Facebook is the most popular social media mobile app in the United States. So it makes sense that it’s a great place to market your business or services. There’s a wrong and right way to go about it, though.
To make the most of your Facebook ads, you’ve got to avoid common mistakes.
How do you know what marketing moves are mistakes and which ones aren’t? If you’re looking to learn the difference, you’ve come to the right place. Keep reading for 12 tips for creating great Facebook ads that’ll bring in the sales you’re looking for.
1. Target a Specific Audience
You may think there are benefits to creating an ad that appeals to everyone. That may end up backfiring on you, though. In your efforts to draw everyone in, you may end up drawing in nobody.
Aiming to draw the attention of every kind of person brings the danger of making your ad too vague. Instead, narrow your audience and focus on them specifically. Whether that’s middle-aged women or young teens, you’ll have a better ROI.
This is a big reason why paid ads fail. You’ve got to know your audience or you’re wasting your marketing money.
2. Hone Your Offers
What are you offering in your ad? You may not think this is hugely important as long as it’s something people want. If so, you’re wrong.
The thing or service you’re offering in your ad is important, yes. But the way you present it matters even more.
You can’t just say “Hey, look, I’m selling a shirt” and expect people to get excited about it.
Invoke emotion within your offer. Don’t just focus on the item or service. Focus on why someone would want to pay for it.
For example, one ad may sell a special kind of paper. Another may sell that special paper, but the company will plant a tree for every box of it that you buy.
Which ad is more likely to get sales? If you said the second one, you’re right.
3. Utilize Audience Insights
Facebook offers a tool known as Audience Insights. Don’t skip using this tool! It provides information that can be absolutely invaluable.
We talked about important it is to know your audience. This tool helps you get to know them.
Find out helpful insights about your target audience, including what pages they like, where they’re from, how they use Facebook, what they purchase, and more.
You can do your own research, sure. But you’ll save yourself a lot of time and money if you take advantage of this tool instead.
4. One-Up Your Competitors
Researching your audience is great. Researching your competitors is also great. Researching both is dynamite.
When you know both your audience and your competitors, you have a major advantage.
You know your audience, so look at how your competitors are reaching out to them. Find out what they’re most successful offers and campaigns are or have been.
Once you know that information, you can replicate it, but take it one step further.
The key is offering something even better. Make it similar to what your competitor offers, but make it clear to your audience that they should choose your offer instead.
5. Utilize Carousel Ads
Facebook inserts carousel ads as users are scrolling through their app. Make sure you plan some ads that work with this marketing format.
Carousel ads require you to provide multiple images that the user will swipe through. The effort for another couple images is worth it though. Users will naturally want to see the whole message, so they’ll swipe.
This type of ad requires user interaction, where stationary ads along the side of someone’s browser don’t. Try it out and see the difference it can make.
Maybe the coolest thing about this type of ad is that you can include several CTAs and link to multiple landing pages, all in one ad! And, it’s available for desktop Facebook as well as the app.
7. Create Multiple Ads
You may have more than one target audience. That’s okay. But that means you should create multiple ads.
You may be trying to sell one item, but you can advertise it in different ways to appeal to different audiences. Create a set of ads for each audience, then make sure they reach the right people.
This way, you can reach out to more than one audience but you don’t risk being too vague.
You can create multiple ads for a single audience, too. A person may not feel pulled in by one ad, but another might pull them in. Try advertising the same thing to the same audience in different ways.
8. Send them to Landing Pages
Where do you ads send people? If a click takes a potential customer to your homepage or shopping cart, you’re not maximizing the potential power of your ad.
Instead, send them to a landing page. Your landing page should include information about the offer, coupons, a free download, or whatever else will get the person more invested. It’s also good to have a lead capture form on your landing page, so don’t leave that out.
If someone clicks on your ad and ends up on your homepage, they won’t know where to find the offer they were looking for. Take them to the right place and give them the information they want.
9. Pay Attention to Sales
So people are clicking on your ads. That’s awesome. But that isn’t the end result you’re looking for, is it?
If those clicks don’t convert to sales, something isn’t working.
Don’t allow yourself to fall into a false sense of security because you’re receiving clicks. Those clicks don’t mean anything (except lost money) if the people clicking don’t make a purchase.
Remember, you’re being charged for those clicks. So if they aren’t bringing the sales you need, you’ve got to change something (and we don’t mean your budget).
10. Use Engagement Ads
Facebook will only allow organic posts to reach so many of your followers. You may have 500 followers, but that doesn’t mean they all see your posts. In fact, it’s likely that most of them don’t.
To help with this issue, make sure you use engagement ads. Engagement ads will make sure your posts get to the people who’ll interact with them. This may, in turn, encourage others to interact as well.
Interactions may include shares, purchases, likes, and more– anyway, a Facebooker engages with your content. You want to show some interaction with your customers, and this is a great way to do it.
People like to see the interaction between a business and its customers. If they see it, they’re more likely to become customers themselves.
11. Use Video Ads
Video ads are huge on Facebook. They grab attention like nothing else, so make sure you use them.
Visuals are great. They’re even better if they’re moving. Anyone scrolling through their feed will pause for at least a small amount of time to see what’s playing as it goes by. If they like what they see, they’ll stop.
Make sure your videos offer closed captioning. Many Facebook video ads are watched without sound, so cater to that! Videos can still be powerful, even if the viewer is in a setting that doesn’t allow them to play sound.
12. Keep it Short and Simple
Make sure your ads are to the point. This applies to both video and other types of ads.
If you’re in a hurry, how likely are you to watch a two-minute commercial? How about a ten-second one?
Even if you’re not in a hurry, you’re much more likely to stick around for the entire thing if it’s short. Don’t be overly wordy, and don’t beat around the bush. State your offer, make it compelling, and be done.
Try leaving a story unfinished. People will want to click to find out where it goes.
Try These Tips for Great Facebook Ads
If you’re looking to produce great Facebook ads, this is the way to do it. Each of these 12 tips will help you engage your audience more and convert those clicks to sales.
Don’t be afraid to get creative. Think outside the box. Have you stuck with graphics in all your previous ads? Try photos or video of actual people this time.
Shake things up and try these awesome tips. They’re sure to help your ads perform better than they have been in the past.
Converting awesome marketing ideas into reality can be hard, even if you load up on helpful tips. We’ve got the know-how to make it happen. Contact us today to see how we can help.
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