Facebook Ads are nothing new, but the feature sets change frequently, which means marketers can’t get too comfortable with their campaigns. They are constantly in a state of testing and learning to see which practices will generate the best performance. Of course, Facebook isn’t about to share its secret sauce, and even if they were, the recipe would change soon enough. That doesn’t stop marketers from guessing what factors lead to success, though.
To be most successful with Facebook Ads, here are a few things you should do.
Be Engaging and Creative
You can target any audience you want, but you won’t be engaging unless you are creative.
An image is a great way to separate your Facebook Ad from the pack, just be sure to choose the right photo. What’s the ‘right’ photo you ask? It should align with your core message, be within your brand’s guidelines and be visually attractive. Hiring a talented graphic designer is your best bet.
One thing you will need to put aside: your text ad writing skills. A desktop newsfeed ad has a headline, link description and body text. Stick to these three components and make sure that you don’t exceed the character length. When the text is complete, test the ad.
Target the Right Audience
Creativity is important, but if you don’t target any particular audience, your efforts won’t go very far. Fortunately, Facebook has a few great tools that make targeting easy. Custom audiences is one of them. Upload your email or phone number lists and deliver a direct message to a specific group of Facebook users. Lookalike audiences based on your custom audiences are also worth checking out.
Facebook’s targeting features continue to get more specific. Years ago, marketers only had interests to work with, but now there are job titles, industry, financial, ethnic background and behavior-based targeting. The possibilities are endless, and you can set up custom messages for each audience to see what works best.
Don’t Forget Direct Marketing
It may seem strange to think that Facebook Ads could work outside social engagement and branding, but they do. Facebook Ads boost sales, conversions and brand recognition. Thankfully, Campaign Objectives has solved a lot of problems because the objective determines the types of targeting and ad units available.
Optimized CPM is another great idea from Facebook as it enables you to set an automated bid based on a cost-per-acquisition, cost-per-action and so on. It does require patience, as you must wait for Facebook to accumulate the appropriate data. Once this data rolls in, it’s well worth the wait.
