Facebook ads have changed so much in the last few years. 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. In my opinion, Facebook Ads can truly be a game changer when it comes to promoting yourself and your brand.
According to Brandwatch, there are 50 million active small business Pages but only 2.5 million of those businesses pay to be active advertisers, although, 75% of brands will pay to promote posts.
Furthermore, 40% of users don’t like any brand pages – meaning paid adverts are the only way to reach them.
So, if you’ve never dipped your toe into Facebook advertising, or even if you have but haven’t seen the results you were seeking, I hope today’s post gives you the push to try it out. Here are a few of my biggest tips when it comes to using Facebook ads to market your business.
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 fairly 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!
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 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.
Pro tip: As your email list grows it does not dynamically update, you need to update your list periodically with Facebook to make sure you are truly targeting everyone on your list.
Use Facebook’s 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. If you have WordPress, it’s very easy to do; you need to add the code to your website between the head tags. 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. The benefit of this is when you have the Facebook 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.
Personally, I have found using this pixel is the single best way to target. When your page loads – the pixel loads alerting Facebook that the user has visited your site. You can then create audiences based on the pages people visit on your website and when.
Pro tip: Just like any other marketing, the more people see you the more likely they are to contact and work with you. The more people already know, like and trust you – the more they are willing to do business with you again and again.
It’s simple to install the Facebook pixel
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.
Use text sparingly in your Facebook ads – less than 20%
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.
Pro tip: In addition to Canva, PicMonkey.com is a great resource for editing and creating great ads!
If you found these tips helpful then be sure the check out our Facebook Ads Mini-Course – now available as part of our #GetSocialSmart Academy. Click here to join now >>
This 12-module course will teach you step-by-step how to build your own Facebook ad strategy. Even better? In addition to the course, you also receive access to the entire #GetSocialSmart Academy (a $3197 value) with your membership. Click here to join now >>
In the meantime, I’d love to hear your thoughts on this post. Leave a comment below or jump on over to our Social Media Forum Facebook group and join in the conversation.
