Do you sell stuff on your website?
Do you publish a blog?
Does your website have a place to collect information (email sign up, application, survey)?
If you answered YES to any one of those questions, you need people to ACTUALLY VISIT your website. So they will do what you need them to do.
One way you do this is by sharing the website address (also called a link). Social media is one of the best places to share your website links and direct people to your website!
Facebook also has a way for you to advertise your link to a specific audience. This is a way to spend your marketing dollars in a way that gets your link in the Facebook newsfeed of the people most likely to do what you need them to do: buy the stuff, read the blog, or fill out the form.
How To Create a Facebook Traffic Ad to Send Visitors to Your Website
It’s called a Facebook Traffic Ad and you create it inside Facebook Ads Manager.
If you don’t currently use Ads Manager or are a little rusty, start by reading this: A Beginners Guide to Facebook Ads Manager
GETTING STARTED
When creating your Facebook traffic ad, select TRAFFIC as your campaign objective.
The next section is the Ad Set. You will select Traffic / Website. Just like it says, you are choosing where you want to drive the traffic (which is a fancy way to say “what do you want to display to the people who click the link”).
During Ad Setup, you will be able to select the landing page or link click optimization. This is the optimal delivery method that Facebook will use.
Landing Page Views means the person clicked on the link and the webpage fully loaded on their desktop or mobile device.
Link Clicks means that the person clicked on the link, and that’s that.
NOTE: To optimize for landing page views, you must have the Facebook Pixel on your website. Find out what the Facebook Pixel is and why you need it for ads.
BUILD THE AD
When you build the ad itself, you will need an image (or video). You will need some text to explain why you need the person to click on the link. You will also need a call to action.
For a Facebook traffic ad, do your best to be transparent and up-front about what the person can expect to happen once they click your link.
DON’T FORGET to monitor the results. Are people clicking on the link? If not, make some adjustments – clarify your message, a different call to action, or change the image.
TIPS FOR THE PROS
Here are a couple of advanced tips for a Facebook Traffic ad.
Consider your landing page. Is it ready to receive traffic? There’s nothing worse than working hard on a great Facebook traffic ad and finding out that the page is not correct or is set up in such a way that people are not completing the task once they get there.
Consider creating a UTM code (tracking code) for your links. This will allow you to review data inside Google Analytics.
When you need to advertise your web page, a Facebook Traffic Ad is an effective way to get those clicks!
For a more comprehensive guide to Facebook ads, read Getting Started With Facebook Ads.