Facebook ads are still very much alive, although it seems that Instagram is taking over. The truth is, you can target both the Facebook and Instagram audience when you run ads on Facebook but can’t target the Facebook audience from Instagram. Also, there are more audiences and better targeting data on Facebook to get the best of your ads. Better results are gotten when you use the best Facebook ads strategies.
It is almost impossible for brands not to run ads on Facebook. This is because the algorithm has made it difficult for a business post to go far organically. It is just 1 out of 10 of your followers that would see your ads, hence, the need for paid promotions and ads.
This proves the fact that Facebook ads are still the king and for you to get the most out of Facebook, you have to learn and apply the best strategies.
Best Facebook ads strategies
Having the best strategy for your Facebook ads campaign starts with choosing the best ads objectives. There are different objectives for running ads on Facebook, these objectives could be brand awareness, reach, engagement, traffic, video views, lead generation, conversion, sales, etc. Choosing the best objectives for your Facebook ads is the first step toward an effective campaign.
After choosing the right campaign, the next step is targeting the right audience. Target the people that fit into your buyer persona, with that you’re sure to reach people who you’re sure would be interested in your brand.
With these in mind, you can adopt these 8 strategies:
Leverage Facebook data analytics:
Facebook Analytics has a lot of useful features that allow you to see how prospects and customers are interacting with your website, app, Facebook page, etc.
Facebook’s data analysis would give you a complete insight into how your ad is doing. You can leverage this information to do better.
Use videos:
Video marketing is currently making waves On Facebook. This is because human beings are more prone to watching videos than any other ads format and there’s a reason for this.
According to Demoduck, human beings connect more to videos because of the following:
- Videos are saved in the long term memory
- Videos are Processed 60, 000 times faster in the brain than any other means
- Videos are processed in the same brain location where emotions are processed(i.e medial temporal lobe)
- The brain is highly connected with the eyes. 40% of the brain’s nerve fibers are connected to the retina
- 65% of people in the world are visual learners
- 90% of information that comes to the brain are visual
Facebook video ads can be up to 240 minutes long, so there’s no limit to what you can show on video. According to Facebook, captioned video ads increase video view time by an average of 12%.
Views of branded video content on Facebook increased 258% as of June 2017, and over 500 million people watch videos on Facebook every day.
This is to show that video ads are something you should invest in if you want to make the most out of your ad.
Have a suitable budget:
Running a successful Facebook campaign is less about having a huge budget than about maximizing the one at your disposal. With small budgets, optimization becomes very important. And to fully optimize your new and existing campaigns, you should study analytics from your previous ads very well.
Leverage Facebook’s Retargeting:
You can do this through the Facebook pixel(an addition to your website that enables you to buy ads that remind people of your products and services). You can also retarget people who have engaged in your Facebook content before.
Retargeting is effective because it allows you to target users based on an action they’ve already taken on your website or social accounts. This gives you an advantage of knowing how they’ve already interacted with your brand, and in what part of the sales funnel they are.
Your ads should be creative:
Your ads should be creative enough to hold the attention of the people. People will get turned off if your ad is boring even though they have engaged with your brand before.
Do your research, get creative, and ensure your ad is something your audience would like to read.
Don’t forget to speak to their pain points and emotions. Have you heard the popular saying, “people buy with their emotions and justify with their reasoning?”
It is still very much applicable today, leverage it.
Optimize your ad content to fit the standard Facebooks ads requirements:
It would hurt to see that your ads have been tampered with after spending money to make it work.
Don’t make that mistake, below is a quick summary of what Facebook wants:
- Image ads: Size: 1,200 X 628 pixels. Ratio: 1.91:1. Text: 90 characters. Headline: 25 characters. Link description: 30 characters.
- Video ads: Format: .mov or .mp4. Ratio: 16:9. Resolution: at least 720p. File size: 2.3 GB max. Thumbnail size: 1,200 x 675 pixels. Text: 90 characters. Headline: 25 characters. Link description: 30 characters.
- Carousel ads: Image size: 1,080 x 1,080 pixels. Image/video ratio: 1:1. Text: 90 characters. Headline: 40 characters. Link description: 20 characters.
- Slideshow ads: Size: 1,289 x 720 pixels. Ratio: 16:9, 1:1, or 2:3. Text: 90 characters. Headline: 25 characters. Link description: 30 characters.
Always be careful to apply these rules so your Facebook ads would be effective.
Work on having a high relevance score:
Facebook’s ad relevance score is a number from 1-10 (10 is highest and one is lowest) that tells you how relevant your ad will be to your target audience.
You can improve your relevance score by
- Targeting the right people for your ad
- Using quality and relevant images and ad copy
- Having a suitable budget
- Applying the insights from your analytics
Use the right ad placement for your ad:
You can run ads in four different places on Facebook:
- Facebook’s mobile and desktop newsfeeds
- The Audience Network
- Messenger
And within those placements, you have three different options for device types on which your ads will run:
- Mobile-only
- Desktop only
- All Devices
Choose the right placement for your ad and run with it. This will not only put your ad in the right place but would also make it work.
We won’t stop at 8, there is more
Bonus tips for Facebook ads strategies that work
- Understand what your competitors are doing using the Facebook ads library. This will give you an edge to leverage the content gap to make your ad work more for you.
- Leverage custom audience: Targeting a custom audience lets you find your existing audiences among people who are on Facebook. Advertising to people you are sure needs your product will give your Facebook ads better results.
- Leverage a lookalike audience. This will help you find new customers who are very similar to your current ones.
- Customize your ads for mobile: As smartphones and tablets become common, you need to make your Facebook ads look great on any device type. A data source indicates that 96% of Facebook users log in with a mobile device, at least occasionally.
Customizing Your Facebook ads for mobile would give it more potential to be seen. Thus, driving more sales.
- Show images of people using your product instead of your product itself. This creates an emotional appeal and therefore, connects people with your brand more.
- Have a strong offer that will drive sales. Extensive research would help you come up with an effective offer for your Facebook ads.
- Set clear goals, and be sure of what you want before you start any Facebook ads campaign. This would serve as a clear guide to where you are going.
In conclusion, the idea is that you don’t just create Facebook ads for your business, you build these ads based on what has been working.
This is an encouragement to keep creating ads, keep checking what works, and keep experimenting. With time you would build a template for your brand’s Facebook ads campaigns.
If you need help with your social media marketing or your digital marketing services in general, you can book a free consultation session with socialander. Just click on “I want a free consultation” and we would be right there with you.
