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.  

More than just machinery

Any production line consists of far more than just machinery these days. Even with the ‘march of the robot’, many human workers are needed to feed and maintain the equipment in the line.

These operatives fill the hoppers, check the machinery is running smoothly, answer alarms and clear blockages, as well as doing the many jobs that robots can’t, at the moment at least, carry out as efficiently as a human.

Motivating manufacturing workers is essential too

There is a huge number of motivational techniques being deployed in the offices around the world, these corporate ‘cheerleading strategies’ being shown to be effective at keeping the workforce happy and maintaining high levels of efficiency.

Manufacturing workers often feel disconnected

But the same cannot be said for the huge majority of production line / factory workers. Forbes in the USA carried out some research on worker disconnection, and found that :-

“The transportation, manufacturing, and production fields have the greatest percentage of workers who are most unhappy on the job.”

This is something that should worry any manufacturing business as if workers feel left out or ‘disconnected’ from the organisation, it can lead to a variety of unwanted effects:

1. It can create higher staff turnover rates, which at times where the pool of workers is low, can cause real issues
2. It often leads to lower overall productivity, staff simply not feeling it is worth the effort to try as hard as they might
3. It makes day-to-day life seem harder than it really is, factory workers often operating in locations far from the company’s main hub.

As you can imagine, faced with such issues, many manufacturing companies are looking for ways to enhance the communication with their production line teams.

Provide a single source of truth

One successful method has to been to provide what is seen as a single source of truth.  When this is done and all staff feel that they can rely on it, rather than handed down data, has been shown to be good for production, good for the employees and good for morale. 

Other ways of motivating factory workers are

Establish two way communication

Many organisations suffer from only having a one way information flow, that is from the management down to the mid management and eventually to the front line worker, whether these be in the office or factory.

However, it seems that the manufacturing sector suffers from this to a greater degree. As with the ‘office sector’, when this happens vital information does not flow ‘up’ the corporate ladder, something could well degrade overall efficiency.

You can look at operational communication as a pyramid. The very top issues official announcements that then cascade down to the rest of the organisation. In the middle the departments receive these and then pass them down to the lowest level, this consisting of small groups of staff. As this lowest level is where most of the manufacturing staff reside, it is imperative that the flow to this point is consistent and true.

The real importance here is that this level is the one where the factory workers come together to solve problems, overcome challenges and learn from each other. Businesses need to understand the wealth of knowledge that exists here. Operational managers can gain valuable insights into the day to day operations of the business. This gives them the chance to solve issues before they start having a greater impact. It is also true that fixing many small problems has a greater impact than solving just one big one.

However, this can only work where bottom to top information flows are encouraged and where the flow is not just considered as a list of problems, but of matters that need consideration.

Streamline processes and allow quick access to information

Research has shown that the average factory worker can spend up to 10% of their working week looking for information that they require if they are to do their job.

Sometimes, such needs are dealt with very quickly, a nearby co-worker being able to help. However, the answer that they receive may not be the best. Wouldn’t it be far better if there was a fully maintained system where up to date information on the changes and current procedures could be found.

This is leading to more and more manufactures moving to a mobile friendly digital workplace.

Providing ongoing training and upskill support

The fact is that many workers in manufacturing are nearing retirement. However, within this baby boomer generation lies a huge wealth of knowledge, all of which will be lost when they retire, unless steps are made to transfer it to the remaining employees.

Besides this, as the manufacturing industry itself changes, current staff also have to be retrained and new skills learnt. Again research shows that where businesses invest in their staff in this manner, they become more ‘emotionally involved’ and thus try that bit harder in the working environment.

Ensure Health and Safety Information is fully accessible

This is a vital area for any manufacturing business, and one that cannot be ignored. One way that any potential issues can be avoided is to ensure that all staff have access to accurate, upto date information on the procedures and how to steer clear of the dangers that they face every day.

Set up methods that facilitates the transfer of knowledge

All industries suffer from staff churn as people retire and move on to other jobs. And as with any organisation, the transfer of knowledge from old workers to new is crucial when wishing to maximise the efficiency of a business.

Whilst this problem is reasonably well covered in the non manufacturing arena, the manufacturing area suffers from a shortage of the digital tools necessary to ensure this knowledge transfer.

Conclusion

Ensuring that a manufacturing business is operating at maximum efficiency is therefore far more complicated and far-reaching than simply maintaining the production line machinery. The good news is that there are companies like Sandfield Engineering that can provide support in various ways, one of their strengths being their ability to solve complex engineering problems.

The term ‘marketing’ is often used to encompass anything you do to get business through the door. Many many think of advertising on TV or in the local papers when it comes to marketing, but the actual marketing process covers many areas, or at least it should if you want to get the best from your marketing budget to elevate and grow your company as it should be.

If you’re looking to get help with your marketing, you may be lucky enough to find one such as Exciting Futures that offers bespoke advice and services and a range of handy expert guides to get you started. Before you start any marketing program however, you’ll need understand why marketing and getting the process right is essential to the growth of your business.

The marketing process must

·      Understand the customers you have, want and strive for. Only by doing this can you ascertain what you are already doing well and where you need to change tactics.

·      Set a basic strategy. A strategy will help you decide if you are looking to grow by selling to more customers, selling more to the customers you have, or would benefit from extended or reduced products or services focus for your business or at least the campaign you are planning.

·      Work to a plan. You need a scope to follow that sets a budget and identifies what you will use to measure success or failure as you progress and in the future.

Following the basic steps above will give you valuable data about how successful your marketing has been and information that can help structure and drive future campaigns. This is important as the one thing you can not do is stand still. The only way to grow your business is to get the marketing right. No matter how great your company, product or service, if you don’t tell the right people in the right way about it, it won’t stay great for long. Only by continually marketing and getting the message out to the public can you be sure that your business will remain at the forefront of people’s minds. 

During the lifetime of a business, you will need grow your customer base, which is essential as it is inevitable that you will lose customers over time too, so you must attract new ones. You will see increased sales when your marketing is effective, but equally, if you do not follow rational marketing processes that are right for your aims and business, you can see a lot of money spent and wasted.

Drive awareness and growth

·      Optimise your website and social media. Use relevant SEO and metadata to drive traffic to relevant information and products. Learn about business marketing and enlist the help of appropriate experts where needed. After all, you may be great at making your products or directing services, but marketing takes skill and time that many business owners do not have, so don’t be afraid to spend money learning and seeking assistance. It could just save you money in the long run.

·      Use the free listings on sites such as Google My Business and Google Maps and business directories to drive traffic to you.

·      Be clear on what you are trying to achieve and think carefully about how you will approach customers. Timing is critical. You won’t sell a Christmas tree in April, so whilst this may seem an extreme example, your marketing process must be relevant to what is in people’s minds at the time. Think about your customer journey and habits, how they interact with your brand and the channels that draw them to you. The customer journey must align with your goals and marketing that answers their pain points, gives clear calls to action and lands where they look most will be effective if you understand your customer type.

 Every day can be a marketing day

Use everyday opportunities to bring your business to the forefront. Be social media active, keep it relevant, tell a story and answer pain points. Show a little of behind the scenes, perhaps, show your journey to become carbon neutral and organically drive traffic through interaction to support your planned marketing campaign.