We hope you find these tips for Facebook advertising useful.
Despite Facebook’s recent scandal, there is still a huge following of Facebook and advertising expenditure remained high for their business. Why? Because it works!
Firstly, does your business have a business Facebook page? It’s very important that it is a business page and not your personal page. There is lots more on offer for businesses on Facebook if you have your account set up as a business account. For example, you can boost posts (you pay for this) and you can create adverts.
The benefit of Facebook advertising is not only the awareness and profile that it can raise for your business, but you can set your budget. If you decide that $5 is your limit to spend, then that’s fine. You can also target the type of audience you would like to see your ads. So rather than saying that EVERYONE is my customer, remember to think back to your market research.
- Target your audience
What did your market research tell you? EVERYONE wasn’t your customer, right?! You may have a few different customer types, for example some of your target market is women aged 25-45. But you might also have a male target audience of 35-55. Your message to each of these customer types might be different. For example, if you run swimming classes, you may be targeting families for morning and afternoon swim times and classes. However, you might be targeting a different customer profile to avail of swimming facilities in the evening. So, this gives you a chance to run one ad for families with your target being male and/or female, of a certain age and living in a certain geographic area.
- Set your budget
The beauty is that you can set your budget for as little or as much as you like. You can also run the ad for as long as you like or can afford. So if you have just $5 to start advertising, then work away! You can test and see how effective Facebook advertising is for your business. If you decide it is working well for you, then you can increase your budget accordingly and keep testing various formats, audiences and budgets.
- Facebook Carousel ads
If you have lots of products on offer, then Facebook Carousel ads might work well for you. It is a single, swipe-able ad.
- Facebook Video ads
Video ads can be very effective and a great way of engaging with your customer base. A video can visually display what you do or sell sometimes a lot more effectively than a still image or words.
- Keep it simple
Like all advertising, simple works best.
- Test, test, test…
Feel free to try different formats, targeting various audience types, interests and age groups. Set a small budget to try out these tests and then in the end you’ll know what works best. However, that said, do know your audience and remember what your market research told you! It’s best to target who you know is your customer type!
Don’t be scared of Facebook advertising! Give it a try and see how it works for your business.