Did you know that there are more than 2 billion monthly active users on Facebook?
Did you know that users spend an average of more than 40 minutes on Facebook every day?
Did you know that businesses who use Facebook as a marketing channel see a 2X higher return on investment than those who don’t?
Most marketers agree that targeting audiences on Facebook is one of the most effective and cost-efficient ways to get your business seen by the right people. So, keep reading to find out how.
Why is Facebook Advertising so effective?
Targeting
The targeting options for Facebook ads are very powerful. That means you can target very specific audiences with your ads. You can target audiences based on things like their age, gender, interests, job title, or where they live. This level of targeting allows you to get your ads in front of the people who are most likely to be interested in your product or service. This leads to better ad click-through rates (CTR), better ad conversion rates, and a lower cost per acquisition (CPA).
Visual
Facebook has become a more visual platform in recent years. Visual ads are more engaging than plain text ads, so they can help you get more clicks, more traffic to your website, and more sales.
Cost-effective
Advertising on Facebook usually comes at a fraction of the cost of traditional advertising like print, radio and TV. In fact, you may be able to build a strong advertising campaign for as little as $20 per day!
Tracking and ROI
Depending on how you set up your Facebook ads you can choose to only pay when someone clicks on your ad! You can gather data on how many times your ad was seen (impressions) and how many times it was clicked.
You can integrate your website to the data so you can even see what people do once they come from Facebook onto your website! You can even retarget people by serving them ads after they have been on your website. There is no way that traditional advertising can offer any of these valuable tools.
Facebook ad types
From Facebook...
Image ads
You can use the image format in the Facebook News Feed to show off your product, service or brand. Choose an interesting image of a product to encourage people to learn more about it, or use an eye-catching photo to showcase your brand personality.
Video ads
You can use the video format in the Facebook News Feed to show off your product, service or brand in new ways. Include movement and sound to capture attention quickly and show unique features of a product or tell your brand story.
Carousel ads
You can use the carousel format in the Facebook News Feed to showcase up to ten images or videos within a single ad, each with its own link. With more creative space within an ad, you can highlight different products, showcase specific details about one product, service or promotion, or tell a story about your brand that develops across each carousel card.
Collection ads
You can use the collection format in the Facebook News Feed to make it easier for people to discover, browse and purchase products and services from their mobile device in a visual and immersive way.
A collection ad in Facebook News Feed includes a cover image or video followed by three product images. When someone taps on a collection ad, they see an Instant Experience – a full-screen landing page that drives engagement and nurtures interest and intent. When you create your Instant Experience, you can use the storefront, lookbook or customer acquisition templates, or build a custom Instant Experience.
How to create a Facebook ad
Image - Choose an image that represents your brand or product. The image you choose will be the picture that is shown beside your ad. This is one of the most important parts of your ad, and it’s critical to get it right.
Headline - The headline of your ad is a great way to quickly convey what your product is and why someone should click through.
Description - The description is also important, as it can be used as the ad copy on Facebook. Facebook’s guidelines say the description should be around 70-100 words and that it should include a link.
Targeting - Once you’ve got your ad set up, you need to select the targeting that you want your ad to use. Facebook’s robust targeting features can help you tailor your ad to reach the specific audience you want to reach.
What does targeting an audience on Facebook mean?
Before we dive into the different targeting options, let’s start with a quick definition. Targeting an audience on Facebook means that you choose to show your ad to a specific group of people based on their demographic, psychographic, or behavioural information.
Let’s say that you’re a travel company that is looking to promote your travel packages. You can target people who have shown an interest in travelling, or who have shown an interest in specific destinations. You can also target people based on their travel-related behaviours, like people who have searched for “flight deals” or “hotels near me” in the past 30 days.
Targeting based on interests
With hundreds of millions of users on Facebook, it’s no wonder why marketers have long relied on interests as a targeting method. After all, interests are usually very specific.
For example, if you’re interested in meditation and mindfulness, you can simply choose that interest and Facebook will allow you to narrow it down even further by choosing a few related interests, like yoga or meditation music.
When you target audiences based on their interests, Facebook will try to find a match with users who have already indicated that they are interested in that topic by Liking pages related to that interest. This is why you should always try to find and Like pages related to your business and/or your products and services.
Targeting based on behaviours
This targeting method is very similar to the interests targeting method, but with one difference. Instead of targeting users based on what they’ve indicated, they’re interested in, you target them based on what they’ve done.
For example, if you want to target people who are interested in yoga, you can choose that interest and then target people who have searched for yoga-related things online, have downloaded yoga apps, or have purchased yoga-related products in the past 30 days.
The primary benefit of behaviour-based targeting is that it allows you to reach people who may not be actively looking for what you have to offer. This means that you can potentially engage people early and often, which is very important because the rule of thumb is that it takes an average of seven times for someone to become a customer.
Targeting based on demographics
One of the most traditional methods of targeting audiences on Facebook is by choosing and targeting people based on their demographics.
For example, you can choose to target people based on their age (18–34 years old, 35–54 years old, 55 years or older), gender, relationship status, or education level.
This method of targeting can be very useful for marketers who want to build a brand and create brand awareness. Keep in mind, however, that this targeting method is not as effective as the other two methods.
How to use these three types of ad targeting together
Now that you’ve learned about the different types of ad targeting, let’s talk about how to combine them to create the most effective ad targeting strategy.
It’s important to remember that you can’t select all three targeting methods at the same time. You need to choose only two of these targeting methods so that you create a more focused ad campaign.
Let’s say that you sell yoga mats and yoga gear. You can start by choosing the “Demographics” targeting method, and then choose “Age” as the subcategory. You can then choose “Adults” as your second targeting method, and as your subcategory, you can select “Age” again. You can then choose “18–34 years old” as your targeting subcategory.
Summary
The Facebook advertising platform is one of the most powerful marketing tools available to businesses.
With billions of people visiting Facebook every month, there’s a huge opportunity to grow your business. The key to successful Facebook ads is to create compelling ads that will resonate with your target audience.
The more targeted your ads are the better, so it’s important to select the right demographics and use advanced targeting.
With the tips we’ve shared in this post, you should be well on your way to creating Facebook ads that drive real results for your business. Sing out if you need some help putting together a campaign that could change your business.
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