According to Huffington Post, Facebook is one of the best social media platforms to use in advertising. It consists of the largest blend of demographics and is one of the easiest platforms to use.
Through Facebook you can advertise in a variety of ways. Below is a list of types of ads you can employ when digital marketing on Facebook:
- Newsfeed
- Right Column
- Lead
- Carousel
- Dynamic Product
- Page Like
- Canvas
- Event
- Mobil app Install
- GIF
In addition to these many ways to advertise, there are a hundred different choices you will have to make about you ad before you post it. To make sure your ad is as effective as possible, you should experiment with the following tools, to find out what works best for your business.
1. Image is Everything
Having a great visual to go along with an ad, will allow you to stand out against the million of posts and updates. In fact, studies have shown that images are responsible for 75- 90% of an ads success.
To create your best image consider:
- Placing your offer in the image through text.
- Offering a lead magnet
- Showcasing a chart showing positive business growth
- Using images that will evoke emotions from your audience
- Using images of real people rather than just stock images
- Using bold bright colors or no color at all
- Using positive symbols like checkmarks or stars
- Being simplistic
2. Format Your Ad For a Specific Audience
Knowing whom you are selling to is extremely important when advertising. Businesses that don’t know their target audience produce general ads that lack substance. Once you know whom you’re selling to, experiment with these techniques to find what works best for you:
- Use an agency to help such as SEO Melbourne
- Try a new ad type
- Match your content to audience type. This graphic by Klient Boost explains what type of content you should do for each of the three types of audiences.
The ice cubes represent people who have never heard of you or visited your site. The orange dot are your “luke warm” audience, meaning people who have heard of you, but haven’t bought from you or aren’t sure about your company. Finally, the Volcano represents people who have bought something before or are clearly on their way to becoming a customer. Each of these customer types need something different. - Be location specific; this is especially effective when it is combined with retargeting.
- Use offers that require less investment when trying to acquire new buyers.
3. Create Killer Copy
On a Facebook advertisement very few words will be used. However, that only serves to make the words you do include more important. To really hook your audience, try these different approaches:
- Use your Headline in the Content and the Image
- Create a deadline on offers. To do this effectively be sure to define the date, have an irresistible offer, keep it simple and brief, put the offer in the headline, and make sure the offer on the ad matches the landing page.
- Make the offer less about what your company offers and more about the consumer.
- Play up to the audience’s curiosity. Asking questions that make the viewer wonder if they qualify for something automatically peaks their interest.
- Try using different ad lengths.
- Take away any excuses they have not to buy your product by addressing any concerns your customer might have in the ad.
- Make the customer feel safe by offering free trials or a money back guarantee.
- Use testimonials from past customers.
- Use numbers, the more out of the ordinary the better.
- Use fun facts or research results.
Any combination of these advertising techniques could work for your business. The key to being successful is to study what appeals to your target audience, and how to stand out from your competitors. With these tools at your fingertips and that understanding your click through rate will go up. However, keep in mind that click through rate isn’t everything.
If your conversion rate is still low, make sure that your content is meeting the expectations your ad set up. If you still have problems after examining your content, go back and try a new combination from the approaches above until you find what works best for you.
[Images – Main: Pixabay; Cat: Pixabay]
Kris Olin, MSc (Econ.) * Editor in Chief at Social Media Revolver * Web Designer * SEO Specialist * Author of the Facebook Advertising Guide. Follow Kris on Twitter and LinkedIn. See his photos at Flickr.