When it comes to gaining traction through social media, there’s almost no better way than to create Facebook ads. With many marketing tools and a worldwide user base of 2.7 billion people, Facebook can help you reach just about any audience. That said, with so many people utilizing the platform, the goalposts have shifted. Not everyone’s ads convert, and that is why it’s all the more important to slow down and consider everything when making your Facebook ads. From the creative to the targeting, we’re counting four things your Facebook ads need to survive on this competitive platform.
1. Precise Targeting
Targeting your ads to the right people is an art. It’s often a balancing act where you try to ensure your ads are seen by all the people you want to see it and no more. But the most common targeting mistake is that the audience is far too broad, as business owners fear that being more specific will ultimately exclude someone who may want to buy from them. It is true that by being more specific with your targeting, you do run the risk of potentially excluding someone from seeing your ad. But try to think of it another way. Without proper targeting, Facebook is going to have a harder time deciding who is best for your ads with your budget, potentially excluding even more of your target audience as Facebook serves instead to others who may not even look at your ad, let alone convert. Don’t fall into this trap.
2. A Pixel for Your Website
Your ad’s ability to help you doesn’t actually stop when they click on the link. Enter Facebook Pixel. Though not a literal pixel, Facebook Pixel is a block of code that can be added to each page of your website to track your viewers as they move around and interact with your site. An important usage of the Pixel is tracking conversions, which are the actions you want those viewers to complete after seeing your ad. By tracking all the way from their initial viewing on Facebook, to the things they click on the website, you’re able to know precisely what does and does not work in both your Facebook ads and your website, allowing you to make more informed decisions whenever pivots need to be made.
3. Great (And Correctly Sized) Ad Creative
With a huge variety of ad types that allow you to add videos, photos, gifs, products and more, there’s a lot of room to play in the ad creative on Facebook. The ultimate question is: what will your audience respond to? That’s not an easy question to answer, especially if you haven’t been running ads for a long time. It takes a lot of time to measure and figure out what works, so what do you do? Our advice is to try everything. Change your ad creative and copy often, and allow each a fair amount of time to bring in new eyes. You may be surprised at what works, and what doesn’t. Remember that your ad creative is the first thing many may see of your business, so spend as much time with it as you can.
On another note, make sure that your images and videos are the proper sizes. Always consult the documentation for the specific kind of ad you’re trying to publish, and follow its advice as best you can.
4. A Willingness to Experiment
As we said in the last section, changing things often is a must. The likelihood that your ads will perform to their best ability on the very first try is very low. The best Facebook ad campaigns are carefully crafted over time. Everything from the budget, to the goals, to the targeting and creative, change with experimentation and research. There’s a reason that Facebook gives you all of those charting and demographics tools. Making informed, researched decisions on how to pivot your ads is a must, and those are there to help you do just that. By doing this enough, your ROI will increase and allow you to achieve your ultimate goal with your online advertising: ads that just pay for themselves.
Facebook ads are a complicated subject, and many don’t have the time to constantly be checking them. That’s why you should hire an expert team of marketers with the experience necessary to kick Facebook ads into high gear for you and fast. Call us at 251.517.9425 today to find out more about what we can do for your business!
