It doesn’t matter who your target audience is. Chances are, you can reach them on Facebook. Around 68% of all adults use Facebook, and 74% of Facebook users access the platform every day. If you want to grow your business and increase your market share, finding your target people on Facebook with Facebook advertising has never been easier.
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Can You Reach People On Facebook Organically?
In the past, it was easy to reach a high percentage of your followers with regular posts and updates. But now that Facebook’s organic reach has diminished in recent years, getting more likes on an ad for a business page without paying advertising fees can seem impossible at times. There are various types of custom audiences available through their platform which give advertisers great opportunities when networking online or creating promotions geared toward specific interests – all while reaching potential new customers. Learn more about how to get started creating your ad, and growing your brand awareness with our step-by-step guide from Australian Internet Advertising.
Choose Your Objective.
The first step of creating an effective Facebook ad campaign is to clearly articulate your marketing objectives. This allows you not only to focus on the specific results for each objective but also takes into account how much money should be spent in order to achieve those particular outcomes. In the Facebook ads manager, you’ll get to choose from three main goals:
- Awareness
Choosing “Awareness” as your objective will enable you to increase brand awareness by selecting an ad format that features content or products.
- Consideration
This ad objective will help you measure the interest of your audience in searching for more information about what it is that we have to offer.
- Conversion
If you’re interested in driving increased sales specifically, this campaign objective will help you reach your goal.
Each objective is tailored for the specific state your target audience is in. When deciding your objective and creating your ad, it’s critical that you know which part of the sales funnel your target people are in, so your ad is more likely to reach its goal. The three main objectives also have subcategories you can pick for your ads:
- Awareness: Brand Awareness and Reach
- Consideration: Traffic, Engagement, App Installs, Video Views, Lead Generation, and Messages
- Conversion: Conversions, Catalogue Sales, Store Visits
So, what options should you pick for your Facebook advertising campaign? Besides knowing where your target people are in the funnel, you also need to consider what your specific goal is for your business.
For example, your business is new, and you might want to focus on brand awareness and reach on the social media platform. Another benefit of using Facebook for advertising is that the platform allows you to niche down your focus for very granular and specific goals, such as app installs and video views.
Having a lot of targeting options and ad format options also lets marketers experiment and tweak until they hit the winning Facebook advertising formula for their business.
Select Your Audience.
After determining your objective, the next step is to select your audience. The good news is that Facebook gives marketers a lot of targeting options. Your ads are likely to get in front of the right people at the right time on Facebook. During this step of the process, you get to narrow down from Facebook’s two billion plus users and choose the people who will most resonate with your ad content. When selecting your audience, you’ll get to focus on the following:
- Custom Audiences
Custom audiences allow you to upload your business’s contact lists and find your existing audience on Facebook.
- Core Audiences
A core audience is a manual selection of the audience you want to see your ads, based on select criteria and interests that you choose within the Facebook ads manager.
- Lookalike Audiences
A lookalike audience is one that includes people who have similar interests and characteristics to a similar audience.
You can tailor your Facebook ads to specific groups of people by finding out what they’re interested in, where they live and work. For example, you might be able to find a new group based on demographic information such as age range or location; then choose which criteria are most important for targeting them specifically.
Facebook advertising is a powerful tool because it not only allows you to target your audience, but also gives the option of being able show ads on other platforms like Instagram and Messenger.
If your target people tend to frequent certain platforms, then it might be a good idea for you to place ads on those same websites or apps. For example, if they are most often found browsing the mobile web from their phone this will help them reach out even further by having an ad appear when someone unlocks his device.
Set your budget.
Facebook advertisers have the option of setting their budget for either the total amount they want to spend on ads or how much it would cost them per result. The bidding process happens when an ad is auctioned off, and this includes both novice as well experienced users who may not fully understand all aspects involved in creating successful bids at first glance.
You don’t want your campaign to go over budget, so you should set some limitations. Facebook gives the option of setting either a daily or lifetime spending limit on when it will end.
Pick your ad format.
Facebook is the perfect platform to market your business because it has an extensive variety of advertising options. With so many different types of ads, you can create a campaign specifically tailored for each objective and audience member. The different ad format options include the following:
- Video
- Photo
- Carousel
- Slideshow
- Collection
- Canvas (instant experience)
- Lead ads
- Dynamic ads
- Link ads
- Event response ads
Do you have a significant event coming up? You can create the event on your Facebook page, and advertise the event via event response ads. Facebook Canvas Ads are also called Facebook Instant Experience ads and are for mobile app users only.
The Facebook pixel is a great way to measure cross-device conversions and learn more about the people who are visiting your site. With it, you can fully optimize ads for maximum impact as well build content that will resonate most with interested viewers.
Measure Your Ad Performance.
Marketers can use Facebook Ads to find out if their ad is performing the way they want. When clicking on an individual campaign, advertisers will be able to see what demographics have been reached and where in relation to other campaigns or company-owned properties like Instagram stories for instance.
Here at Australian Internet Advertising, we’ve been launching and monitoring Facebook ad campaigns for a variety of businesses. Contact us today to learn more about our Facebook advertising services.
