Placing a Facebook ad can feel like choosing a drink at one of those new high-tech soda machines, the one with the touch screen and hundreds of different options. After looking at the 5th page of options, your eyes start to blur and you aren’t even thirsty anymore.
How come something that is supposed to meet your needs can leave you feeling so unsure?
The simple answer: too many options.
We LOVE all the options that Facebook provides for advertising, but social content and advertising is what we do all day long for a living. Our FrontGate Social team members have taken the time to learn each option and how to use it for the benefit of our for and non-profit clients. What about the average business or ministry marketer who doesn’t have time to study the multitude of ad options? How can you navigate Facebook ads without wasting money? We’re here to help!
Here are 3 tips to placing an effective Facebook ad:
- Have a plan. If you are just boosting posts for likes then you have been caught in a vanity (and money) trap. Engagement is important, but only if there is a plan to go with it. Your Facebook ad goals should align with your business goals. What is the end game action you want your boosted post to accomplish? What do you want your Facebook flower to feel, read or experience?
- Pick the right kind of ad. There is an advertising option for each type of business or organizational goal. Are you an aspiring writer? Build your platform by focusing on page likes and engagement so a publisher will pick up you and your book. Are you a non-profit? Run a donation campaign or a lead generation campaign. Business? Creative sales ads and lead generation should be your focus.
- Hit the target. We can’t tell you how many clients come to us with the idea that everyone would be interested in what they have to offer if only they knew about it. This is even more true of ministry-oriented clients. Let us tell you right now: though your calling may be to go into all the world, you can’t appeal to everyone all at the same time with the same ad. Christians and non-Christians are not going to respond well to the same ad. Not even all Christians will respond well to a single ad. Understand who your target audiences are, and create something specifically for each one. Not knowing your target audience is the number one reason businesses and ministries fail. Spend time defining your core audience and target them with Facebook’s highly sophisticated audience targeting tools.
- BONUS TIP! Spend a good amount of time on the creative for your campaign. Create multiple images and ad copy. TEST. TEST. TEST. Run several ads on a test budget to see what people will respond to best. After testing, then invest your ad budget on the ads that performed best.
Even simplified, Facebook advertising can feel overwhelming, and it takes time to make their ad system work for you. We’ve been providing social marketing services since 2007, just three years after “the Facebook” came into being, and one year after Twitter was founded. We would love to help you on your next Facebook ad campaign.
Contact us today to set up a call to discuss your goals.