Facebook has become an increasingly valuable tool in today’s marketing world. As it currently stands, there are over 1 billion active users on the site which makes the obvious question why wouldn’t you use Facebook for your advertising needs? Beyond just the general reach you can get out of using Facebook, the platform allows you to be specific in your requirements and target audience to maximize on your ROI.
By creating a Facebook page for your business, you are opening a door to provide unique content to your audience along with the ability to advertise in different ways outside of your website.
Approximately 74% of marketers now utilize Facebook as a part of their marketing plans. With that being said, there are a few examples of how you can generate business from Facebook alone.
- Post content that is unique.
Entice your fans by posting content that isn’t being displayed on your website. This is one way to get people talking about your brand and grab their attention. Facebook allows you to post images, videos and statuses that can branch off of your website content, and show them there is more to your business through other mediums. Beyond that, you can make Facebook a platform to engage with your fans by posting unique facts about you and your company or pictures of employees to put a face to your brand. - Specific offers.
One way to gain more fans and potential new customers is to make appealing offers to Facebook fans only. This will get people talking and sharing your brand all over social media. Facebook allows you to postspecifically to your own fans, and if it resonates with them, you can extend your offer to other Facebook users. Additionally, this opens the door to generate leads and email addresses for new clientele. - Engage your audience.
Many brands out there have adopted unique ways to interact their fans with their posts. One growing trend is “caption this photo”. A great way to increase engagement with this type of post is to have contests with fans to get the most creative caption and reward them with a giveaway for the winner. Interactions and followers should start to increase.
Success stories.
Facebook has the most users out of every social media platform, and is a clear choice when it comes to your advertising needs, but is there real success behind sponsoring ads on the social media platform? It’s a good question to ask before spending the time and money.
One particular Florida store, Kay’s Designer Consignment, saw an increase of 30% in sales just nine months after converting their print ads to Facebook ads. Not only that, they also saw an additional 40% increase on an average transaction and a 3x increase in email sign-ups. Beyond the numbers, with a platform like Facebook, the store has the ability to strengthen customer relationships and widen the variety of clientele the store serves.
On a larger scale, Lysol added Facebook advertisement into their marketing plan and initially saw a 2x return on ad spend. By utilizing the platform to promote their latest cleaning product, Lysol was 3x more efficient in reaching their target audience than by promoting through television, and was able to effectively increase 7 points for brand awareness.
Beyond that, 92% of marketers are utilizing Facebook advertisements, retail advertisers saw a 152% for ROI, and there are about 1 million small to medium size businesses advertising on the platform.
How- to set up Facebook ads.
As stated above, having a Facebook page for a business is a great way to interact and build loyalty with your customers. It is also the first step in setting up ads for your business; here’s how to successfully set up the rest of your Facebook ads:
- Prepare images and text.
Initially you are going to want to try both long and short posts in your ad to gauge what works best with your target audience. As far as pictures, if you want to post ads directly on the newsfeed, the best size is 600 x 315 pixels with 20% text, or 100 by 72 pixels for advertisements featured on the right-hand side of the newsfeed.
Your ad should include the following:
- Your main offer
- The solution you are offering
- Call to action
- Your phone number (if applicable)
- Any additional information you feel relevant
- ‘Create an ad’
After you have an idea of what you are going to promote, log on to your account and click on the drop down menu located next to the ‘Home’ button. Scroll down and select ‘create an ad’.
You will then be guided to put in the link that will send your target audience back to your website, blog, landing page, etc.
- What is your goal?
Below your link input, you will see three options: get more likes, promote your posts, or advanced options to send people back to your website. Facebook gives you these options to get the most out of your business page and ads through their platform. After selecting one, you can move onto designing and targeting your campaign.
- Design and Target.
When designing your ad, keep in mind that Facebook allows a 25 character headline and a 90 character description, with the ability for your photo.
Next you are ready to target your audience. Facebook gives you the ability to target down to the location (state, zip code, etc.), specifically to your own fans, exact school attended, relationship status, etc.
- Name, payment and scheduling.
After your ad is set up and ready to be published, you want to name your campaign. Generally speaking, it should be something distinct such as the label of your target audience.
After that is complete, it is time for payment and scheduling. Facebook gives you different options to pay for your campaign such as PPC (pay per click) or lump sum for the duration of your campaign.
Finally, select the length of time you want your campaign to run for.
Your ad should now be successfully displaying on Facebook. To manage and track your campaign’s, navigate to the ‘ad manager’ tool and view how your stats are coming along. This is a convenient way to monitor the success of your campaign and pin point any adjustments you may need to make to maximize on your ROI.