Social media seems to have taken the world by storm within the last several decades, and advertising is certainly no exception. As a modern-day marketer, it can be easy to get caught up in the seemingly countless platforms to promote your business, which is why we’ve created a series to better assist you in utilizing each platform to its greatest capability. First up, Facebook.
Although younger generations may be shying away from Facebook, with over 2.32 billion active users worldwide, Facebook proves its relevancy by providing businesses with the largest advertising opportunity. Facebook has even developed a business manager within the platform, Facebook Business, to aid companies with the otherwise often daunting task of connecting with the consumer. As a platform that simply cannot be ignored by marketers, we’ve highlighted some best practices to consider:
- Take Advantage of Facebook’s Target Audience Tools
Considering that advertisements are only effective when met by an interested audience, Facebook allows businesses to target audiences in nearly any way imaginable. In addition to location, demographic, interest, and behavior-based targeting, Facebook also allows marketers to target an audience based on website traffic, app activity, and engagement. Facebook aids businesses in the process of improving performance, as well, by indicating when a target is too narrow or broad. The more a business refines its audience, the more likely the ad is to resonate with users that are exposed to it.
- Experiment with Different Types of Ads
Aside from Facebook’s in-depth targeting capabilities, Facebook proves its utility to marketers with a wide variety of advertisement types that are suitable for any budget. Facebook’s most basic ad types are image and video ads, or users can choose to feature several images through a slideshow, carousel, or collection ad. Lead Generation Ads and Offer Ads serve as a great way to increase brand awareness and sales. While there are a plethora of Facebook ads to explore, trial and error often serve as the best model for determining what is most effective for your business.
- Optimize Your Budget
One of the greatest assets of advertising via Facebook is that the platform grants a brand with the freedom to define its own budget. Although Facebook allows users to set a budget of small denominations, it can be easy to get carried away with spending, which is why it’s important to understand the several options available. Facebook offers users the ability to set a “lifetime” budget, but a daily budget allows for more of an equal sharing of the budget within a given time span. In addition, a daily budget determines the best opportunities to serve your ad based on an average over the course of time.
- Embrace Retargeting
Retargeting or Remarketing is a form of marketing that is designed to keep your brand at the forefront of the consumer subsequent to leaving your site. As a cookie-based technology, simple JavaScript code is utilized to essentially follow your audience all over the web once they’ve been on your site. Facebook allows businesses to create a custom audience made up of this population, which is quite arguably the most valuable group as these individuals are already aware of your brand. Retargeting often serves as a means of enhancing an existing engagement, something that has proved to benefit brands immensely.
Advertising through social media is all about experimentation to ultimately decipher what works best for your business. While there is no definite right or wrong way for businesses to go about advertising via Facebook, there are certainly some tips and tricks that we’ve picked up along the way that we hope can guide your experience in Facebook advertising.