Facebook Ads: What are they all about?
Facebook Ads are bought based on an auction model. Advertisers are charged per click, impression, or actions. There are many formats available to advertisers. You will learn about the options that exist in the Facebook Ads ecosystem in this guide. Facebook allows you to create ads yourself via the Facebook self-service interface or via a certified API developer if you need more tool for managing Facebook ads. Ads appear all over Facebook and some even appear in the News Feed. The ads are in two main categories: Sponsored stories or Ads.
Who Should Use Facebook Ads?
Many businesses fail to see returns from Facebook Ads since it is not the right platform for them. You should always test marketing channels with a huge user base. However, you should consider if your business is a good fit for it.
Facebook ads display ads, unlike search ads on Google. These ads should thus be used to create demand and not try to fulfill it. Users go to Facebook to socialize; they are not really looking for anything.
Ask for Sign Ups
Successful businesses on Facebook request users to sign up instead of trying to get them to buy. This is called the low-friction conversion model. It is how you can succeed with Facebook Ads.
A visitor to your site was not searching for a product. They most likely clicked on the ad out of curiosity. If you try to make him or her buy a product to get a positive ROI, you will not succeed. If you ask for a major commitment, the users will likely go back to Facebook. The simplest way to get them interested is to ask for an email address or request them to fill out a short form. Even when your business is focused on selling products, you should focus on simple conversion like signing up to a newsletter. Later, you can sell your products via email.
Business Model
When you ask for the email, you will eventually need to make money from the users if you are to see an ROI. The best model is one where businesses earn from users over time instead of converting immediately. When a user gives you their email, it is important to build trust over time. Do not seek to make one huge purchase; try to focus on several small purchases over time.
Targeting Ads on Facebook
The major mistake marketers make when they use Facebook Ads is a failure to do proper targeting. This is despite the fact that Facebook has some of the broadest ad targeting options. The options for Facebook ads include location, gender, age, interests, connections, languages, relationship status, workplaces, and education.
Each option can be useful depending on the product that you sell. The best targets for ads should be age, location, interests, and gender. Interest is one of the most misused options on Facebook. You can target either broad categories or precise interests.
Broad Category
Broad categories include things like horror movies, gardening, and electronics. Recent additions to Facebook include expecting parents, away from home, and Has Birthday in 1 Week. Broad targeting may make it easy to reach a wide audience but you will also pay more and get less.
Precise Interest
This type of targeting lets you target users based on the information they provide on their profile. This includes listed interests and likes, apps they use, pages they like, and other timeline content they offer Facebook. The best ROI comes from precise targeting.
A major mistake that advertisers make with precise interests is going for the largest target group. These groups cost more and the ROI is lower. Instead, you should focus on specific interests that customers have.
Useful Tip
You should consider using Facebook Connect as the signup option. This way, after users connect to your site using their account, you can analyze their interests with ease. The data you gain from this can be used to find groups with high-affinity interests.
How to Bid on Facebook Ads
Like other popular ad networks, bidding can determine if you will make a profit or losses. After you create the ad, Facebook gives you a suggested bid rage. When you start, set the bid at the lower range. The CTR will quickly begin dictating the precise amount you need for the traffic. If the CTR is high, the suggested bids will go down and vice versa. Ad optimization is important to reduce your bids. The bid amount also dictates how many people you can reach. There are charts that show you the total audience and what percentage of the audience you reached.
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