“Facebook ads are paid messages from businesses that are written in their voice and help reach the people who matter most to them,” according to Facebook. “Advertisers create campaigns that have specific goals, which we call advertising objectives and they create ads within those campaigns to help them reach those objectives.”
Paid messages… Campaigns… Objectives… What does this mean? Does it work? Let us explain the ins and outs of Facebook ads and the numerous benefits.
How Do Facebook Ads Work?
To best understand Facebook Ads, it’s vital to get to know Ads Manager – the “hub” where you can create new ads, choose your audience, manage your budget, extend your ad to multiple Facebook-owned apps like Instagram or Messenger, adjust your campaign, get insights, and more. Once you’re in Ads Manager, you can create your campaign and push it out to your target audience. The ad itself can be created in different formats such as a video, an image, and carousel.
Your ad should have a minimum amount of content on it – less than 7 words – to drive the point of the ad and also to stay within Facebook’s highly-suggested 20% text rule. You can expound on your ad by putting more information in the caption! For example, if you own a marketing company and you want to let your community know that you’ve won some pretty awesome awards for your work, your ad content might say, “Award Winning Marketing Company in Macon, Georgia” And, of course, include your logo. You want the viewer to know exactly who is running the ad if they only look at the image, hence the importance of your logo on the ad itself. Your caption can go into more detail; for example, “M&R Marketing has been nationally recognized by 10 new industry awards! Excel your company into success by partnering with our award-winning team.”
Once you’ve uploaded your graphic or video, you can adjust your budget spend and determine your target audience. Possibly the most important elements to consider while determining your target audience are:
• Age
• Location
• Gender
• Interests
It’s important to know that once you set a budget, your target audience, and submit it to Facebook, they have to approve it. They will consider your image, content, your target audience, and if it is a special ad category such as employment opportunity or political message. Once they approve it, your ad will be running! Your ad will show up in a user’s Facebook feed or stories. If they’re interested, they can click on the ad, and it will take them to the pre-determined call to action.
For example, you may have included a link to your website, call now button, or shop now button. Determine your call to action by asking yourself, “What the goal is of my Facebook ad?” Your ad will be pushed out to the digital world to those who meet your target audience specifications. The pre-determined budget will be spread out over the allotted time frame. If you need to pause, edit, or cancel your ad after it’s running, you can! Now, let’s talk about the numerous benefits of Facebook ads.
What Are the Benefits of Facebook Ads?
“Is it worth it?” The question that is woven into most decisions. You must determine if spending money on Facebook ads are worth it. It’s likely that your competition is using Facebook ads, so if you’re relying solely on organic reach, you could be missing an entire portion of your target audience. Here are 8 benefits – in no particular order – of implementing Facebook ads:
1. Facebook provides analytics about your ad in your Ads Manager account, so you can see exactly what is and isn’t working. You’ll see analytics about post engagement, reach, clicks, conversion, sales, performance, and more.
2. Facebook’s targeting options allow you to focus on your ideal customer or client. Quality over quantity. You don’t want your Facebook ad to fall on uninterested eyes. Facebook’s targeting options allow you to specify your targeting via age, interests, behaviors, gender, location, language – just to name a few.
3. You can determine the goal of the ad. If you’re looking to increase your page followers, “page likes” would be the objective of your ad. If you want more website visits, “website clicks” would be the objective.
4. Facebook ads perform better than organic posts. Did you know that Facebook has an algorithm it follows to push or suppress certain posts? Business posts get the brunt of this algorithm, as they aren’t as prioritized like friends and family posts. Facebook ads are the solution to this problem.
5. You can remarket to people who have shown interest. Statistics say that a person may need 7 different touchpoints with your company before acting on their interest. If a person has shown interest in your company in any capacity (website visit, Facebook “like”, etc.), you can remarket to those people via Facebook ads.
6. Facebook ads can help you find new leads. Facebook offers a “Lookalike Audience” tool that helps you find leads who resemble your current customers.
7. You can customize your call-to-action button. After you have piqued your viewer’s interest with a great image and intriguing content, tell them exactly what to do next with your call-to-action button. Currently, you can customize your call-to-action button with content like:
• Book Now
• Apply Now
• Contact Us
• Sign Up
• Download
• Learn More
8. Facebook ads can strengthen the customer/company relationship. Facebook is a great tool to create and nurture an online community. Your posts and ads can help your followers feel like they belong in your culture.
These are only 8 of many benefits of Facebook ads! Organic posts coupled with Facebook ads can be a catalyst toward successfully reaching – and creating a relationship with – your target audience.
Partner with M&R Marketing for Your Facebook Ad Campaigns!
Does creating and managing Facebook ads feel too overwhelming right now? Let us take that off your plate. We have a team of digital strategists who obsess over Facebook analytics and insights. We want to hear what your goal is for your company and create an ad campaign for you that can help you meet that goal! Talk to us today about your social needs: 478-621-4491
Stay tuned for parts two and three of this three-part series about Facebook ads:
• Part 1 – Understanding How Facebook Ads Work & Their Benefits
• Part 2 – Identifying the Different Types of Facebook Ads & Utilizing Facebook Pixel to Measure Success
• Part 3 – The Inside Scoop on Writing Great Facebook Ad Copy & Choosing the Perfect Image