Lately I’ve been rolling up my sleeves and really digging into Facebook advertising. Facebook ads have changed so much in the last five years and I have spent a ridiculous amount of time and money on advertising in this space. I’ve learned a ton over the years through my own trial and error as well as working with many different companies, both large and small, on their paid Facebook marketing. So today, I’d love to share a few of my biggest tips with you.
Utilize targeting through Facebook’s ad platform. A lot of times when people get started with Facebook ads, they start by boosting a post. While that’s certainly not a bad place to start, really where I think the biggest opportunity for people is to go to Facebook’s ad platform at facebook.com/ads and use their targeting tool. The reason I say this is because the targeting with boosting a post is pretty limited. But when you’re using the ad platform you can target many things including age, gender, zip codes, income, net worth, millennials, people who have kids at home, people on their birthdays, people who have iPhones, etc. – the amount of targeting you can do through this platform is robust!
Use Facebook Insights to hone your ad targeting.
Pro tip: Look at your Facebook Insights to see statistics on your target market. Use this knowledge to improve your ad targeting. For even more in depth information, try the Audience Insights tool where you can get some amazing information on people you are already connected to on Facebook.
Create a custom audience. If you are doing any sort of email marketing, you can actually download your database and then upload it to Facebook so it becomes a custom audience. The benefit of doing this is now you can run ads that are just targeting people who already know you. This is huge. One of the ways we get people to buy from us is the know, like and trust factor. So if people already know, like and trust you enough to be on your email marketing list, running ads that will only be seen by them are going to be highly effective.
Use Facebook’s conversion pixels. This may sound complicated but it’s actually really easy. When you go to Facebook.com/ads you can create what’s called a custom pixel. Basically, you push a button and Facebook is going to shoot back to you this long piece of code. Then, all you need to do is copy and paste that code into your website. If you have WordPress, it’s very easy to do. If you work with a webmaster or someone else who manages your website, simply email them the code and have them drop it into your website.
Create a conversion pixel at Facebook.com/ads
The benefit of this is when you have a conversion pixel on your website, every time someone goes to your website, and then goes back to Facebook, they will see your ads. This is a small thing that can make a really big difference. Just like any other marketing, the more people see you the more likely they are to contact and work with you.
Split test. Split testing is something I do almost every time I run a Facebook ad. This is basically running the same ad/offer only you are going to change out the text, the headline and/or the image. Generally speaking, every time I run an ad I try to split test 5-7 different versions of that ad. My personal favorite method is to keep the text the same and change out the image. The beauty of split testing is it allows you to really see what is working.
Pro tip: Use Canva.com to create images for your Facebook ads. Canva offers specific sizes for Facebook ads, allows you to put text or your logo on an image and is a great, free tool. One thing to remember, with Facebook advertising only 20% of your image can be text.
Create powerful images for your Facebook ads using Canva.com
Images are everything. As we all know, a picture is worth a thousand words. Especially on Facebook, images and video are huge. Organically uploaded videos to Facebook can work really, really well for your brand. And like I just mentioned, creating powerful images using tools such as Canva can have a great return on your time and money investment.
The biggest thing with Facebook ads is you want to experiment. You want to test what works and what doesn’t work. And of course, things are always changing. Don’t be afraid to spend $5-$10 and try something out.
Check out my Periscope on this subject:
Looking for more Facebook ad tips along with tons of great social media advice and conversation? Join the #GetSocialSmart with Katie Lance Consulting Facebook Group. Also, be sure to check out this blog post on Facebook Dark Posts for tons of helpful Facebook tips.
