Sarah Smith, Manager Online Sales Operations at Facebook, presented an invaluable session to share best practices for creating Facebook ads. The comprehensive presentation included steps on how to target a specific audience, create compelling ads (including ad copy and images), optimize ads for the biggest ROI and generate demand for your business or product on Facebook.
The Facebook mission: To give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected. This mission is translated into millions of users who are very active on the site on a daily basis.
Some key differences between paid advertising on Facebook vs. other platforms:
- The value of the Facebook advertising platform is primarily in demand generation rather than demand fulfillment.
- The most successful advertisers on Facebook use it to stimulate interest in their brand, products, or service
- Keep in mind that advertising on Facebook is about engaging with your customers and finding them early in the buying & decision making cycle – before they begin serious research via Google.
What marketers need to know about Facebook advertising?
Advertisers on Facebook have a lot of targeting options:
- Geo- targeting
- Birthday (ads appear to users on their actual birthday)
- Keyword suggestor tool (based on keywords listed in the “interests” section of a user’s profile)
- Target multiple languages
- Targeting based on user behavior & connections. Advertisors can target audiences who have engaged with their ads in the past, or who are fans of a particular fan page.
Tips for delivering ROI from Facebook Advertising:
- Start by creating with multiple ads, then narrow down ads as you begin to see results.
- Target relevant audiences. Users have the ability to give a “thumbs down” to ads they feel are irrelevant, which drives up cost per click.
- Design compelling creatives, and refresh them constantly (even just changing the image color can result in increased interest in an ad. After about 2 weeks, interest in an ad dramatically decreases.
- Create relevant, socially enabled landing pages
- Use Facebook reporting
How to create a successful Facebook ad:
- Use an image that reflects the landing page.
- Have strong call to action
- Optimize landing pages and ad copy with target keywords
- Some ads give users the opportunity to become fan of a Facebook page inline, without ever visiting the fan page.
- Facebook recently added a new ad feature for events. Advertisers pay only when a user RSVP’s yes or maybe.
How to increase Facebook ad click-thru rate (CTR):
- Keep ads short and simple (don’t use the whole character limit)
- Ask questions in ad text
- Avoid over capitalization of words and letters
- Write a strong call to action – “Act Now”
- Mention an offer or discount code
- Don’t use the “%” sign in ad copy
For more on Facebook ads, including case studies, visit: http://www.facebook.com/advertising/
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Contributed by: Bhuvana Krishnan, Milestone Internet Marketing
