E-commerce is huge. There are an estimated 1.92 billion online buyers, and the number is set to grow in the coming years.
The demand for online stores is high, so naturally, the supply doesn’t fall short. There are countless businesses currently selling their products online and generating some pretty decent revenue. However, as there will be more shoppers turning to the web to buy products, more and more e-commerce stores are bound to follow.
E-commerce business owners must dedicate their efforts to set their store apart from the rest if they want to stay afloat. And one good way to do it is through Facebook advertising.
Facebook Ads & E-commerce
You probably know a thing or two about ad campaigns, so we won’t go into a lot of details about it right now – we also have other, more detailed articles on the subject over on our blog here.
But Facebook has really gone the extra mile to accommodate e-commerce stores and has created ad options specifically designed to reach your target audience that would be more likely to buy a product online. If you’re currently only using Facebook ads to promote your page or posts, you’re only leveraging part of what Facebook has to offer you.
These ads can generally work in three stages:
- Help You Reach More People
Can be used either to promote your brand and increase brand awareness or generate some buzz about a new product that you will launch.
- Get More Leads
With these ads, people can easily sign-up, install or find out more about your e-commerce store.
- Drive Sales
Regardless if you are running online or even physical shops, Facebook ads can truly help you increase your sales numbers.
Facebook ecommerce ads are incredibly powerful if used right, and we’re going to give you a few great tips on how to take advantage of them.
1. Use Dynamic Ads
For an e-commerce business, regular ads aren’t going to cut it. Instead, you should be using the Dynamic Ads, which automatically allow you to promote your inventory to Facebook users who have already expressed an interest in you (either because they’ve been on your website, Facebook page, or had some other interaction with your shop.)
Dynamic Ads will look just like regular ones, so you’ll still have to think about all the elements that go into the ad. But, instead of creating a different ad for every product you want to promote, you make a template that will automatically use the images and information from the catalogue you upload.
2. Think of the Best Ad Format
Dynamic ads are available in the same formats as regular ones. You can find them all in your Ads Manager:
- Image;
- Video;
- Carousel (where you can promote multiple products at once);
- Collection;
- Slideshow.
You should pick the ad format based on what would better suit the products you want to promote. For instance, if you want to promote multiple products at once, you can go with the carousel format. If you are promoting some tech, a short video that can catch the viewer’s attention can be very effective.
You can run multiple ads at the same time, so you can use different formats for different ads.
3. Pay Close Attention to the Quality
We spend a fair amount of time talking about the magic behind the ad, but it’s worth mentioning what users ultimately get to see – how the ad looks.
If you want to have a good chance of getting people to notice your ad and visit your landing page, then you need to make sure the ads look great, from a visual perspective. That means high-quality images and videos, clearly depicting the products you are promoting.
Facebook ads for e-commerce need simple, to the point design that let people know what the product is about at first glance. When it comes to videos, a quick show of the product in action can do the trick. But if you don’t have the resources to make a video and want to go with photos instead, follow these two golden rules:
a. White Background – The only thing that should be captured in the photo is the product itself, so don’t overcrowd the image with too much noise;
b. Follow the Rule of Thirds – This is the composition theory. Think of the overall image and divide it into nine equal parts by two equally spaced horizontal lines and two vertical lines. The most important elements of the photo, the ones that the eye will focus on, should sit along these lines and their intersections. That’s the rule of thirds in a nutshell, and it’s the best way to capture your products in your Facebook ads.
5. Install the Facebook Pixel
The Facebook pixel is a small piece of code that you can add to your website and start tracking what people do on it. Right now, without the pixel, Facebook can only tell you half of the story – who sees the ads, who clicks on what, but once they leave the social network and move on to your landing page, Facebook can’t see what they do anymore.
With the Facebook pixel, the social media giant follows a user’s actions when they reach your website. This can really help you with your monitoring efforts and makes the next item on our list possible.
6. Retargeting Campaigns
It’s bad enough you have to get new users to browse through your shop. But some of them don’t even finish purchasing the items they’ve added to the cart? That’s just frustrating.
Luckily for you, these users aren’t lost forever. They can still be a potential customer if you just use Facebook ads to reach those people again. But this time, their ads can be slightly different. For instance, the ones that abandoned their cart could be shown an ad reminding them to finish their purchase.
Others who, let’s say, spent a lot of time viewing a particular product or category may get shown ads with those products. Since you already spent ad money to get them on your shop, you can run retargeting as little reminders to go back and buy something. It’s not going to work for everyone who has abandoned their cart, but it can increase your sales. And this won’t work without the conversion tracking pixel, so be sure to install it soon.
7. Be Careful Who You Target
Lastly, let’s talk about who you are targeting. Most advertisers will go for customers based in a certain location or those who meet certain criteria based on the ideal image of a customer, but Facebook ads let you go far beyond that.
You should create a custom audience too. Custom audiences are basically contacts you already have gathered like email addresses from Facebook, Instagram, or other networks. These users already have an established connection with you – it’s why you have their contacts in the first place.
So, using them for a custom audience, then creating an ad specifically for them can be a lot more effective than creating an audience from scratch. You shouldn’t skip on getting new people on your landing page, but you should also focus on the people already close to you. Then, you can create a lookalike audience, which will find similar users to target.
Your Next Step
That’s the gist of Facebook advertising for e-commerce businesses. If you need a bit more help with figuring out what kind of ads are best for you, and your overall marketing strategy, we can be of assistance.
Reach out to Australian Internet Advertising now and let’s start getting you more sales!
