By this time, you already know that Facebook advertising is a necessity for most businesses. According to statistics, there are 2.2 billion Facebook users around the world in 2017, which makes Facebook ads a great way to get the attention you need.
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With the recent changes in the platform’s algorithm—giving more importance to posts of friends, advertising on Facebook is no longer just an option.
If you are still on the fence about doing Facebook ads, thinking that you belong to the select few who are not fit for Facebooks ads or still unsure if you are ready to click that Place Ad button, here are a few questions you should ask yourself. Consider this as a research guide to make sure you are not wasting resources.
1. Is your audience on Facebook?
While Facebook ads are cheaper compared to most digital ad forms, spending on it without making sure that your audience uses Facebook is still not a good idea.
As mentioned, almost everybody is now on Facebook. However, there are special cases where the decision makers in your industry are not active on Facebook.
For instance, if you are a distributor of heavy duty equipment for construction, your target audience is most likely not on Facebook. And even if they are, targeting them would be very difficult. The professionals in these types of industry mostly rely on top industry websites or directories.
Creating buyer personas can help you a lot in your advertising goals regardless of the platform. By defining their background, specific needs, behavior, and interests, you will have a better understanding how to reach them.
Conduct surveys, interviews, and collect data through market research to build a persona profile. You may also check the social media profiles of some of your customers to see their common traits.
2. Have you clearly defined your audience?
A very important part of Facebook advertising is targeting. Even if you already have a good idea of your audience’s interest and behavior, it is still best to segment them into multiple categories since not all your ads will be of interest to all of them.
They can be categorized by function, role, knowledge/experience domains, shared similarities, and more.
You can also find data on your Facebook Page’s Audience Insight. You can ask yourself questions such as which segments are ready to buy or which ones have no decision-making powers, then target them with different campaigns.
3. What types of offer do they like?
Creating offers is one of the best ways to convert a prospect into a customer or simply move them further down the marketing funnel. Offers can range from downloadable guides to a free consultation.
Through offers, customer loyalty is built, especially if you give your audience what they want. They will trust your brand, share their experience with others, and keep on coming back.
The challenge is to identify what your audience is interested in. Creating successful offers is about knowing the interests of your audience while figuring out where they currently are in the buying stage.
For example, you can offer discounts for your first-time shoppers. It’s a small push to convince them to try your product.
Experiment with the different approaches for each campaign to get an idea of what works. You can gain a lot by providing your customers what they want.
4. What types of placements work for your audience?
Facebook offers multiple placements like desktop, mobile, Instagram, instant articles, and audience network.
Choosing the right placement is important to ensure you’re serving your ads to where your audience are most active in.
Here’s an infographic from Spiralytics to help you choose the placements.
When picking your ad placement, you should always keep in mind your campaign objective. Your objective might work for your competitors, but might not work for you. So you should consider trying other placement that will work for your goals.
5. Do you know what attracts the attention of your audience?
Not only do you have to consider what type of placements to use and where to put them, but also what your Facebook ads should look like. This is a key factor to consider to stand out from tons of ads on Facebook.
Since most users are just scrolling on their feeds, having eye-catching visuals is a must. Avoid using generic stock photos if possible. You can also experiment with videos if you want a longer interaction with them.
Your ads should also have a compelling copy and Call to Action. After all, it’s “writing that sells.” Make sure it speaks to your audience and hits the spot for them to want to know more about your product or service.
All of these can be standardized if you have brand guidelines and are consistently doing A/B tests.
