Facebook has reported that they now have 1 billion active users. With that many people on Facebook, wouldn’t you agree that it is one of the best tools you can leverage on to market your products or services?
Not convinced? Well, here are a few more benefits of Facebook advertising:
- Targeted Advertising – you are able to specify your target group.
- Affordable – Facebook is one of the most affordable advertising platforms for the flexibility you get.
- Interactive – fan pages allow your fans / customers to find out more about your organization and for them to voice their opinions.
- Different advertising structures – you get to choose between PPC and CPM to get the most views based on your budget.
But hold on, there are a few things you need to be aware of before embarking on a Facebook marketing campaign, in order to make it a more effective campaign. Here are a few tips that will help you polish your advertising techniques on Facebook.
Tip #1: Determine the Purpose of Your Campaign
The first thing is to determine what you want your ad campaign to achieve. Do you want fans to like your page or do you wish to attract more potential customers / viewers? Who are your target audiences? How much is your campaign budget? Will the ad be short term or long term?
These are some of the questions that will determine where and how you advertise.
Tip #2: Choosing Facebook Destination or a URL
When setting up your ad, you get to choose to direct the ad link to your Facebook page (or event) or an external website’s URL. Whichever it is, do ensure that the landing page is applicable to your ad!
Say, if you are advertising about second-hand motorcycles, make sure you link it to a page that’s relevant to it and not, say, your homepage on second-hand vehicles. Not many will appreciate the page hunt experience.
Tip #3: Designing Your Ad
Your ad has only a split second to capture users’ attention. So designing an effective ad is crucial. Look into the following areas when designing your Facebook ad.
- Research – Check out other ads and take note of those you are attracted to as well as those that you don’t like.
List down what would encourage you to click and apply these onto your ads and avoid making the same mistakes those boring ads made.
- Image size – With the new ruling, you are only allocated a 100 x 72 pixel image so make the most of it. Previously, it was 110 x 80 pixel. Do resize accordingly so that it won’t look distorted. An eye-catching image is advisable. Alternatively, you could also include text in the image area.
- Text – The ad’s body has a limit of 90 characters, so be precise. And you may want to use words that attract attention eg “free”, “save”, “discount”, “offer” and so forth.
Tip #4: Target Your Audiences
The great thing about Facebook advertising is that you are able to choose who gets to view your ad. This raises the possibility of it being spotted rather than lost in a sea of uninterested viewers. You can determine:
- Location
- Age
- Gender
- Interests
- Categories – has a list of general interests and lifestyle for you to choose from eg activities, ethnic, events, family status and so on.
Plus, Facebook also allows you to check your estimated audience while you are still designing the ad, so that you adjust the criteria to suit your budget / target.
Tips: Always adjust the above targeting controls so that you stay within your budget!
Tip #5: Test And Measure
Last but definitely not the least, do not make the mistake of not testing and tracking your ad campaigns.
Run a few ads to determine which is more effective. You can vary on the ad wordings or the targeting criteria. With the flexibility that you get with Facebook advertising, you should not be afraid to try different and more creative approaches.
Don’t just track the likes that your ads receive. What about the ads’ ROI like cost per like and cost per sale. Which target audience is more receptive of your ad? Were there more positive activities on your page or website?
Tips: Use these information you have gathered to tweak your ads. Enhance the better ones and remove the ineffective ones.
Advertising on Facebook is indeed very affordable and a good marketing channel. Unlike traditional advertisement methods, you don’t need to fork out hundreds or thousands of dollars upfront for just one ad campaign. However, you will be expected to put in time and effort constantly to maximize the efficiency of your Facebook ad campaigns.
I have been using these tips to advertise my website 100wpthemes.com on Facebook and the results are pretty encouraging. So these tips are from my personal experiences and they definitely work! Do give the above tips a try or share with us your own ones!
Image Credit: Sean
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