Facebook is a free social network with nearly a billion regular members. How can they keep their service free and still keep coming out with new and innovative services to please all their customers? Simple, they use online advertising just like Google and all the other major (and free) search engines and social networks. Facebook uses paid marketing ads to satisfy two primary goals: One, it makes the service money, allowing them to keep their servers running and pay overhead, which amounts to over a billion dollars year. And two, the service is able to provide all of its regular users with highly-targeted content and special offers that they might find interesting. Would you like to harness the power of Facebook marketing for your own business? Step right this way and take the plunge into advertising on Facebook.
The Difference Between Paid Marketing Ads On Facebook And Other Platforms
The difference between Facebook marketing and marketing on other paid ad platforms is that Facebook allows users to X-out of the ads they no longer want to see in their timelines. Facebook wants its ads to be targeted and wanted by the end user. They don’t want their ads to be an intrusion, as people may see them on other networks. In doing so, Facebook is attempting to make its paid marketing ads platform more user-friendly for advertisers and users alike.
Facebook marketing ads are similar to other platforms in a lot of ways also. For example, Facebook will only show your ads to interested users. The paid marketing ads will be targeted to users who ‘Like’ content related to the ads shown in your ads.
With the ability to target specific users and with users able to get rid of any ads they find irrelevant or intrusive, Facebook paid advertising is a highly-effective method for spreading your brand name far and wide.
Now let’s look at some specific strategies that can help you get more from your Facebook marketing efforts.
Choose Your Ad Types
Facebook paid marketing ads come in two primary types. You have your traditional type ads that you may be familiar with and then there are ‘Sponsored Stories’.
Regular Facebook marketing ads will be shown in the right hand column of your prospects’ Facebook pages. As we’ve already mentioned, these are individuals who are interested in your content.
Sponsored Stories are posts from your business that show up right in your target users’ news feeds. These are special stories that you can send to your audience that only they can see. This makes Sponsored Stories a great way to build even more trust with your audience.
Targeting With Facebook Paid Marketing Ads
Facebook allows you to focus your paid marketing ads according to the user’s location, demographics and according to certain likes and interests. You will get the option to set these preferences before your Facebook ads go live. Don’t just set and forget. Really consider the answers to your questions. Will your ads be better served to people in specific states or is nationwide coverage the smarter idea? Will men and women respond to your ads or is your audience primarily made up of women over 40? Ask yourself these very questions when placing your Facebook marketing ads and you’ll get much more bang for your buck.
Choose Your Landing Page Wisely
Where will you send your Facebook using prospects when they click on one of your ads? The answer to that question could make or break your conversion rate. Your choice of landing page is going to depend the goals you’re trying to reach. Are you trying to get more likes to your Facebook page? If that’s the case, your choice of landing page will be easy. On the other hand, if your Facebook marketing ads are intended to increase traffic to your primary offer or website, you will want to make sure you have a dedicated landing page for every ad group you send out.
Landing pages should be targeted and should offer very few choices for the visitor. Whether you want the Facebook user to buy or opt-into your email subscriber list, you need to make sure your landing page is designed to facilitate that and that it includes a very strong call-to-action so that your visitors know exactly what to do.
Are you ready to try your hand at Facebook paid marketing ads? If so, just log in to Facebook and find the Advertising on Facebook page to get started.
