Spending money to advertise on Facebook can be a big decision for any business.
Before you jump in, it’s a good idea to get a better understanding of the process, who is using Facebook and how to implement ads.
Why Businesses Should Pay for Facebook Ads
- Facebook has 1.86 billion monthly active users, worldwide
- Facebook’s user growth is an impressive 18% increase year-over-year
- 75% of users spend 20 minutes or more on Facebook every day
- 25-34 is the most common age demographic
- Facebook has a year-over-year increase of 23% for mobile users
Since only 2.6% of the “likes” on your business Facebook page ever see the posts you make, you have an excellent opportunity to cast a wider net and reach current members and customers PLUS new prospects.
You might even have heard that Facebook wants you to “pay to play”. With so much potential, setting aside a portion of your advertising budget to do just that is worth consideration.
How can a paid Facebook strategy benefit you?
As I just mentioned above, your organic Facebook reach is super low. Advertising on Facebook allows you to get your message seen by a larger audience.
It also allows you to show off your information in a way that traditional advertising doesn’t.
By targeting Facebook posts and ads to a geographical area or behavior (i.e., searching for a home or auto loan), you can put your message in front of the exact eyeballs that need to see it.
Ways to implement paid Facebook ads
- Run ads based on your goals
- Goal: Drive people to your website to download a white paper or get a quote | Facebook ad type: traffic ad
- Goal: Increase brand reach through traffic on Facebook | Facebook ad type: engagement ad
- Goal: Add emails to your newsletter | Facebook ad type: lead generation ad
There is so much more to Facebook advertising than hitting the “Boost” button. Make sure that each ad has a stated goal for measuring performance.
- Define your audience and create a custom audience
One of the great things about Facebook is the ability to serve ads to an audience you have created. You can create an audience based on existing members or clients, interests, behaviors, geography, and lookalikes. Lookalikes are people who “look like” another list. In other words, you could find people that look just like your existing members.
Another audience feature is retargeting someone who has previously engaged with your Facebook page, website, or some other criteria. Someone who showed an interest once is an excellent person to show your ad message again!
- Leverage your owned media
If you don’t have content, can you generate it? Videos, blogs, white papers, case studies… all help to solve a problem for a potential new customer.
Advertising this content, and other owned media is an excellent way to funnel in new customers and grow awareness of your business.
Don’t just hit the boost button. Explore Facebook ad options, see the ways in which you can define your audience and meet your goals. Hopefully, you’ll be ready to jump right in and go for paid Facebook ads.