Whether you’re announcing a product launch, a social media promotion, a fundraising campaign or your next event appearance, social media advertising should be an important piece of your business’ digital marketing campaign. While there are many social networks to choose from, each with a slightly difference audience, we like to start with what we refer to as, “The hundred pound gorilla in the room,” which is Facebook. Targeted Facebook ads are often an effective way to deliver the results your company is looking for and help you reach large number of soon-to-be loyal customers.

Is Facebook advertising really right for your business, and will it be a good fit for your budget? As Emily Sidley stated in her article, How to Run a Successful Social Media Advertising Campaign, “Running a social media advertising campaign is very cost-effective; you can choose a daily budget or a set amount for the life of the ad, and then the platform will charge you a few cents to a couple of dollars per click. Compared to traditional advertising, the overall cost is much more manageable for small businesses!”

Want to leverage this marketing strategy? Keep reading to learn why it’s important and how to succeed.

Facebook: The Way to Reach Your Target Audience

Facebook is the most popular social networking site in the world, making it a great place to reach your target audience. Founded in 2004, the social behemoth boasts 2.07 billion active users monthly, with 1.15 billion using the site daily. Unlike social networking sites with a strong teen internet presence, Facebook’s main demographic is users in their 20’s and 30’s (ages 25-34, to be exact). Using Facebook to grow your fan following and build your customer base can drive your brand’s image to the front of the pack. Here are some interesting statistics about Facebook’s loyal users.

• Highest traffic on the social network occurs between 1-3pm.
• Engagement is 18 percent higher on Thursdays and Fridays.
• 69 percent of people with an annual income higher than $75,000 visit the site.
• The average user has 300 friends.
• 5 new Facebook profiles are created every second.
• Users spend an average of 20 minutes on the site.
• Facebook is responsible for 1 out of 5 page views on the internet.
• 10 million websites feature Facebook’s ‘like’ and ‘share’ buttons.
• 300 million photos are uploaded each day.
• Facebook users are 76 percent female.
• Every minute, 510,000 comments are posted and 293,000 statuses are updated.
• Half of all users age 18-24 check Facebook first thing when they wake up.
• 68 percent of college-educated internet users visit Facebook monthly.
• 42 percent of marketers report that Facebook is critical or important to their business.
• 45 percent of users access the site multiple times per day.

While Facebook is still a major player among online consumers, it’s important to note that its demographics are always changing. For example, even though Facebook sees a 16 percent increase in users each year, 2017 marked the first time that the social network is losing ground among younger audience, like teenagers. If your company wants to target those users, consider advertising on Instagram or Snapchat instead of or in addition to Facebook.

Knowing the key demographic information of users on Facebook can be a valuable tool for targeting and timing your content. Facebook’s impressive social reach makes it a great platform for sharing your story through social media. How can you get started with advertising on the network? Keep reading for insight!

How to Start a Facebook Advertising Strategy

Determine Your Goals for Advertising

Like with most things in life, a detailed plan of attack can put you ahead of your competition and help you start off on the right foot. The first step in planning is to establish goals for your Facebook advertising campaign. Why does goal setting matter? It’s because your tactics will be different depending on what you want to accomplish and Facebook has a wide variety of different ad types. For example, your approach may be different if you are trying to attract more customers to your online store than if you are trying to get people to call in for services or donate to a worthy cause.

Study the Different Types of Facebook Ads

There are many different types of Facebook ad options; each designed to deliver a different value to marketers.

• Link Click Ads
• Video Ads
• Multi Product (Carousel) Ads
• Dynamic Product Ads (DPA)
• Facebook Lead Ads
• Canvas Ads
• Collection Ads
• Page Like Ads
• Page Post Photo Ads
• Page Post Video Ads
• Page Post Text
• Mobile App Ads
• Desktop App Ads
• Instagram Mobile App Ads (Facebook owns Instagram, so ads are easy to integrate between the two platforms)
• Event Ads
• Offer Claims
• Local Awareness Ads

For a detailed look at each ad type, read this article by Traffic Masters. Also, your ads should include high-quality images. For more information on image and ad specs and sizing, read this article from Buffer Social.

5 Tips for Finding Success with Facebook Advertising

Many people can be intimidated by the thought of spending money of Facebook ads, but if you’re a new company, Facebook ads could be the key to a bigger fan base and social media success. If you’re thinking about including Facebook ads in your social media strategy, here are 5 tips to make them work for you.

1. Understand Your Audience

If you want to be successful in your Facebook advertising, you need to understand what your audience likes, dislikes and does for fun. For example, if you are trying to sell a wellness vacation package to your hotel, avoid only targeting broad keywords like travel; instead, identify more targeted keywords like spas, wellness retreats, wanderlust, the name of your city and state or even other well-recognized brands. The more specific your keyword is to the potential customer, the better your click-through rates are going to be and the more you’ll get out of your ad campaign.

2. Try Engagement Ads

If you need to attract more fans to your page, consider using engagement ads instead of website traffic ads. These advertisements keep users inside Facebook, meaning when someone clicks on the ad it takes them to a Facebook page instead of an external website. And because these ads promote destinations within Facebook, users can simply hover over the ads to easily “Like” your page, add a comment or share in their News Feeds. This can be better for the user experience, since people are more likely to stay within Facebook than click to an external website.

3. Transform Page Updates into Facebook Ads

Fan engagement is critical to Facebook success. If people aren’t clicking, liking, sharing and commenting, you won’t see the results you’re looking for. One of the best strategies is to turn a well-performing update on your Facebook page into an advertisement to increase engagement. You should consider choosing a post that contains a call to action such as watching a video for an upcoming webinar you are doing or donating to a cause you’re fundraising for. Because people can watch the video, “Like” and comment right from these ads, you can quickly increase your brand recognition and generate visible results. Also, you’ll be able to save time by using a successful existing page update instead of crafting a fresh advertisement.

4. Reduce Ad Costs & Increase Conversions by Targeting Existing Fans

If you have time to play with strategies, consider starting with an advertising campaign that targets only existing fans. Facebook charges less per click for such ads and you have the added benefit of increasing engagement with the fans you already have. As we like to say at Three Girls, it’s not about the number of fans you have, it’s about how engaged, loyal and active the fans you have are. Take advantage of your fan base and give them a reason to engage with you, sign up for your email lists or check out your new product.

5. Target Users by Location

Zip code targeting makes Facebook advertising much more attractive to local businesses that are not after consumers outside their local area or region. This way you can save advertising money by creating more refined and relevant messages that specifically target the groups of people you are going after. After all, does it matter if people see your ads if they are not in your area to make a purchase or engage with your business?

Facebook has more active users than Twitter, LinkedIn and WhatsApp combined. How will you use this large user base to your advantage? Connect with us to find out more about how you could be leveraging the power of Facebook advertising to reach your audience, form connections and foster lifelong customers. In the meantime, check out these other great articles about social media marketing:

How to Run a Successful Social Media Advertising Campaign

Advertising vs. Public Relations: What’s the Difference?

Facebook Advertising Guide: 4 Steps to Using Promoted Posts

Social Media: What Beginners Need To Know About Facebook Ads

 

 

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