In the digital age, having some type of social media profile seems just about as common as having a cell phone. And when it comes to getting the attention of customers, there’s no better way to do it than to go where your customers are. Nearly two-thirds of all Americans use social media, with over 75 percent of online adults using Facebook.
Executing a great Facebook Ad strategy from Facebook’s Business Manager platform requires some setup work in the very beginning so you can target the right audience and efficiently track performance. So where do you start? With your own business records, of course!
Custom Audiences: Facebook affords you the ability to upload contact lists of current customers, leads, your high school crushes, etc. (scratch that last) for you to target, and even replicate. If you have captured any of this data, it would be a good idea to upload it into Ads Manager right away. To do this, go to the Audiences section on the main menu. You will be able to create a custom audience there by uploading your contact list.
Once you have your list uploaded into Facebook, you will be able to either advertise directly to these people, OR advertise to people like them. To do the latter, you can create a Lookalike Audience based on the data in your customer list. Essentially, once Facebook has the demographics of your personal contacts, it can create a separate audience comprised of people from across the Facebook community who closely resemble them. Lookalike Audiences is one of the most simple, yet useful tools Facebook offers.
Facebook Pixel: While Custom Audiences allow you to target the right people, the Facebook Pixel is crucial to tracking your marketing efforts. The pixel isn’t as complicated as perhaps it sounds – it’s just a snippet of code you can copy and paste into the HTML of your website. Its optimal placement would be on a landing page or thank you page, to track visits or purchases of a product. Every time someone visits a certain page from a Facebook ad, the pixel will track and report this visit. In the Pixels section of Ads Manager, you will be able to generate the code that will become your Facebook Pixel.
Setting up your Custom Audiences and the Facebook Pixel will form the basis for the rest of your ad strategy. The next part of your killer Facebook Ads strategy involves getting your Facebook page seen by the right audiences, then driving potential customers to your website.
Like Campaigns: Few customers will want to purchase your product or service if your Facebook page has 10 likes, right? Like campaigns allow you to promote your Facebook page so it looks more attractive for your company. Not only can you create an ad with a fantastic image, a catchy call-to-action and flashy ‘Like’ button – you can target this ad to your Custom Audiences OR a specified set of behaviors/interests on Facebook. These behavior groups include factors as specific as income and education levels. You will want to set up your Like Campaign to target your ideal customer base as much as possible, but it also might be useful to run your campaign in your home city, where people already know your business and would be more apt to like your page.
Website Clicks: So you ran a Like Campaign for a good period of time, say a month or two. Now your Facebook page has some fans, and it’s time for your company to start attracting visitors and leads to your website. But whom do you target as potential leads, given the Facebook community is so vast?
We suggest starting with the following approach, to see what works knowing you can always adjust your strategy further down the road. Divide that marketing budget between three ad sets targeting three different audiences in the following way:
- People who like your page already. This will give your fans a chance to visit your site and learn more about how great your company is.
- A lookalike audience based on previous contact list (see above). This will help you target people who behave like your current customers and leads.
- Your ideal target audience. You can establish this ad set using Facebook’s detailed targeting options.
When your ads are done running, Facebook will give you detailed reports on how many clicks each ad set generated to your website, and you will be able to adjust your strategy based on what works and what doesn’t.
While a specific formula for success with Facebook Ads doesn’t really exist, the best practices outlined above should give you some great ideas to get started. Keep in mind that marketing your business is a highly personal endeavor that is enhanced by the unparalleled access to potential customers that Facebook provides.
As strategic marketers, the WordWrite team proudly helps companies use Facebook Ads to tell the right stories to the right audiences. Want to learn how to create a solid Facebook Ad strategy from the ground up? Shoot me an email at sam.bojarski@wordwritepr.com.
Image credit: Pixabay
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Sam Bojarski is an account coordinator at WordWrite Communications.
