3 Tips For Creating Facebook Ads That Work
For many smaller brands, relying on the organic growth their Facebook presences is often the norm. After all, marketing budgets are tight, and the thought of spending even just a few hundred a month on advertising through Facebook can seem ludicrous. But as I’ve explored in previous writings, Facebook fans can be worth an exceptional amount to any business that actively engages with them and stirs conversation using engaging content.
In this article, I will explore just a few ways that businesses can develop and optimize Facebook ad campaigns that work.
1. Have A Plan
The first step for any successful business venture is often to have a strategy or a reason to be doing something. Whether it’s a new direction, location, or product for a company, having a why before heading knee-deep into the water generally doesn’t hurt.
And the same holds absolutely true for Facebook ads. Though ads without any sort of strategy will work and convert, resulting in more fans and most likely greater engagement, the most successful ad campaigns will be the ones that have some sort of follow-up strategy beyond the initial contact. For example, having some sort of event or promotion that potential fans can enter in will generally yield greater results (and be easier to track) than simply asking users to like a page, because you’ll have the added benefit of being able to track where those users are going.
Further, it is also extremely important to consider the particular demographics that are hoping to be targeted. For example, if a particular business is a luxury car dealership, they probably wouldn’t want to target high-school students that are interested in fast food. On the other hand, they might want to target vice presidents of companies or lawyers that are interested in Rolex watches and Starbucks coffee.
2. Create Many, Many Ads
Though some businesses might be able to find success by using the same ad over and over again, generally, Facebook users will get bored or tired of ads after only viewing them a few times. That’s why it is important to test out many — think 10s — ads in an effort to appeal to a wide variety of users. Additionally, testing out different types of ads — for example, sponsored stories v. simple text ads — in order to find out what yields the greatest conversion rates initially can help any business to develop an efficient and effective Facebook advertising campaign.
But the importance of trying out many ads cannot be diminished — generally the best Facebook ad strategies are those that work through trial-and-error, discovering which ads will result in greater conversion rates, and what sort of ads (and copy) to avoid.
3. Measure Results and Optimize or Rethink
The final step is to then use Facebook’s detailed ad analytics to determine which ads are the most successful and which aren’t. Ideally, a successful ad will have a very high like-rate, while keeping the cost-per-click on the low-side of the spectrum. Find out which ads have been the most successful, and attempt to apply those same concepts to other ads.
On the other hand, if none of the ads are successful, it might be time to rethink the entire advertising campaign altogether. If nothing is working, head back to the drawing board and consider new ways to appeal new users. Are there any sorts of events or specials that, if highlighted, would catch the eye of a potential fan? What are the most intriguing aspects of your business that you can think of?
Of course, there are many other factors that go into making a successful Facebook ad campaign, such as what sort of products a business is highlighting, what type of business it is, and others. That said, just because an advertisement isn’t working doesn’t necessarily mean that that business can’t find success through writing. As advertising genius David Ogilvy once wrote, “there are no boring products, only boring writers.” In essence, it isn’t simply a matter of having something to advertise, but rather advertising it in such a way so as to attract the attention of Facebook users. If the ad bores users, come up with better ways to appeal to them. Don’t just keep banging your head against the same dysfunctional advertisement over and over.
Source: MSM DesignZ, Inc. is a Westchester social media company based in NY specializing in advertising, web and graphic design, and SEO.