly. Due to affordable and flexible advertising budgets and a vast network of user data, Facebook has emerged into an ideal advertising platform for all B2B and B2C businesses, small and large.
According to Facebook Business, there are three steps a business must take before setting up an ad campaign. The first step is to identify your business goal. Why do you want to run Facebook ads to begin with? Are you hoping to build brand awareness, drive foot traffic to an event or online conversions to your website? We recommend choosing your top three goals and writing them out. Planning is key to a successful ad campaign, so make planning a priority. Secondly, be sure you have a comprehensive understanding of your target audience. Facebook says you should “communicate the role of your business in their lives, and why you should matter to them.” Lastly, Facebook advises you to define your theme. Decide what you want your target audience to take away from seeing your advertisement. Your ad theme should be a consistently unique concept, idea, or visualization you plan to incorporate into each of your ads.
There is both an art and a science to creating any Facebook ad campaign. Each ad should contain compelling copy, appealing imagery, and content that will entice consumers to take action.
Compelling Copy:
Facebook ad copy should persuade, inform and entertain your audience. When writing out your ad copy, be sure to use simple language that is easy for your audience to comprehend. Keep your copy brief but informative. People scroll through their newsfeeds quickly, so Facebook suggests you stick to your most important messaging points when developing ad copy.
Appealing Imagery:
Facebook is a visual platform so visually appealing ads are more likely to be remembered and shared. According to Sprout Social, “images account for 75-90% of Facebook advertising effectivity/performance.” Images offer you an opportunity to tell your story in an alluring and easy to digest manner. Choose images that are simple, colorful and relevant.
Call-to-Action:
Each of your Facebook ads needs to include a distinct call-to-action. Your audience should always feel encouraged to click on your advertisement. Facebook has incorporated a “call-to-action” button option for all advertisements so you are able to dial down on exactly what next step you want your prospect to take after seeing your ad. Make sure you’re prepared to bring them to the right place on your website. Rather than sending them to the homepage, direct them to a product or promotions page.
Optimize your Facebook ad success by performing A/B testing. Try changing up the copy, image and/or call-to-action on a second or even third ad. Since Facebook’s budgeting options are flexible and they allow you to allocate finances as you deem necessary, this is easy to accomplish. See what works and what doesn’t and use that information to improve future campaigns.
Learn more about best practices for paid Facebook campaigns in Caster Academy online courses. Or reach out to me and the rest of the Caster team on Twitter to discuss in more detail!