Creating an effective strategy for your Facebook ads requires careful planning and research. The good news is that Facebook gives you more options than other social media platforms. From targeting specific demographics and locations to creating ad schedules, here are endless possibilities available to you once you become familiar with the process. Here’s how an effective Facebook advertising agency uses the platform to boost an SME’s visibility.
Focus on actionable metrics over vanity metrics
Every small business owner has a set of goals they want to achieve in their business – whether it is getting more engagement or boosting your content.
The problem is that it is common for businesses to focus on the wrong metrics. Instead of focusing on actionable metrics, you could be measuring vanity metrics, which don’t really mean anything, to determine your company’s progress.
Vanity metrics are those numbers that aren’t necessarily a good indication of your company’s performance. For example, having 100 Likes on your Facebook page doesn’t necessarily mean you have a large following or that your business is making money. It only means that – you are only getting Likes from people who are already your customers and may or may not be buying from you regularly.
Actionable metrics, on the other hand, tell the real story about how your efforts are paying off, such as the number of leads you have generated from Facebook. For instance, Google Analytics is the best way to track actionable metrics because it will give you more detailed insights into the conversion process, so you can easily replicate it.
Metrics you should be tracking
There are plenty of ways to measure the effectiveness of your Facebook efforts. Measuring the below metrics will help you stay on track:
- Engagement: Engagement is what makes Facebook work for businesses. How many people saw your post? How many people engaged with it? How many people were convinced of your call to action?
- Response: Look at how people are responding to your posts. Are they negative, positive or neutral? How many comments did you get and what are they about? These numbers will give you a sense of whether you are making the right impression on your audience.
- Clicks to website: Did people click on links in your posts? If so, how many clicks did you get and where did they come from? All this data will help you understand what kind of content works best for your audience on Facebook.
- Post reach: Were people exposed to your post in their news feed or story? This gives you an idea of how effective the copy was in drawing attention – particularly if there was a call to action involved.
Create engaging visual content for your ad campaign
People process visual content 60,000 times faster than text and it is key to successful Facebook campaigns as visual content can provide your audience with a more engaging experience and improve your click-through rate. It should be eye-catching and relevant, which means it has to match your target audience’s interests.
Start by creating different types of engaging images as they are the most important part of a Facebook ad. Test the waters to see which works better for you. For instance, try using an image with a graph or chart to share a statistic related to your business and another with a funny pun. This will help you stand out from the crowd of other businesses that are sharing simple text posts but not providing visual information.
In addition, ensure you choose a compelling image that makes people stop and look at it. When someone sees your visual ad on their newsfeed, they will typically only see it for a couple of seconds before moving on to another post. So, if your ad isn’t able to grab the attention of your audience, you will end up wasting your ad spend.
Retarget ads to warm leads
Retargeting is the process of reaching people who have previously visited your website and Facebook ad retargeting is a powerful way to keep your business top-of-mind with potential customers. It is especially useful for small businesses that can’t afford massive advertising budgets and need to stretch every dollar.
Here’s how retargeting works in a nutshell: When people interact with your ad on the platform, Facebook’s algorithm recognises the profiles and stores their information in the system. You can use this data to specifically target a custom audience group for your retargeting campaign.
Remember that retargeting is a very effective strategy because it shows that you are not just trying to sell to everyone, but rather you are using data to specifically target those who have already shown an interest in your products or services. So, it is imperative for you to be brilliant at analysing data and using it to your advantage.
Mind your ad copies
A general piece of advice for running effective Facebook ads is that it is best to test different elements of the ad until you find one that works for your business. But it isn’t as nuanced as it sounds. Simply getting your basics right, such as writing a compelling ad copy, can also be a great starting off point.
Here are some quick tips that will simplify the process of writing a compelling ad copy for you:
- Describe your business and products/services briefly in your ad copy. Make it clear to your customers what you are selling.
- Be as specific as possible. People don’t have time to read long paragraphs, so try to be concise and get straight to the point.
- Your audience is likely to include many people who have never heard of you. Therefore, use images that help people understand what it is that you do.
- Add a call-to-action (CTA) button at the end of your ad copy, letting people know exactly what you want them to do on your landing page (ex. visit, buy, learn more, buy now, etc).
Bear in mind that narrowing down your segment before writing a good copy can do wonders. But if you continue to struggle, you might want to consider outsourcing Facebook advertising to a professional agency.
