Best Practice Tips for Creating Successful Facebook Ads
Twelfth in a series
Facebook Ads are a great sandbox for experimenting with pay-to-play marketing. Start strong by applying this optimal mix of advice, which is both tried-and-true and up-to-date.
Launching an online advertising campaign on Facebook is relatively straightforward and budget-friendly, which is perfect for newbies needing to experiment. No one, not even the most highly paid marketing guru, hits it out of the park every time. Experimentation and practice are crucial to running successful ad campaigns. Using these proven tips will give you a get a head start.
Define your audience
“Everyone” is not your prospective customer. You may have sketched out a buyer persona in your original business plan, but for marketing, you want to be even more descriptive. In pinpointing a specific audience, know everything about them including age, gender, income level, hobbies, hometown, and so on. If you find that there is more than one significant customer subset, you will need more than one marketing message in order to appeal to each appropriately.
Plan your goal
“Buy Now” is not the only goal. Facebook offers several kinds of advertising objectives, from Awareness to Engagement to Sales. Some businesses have a longer sales cycle, so what you might actually advertise is information and an example of your expertise. When planning your ad’s goal, also define what successful goal completion looks like.
Offer a quid pro quo
If your goal is lead generation for a longer sales cycle, giving something away in exchange for contact information is a proven technique. Consider offering a free evaluation or consultation. Or a Do-It-Yourself ebook by your team. Often, growing businesses might start with DIY, but then move to asking “Can you do it for me?” Many of Sprocket’s own clients were first followers of our blog. This tip works for the “awareness” part of the sales funnel, too. Free education, how-to videos, and suggestions for using your product or service can introduce your business to new eyes.
Invest in ad creation
The importance of how your ad looks can’t be overstated. An enormous amount of research has been conducted on how people respond to color, white space, text, and so on. Learn more as you go, but the first lesson is that people have short attention spans. Text should be minimal, easy to read, and search-term accurate. Images need to be descriptive, crisp, and eye-catching. Consider animating your image or using video for even greater attraction. Facebook also offers a carousel of images that can be used to great advantage. And finally, don’t forget a compelling Call To Action.
Keep an eye on the clock
How long to run your ad is an art, but it’s based on science. Algorithms behind the scenes use all that buyer persona information you provided earlier to figure out how to serve up your ad. It takes a little time to analyze and adjust, so stopping your ad too soon could mean just missing success. Remember to plan event-based ads around this learning phase to get the most bang for your buck.
On the other hand, if your ad simply isn’t resonating, there’s no point in wasting your budget. It doesn’t matter how much you love the ad, if no one is clicking, it’s time to scrap it. Don’t be afraid to reformulate your message until you find one that works.
Adopt, adapt, and improve
Facebook’s Ads Manager allows you to run and measure multiple versions of an ad, which is a favorite tool of our Sprocket team. We like to set up five or six variations and give them all a modest trial. Next, we analyze to see which ones are getting the best results and whether a few tweaks might improve results even further. Finally, after another trial run, we choose the best of the best and run with that. Even after all this effort, ads do have a shelf life and will only work for so long. When interest starts waning, it’s time to come up with a fresh pitch.
The more time you spend in Facebook Ads Manager, the greater your expertise will be, but many business owners have way too much to do without becoming social media experts as well. That’s where we come in! Our Sprocket team has been working with Facebook ads for years and we’d be happy to put our expertise to work for you. Contact us today to get started.
Read the next post in this series.
Photo by Anna Shvets
Kate Gingold
I have been writing a blog with web marketing tips and techniques every other week since 2003. In addition to blogging and client content writing, I write books and a blog on local history.
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I have been writing a blog with web marketing tips and techniques every other week since 2003. In addition to blogging and client content writing, I write books and a blog on local history.
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