Over 1 billion people log onto Facebook every day.
As one of the largest social media platforms in the world, Facebook has grown from its humble origins as a way for college students to connect into one of the premier online advertising platforms.
Few advertising platforms can compete with Facebook’s sheer numbers regarding daily, active user
s. If you’re struggling to get enough eyeballs onto your products and services, you’ll want craft and launch a Facebook advertising campaign today. 93% of digital marketers are already using Facebook ads as part of their marketing strategy because it is so effective and quick to launch. Within only a few hours of launching an ad, it will be seen by thousands of people.
As Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg infamously said, “We run ads, Senator,” Facebook’s become one of the quickest ways to get your brand in front of thousands of people in minutes by utilizing their sophisticated advertising program. Facebook gives businesses an insane amount of data on their leads and allows you to highly target where, when, and to whom your ad is shown, allowing you even further control over your campaign. With better data and metrics at your disposal, you can thoroughly tweak and hone your ad to reach highly qualified leads and get the best return-on-investment.
There are several advertising formats on Facebook, and they are incredibly useful for building your brand awareness and increasing your conversion rates. While organic post reach on Facebook is only 2%, with a quality ad, you can exponentially expand your reach. In this article, we’ll explore the difference between Facebook lead ads and landing page ads, and why you’d want to embark on a Facebook lead ads campaign.
What are the different types of Facebook ads?
Facebook gives users two types of ads to choose from, which can be further honed for different formats. The two main Facebook advertising formats are landing page ads, and lead generation ads. Both are highly effective for reaching your target audience on Facebook, but they each come with their own set of risks and rewards.
1. Landing Page Ads
Typically, a landing page ad works by setting up your lead magnet in a Facebook ad. When an interested viewer clicks a landing page ad in their Facebook newsfeed, they are taken to your landing page, where they can further interact with your content, and fill out a form with their contact information.
With a landing page ad, you’re taking the viewer off Facebook, and they are subject to different load times via your landing page, and you’re also tasked with hooking their attention again with your landing page’s set-up and visual aesthetics.
Since a landing page ad requires several different steps and encompasses more moving parts, these ads can get more complicated. They come with more significant risks and entail more monitoring of the moving parts to make sure everything is working correctly. Also, since you’re taking the viewer off Facebook, you can’t utilize Facebook’s sophisticated tracking software to know what your viewer did once they clicked on the ad and went to your landing page.
Furthermore, landing page ads get less reach on Facebook. Because a landing page ad takes a viewer off Facebook where the Facebook algorithm can’t measure their interaction, the algorithm isn’t entirely triggered, and won’t show the ad as much as say, a Facebook lead ad, where the viewer is kept contained to Facebook.
2. Facebook Lead Ads
Facebook lead ads, also known as lead generation ads, keep the viewer on Facebook. When a lead ad appear in someone’s newsfeed, and the viewer interacts with the ad, the viewer is shown a contact form to fill out that stays within the Facebook platform. Also, the contact form the viewer sees is prepopulated with their information. This is incredibly convenient for the user.
Consumers highly value convenience and simplicity, and the more straightforward your ads are, and the fewer clicks a consumer has to use to interact with your brand, the higher your conversion rates. Consumers are 86% more likely to purchase from a brand that makes it easy for them to navigate an ad, page, or site and make a decision. Lead ads are designed to be simple, and easy to navigate. If you want to build trust with your target audience, you’ll want to invest in a lead ad campaign strategy.
In contrast to landing page ads, Lead ads, since they keep the interaction on Facebook, are more likely to trigger the Facebook algorithm, which favors anything that keeps users on Facebook. The more interaction via an ad which takes place on Facebook, the more favorably the algorithm will treat the ad and show it to more people. And with 1 billion daily active users on Facebook, you’ll want your ad circulating on a platform where your customers congregate in large numbers.
How do I set up a Facebook Lead Ad?
Since your lead ad won’t be taking a viewer to your landing page, you need to give the viewer more engaging content within the ad. Without the added benefit of an optimised landing page, you’ll need to build trust and credibility with long-form content on the lead ad.
While it’s true that with most Facebook ads you have a limited character count in the text editor, you can bypass this parameter for a lead ad. All you have to do is craft the ad under the ‘Power Editor’ settings.
If you have a landing page that’s getting conversions, consider shortening the landing page information or using bulleted info pulled straight from the landing page into your lead ad. Since you don’t have the added benefit of wowing the viewer with your website information and aesthetics, you want to make sure the lead ad copy is succinct, intriguing, and contains an enticing lead magnet and compelling call-to-action prompting the viewer to fill out the contact form.
Remember, once the viewer clicks on the ad, they are directed to a pre-populated form with their contact info inside of it. But, you have control over what pre-populated information is inside the ad, and even better, you can craft custom questions for the viewer to answer. Depending on your ad campaigns goals, you can collect highly detailed information on your lead, further qualifying them for any subsequent advertising campaigns.
Once the viewer enters their information and hits ‘submit,’ Facebook will collect their contact information in a CSV file that you can access via the ‘publishing tools’ on the admin side of your Facebook page, and from there, you’ll click on ‘forms library’ to access the CSV file.
Why would I choose to start a lead ads campaign for my business?
Facebook lead ad campaigns have a distinct advantage over landing page ads. Although both have similar CPC rates, lead ads will give you a better ROI for your business within specific parameters, and depending upon your business goals. Furthermore, the fact that lead ads are more convenient and simple for the viewer to use will build your brands credibility and trustworthiness with your target audience.
Lead ads tend to perform better at converting mobile users vs. desktop users. If you’re looking to retarget previous website visitors, lead ads are one of the best marketing platforms for you to use. Since your target audience is already pre-qualified as a website visitor, those who interact with your lead ad and enter their information are a higher-quality lead than someone who’s cold and clicking on your ad. Also, with a lead ad, you’re getting the Facebook algorithm to work for you by keeping visitors on the social media platform.
While lead ads may seem simple from the viewer’s standpoint, from the publisher’s point of view, they aren’t. Crafting a stellar lead ad that gets conversions takes work, expertise, and insight. Not only does a lead ad require the publisher to understand the fundamentals of how Facebook works as an advertising platform, but also how to craft the copy for the ad and how to monitor and track conversion rates. Since a lead ad doesn’t give you the added benefit of using your website and landing page to hook the viewer further, you need to understand how to craft compelling, effective and succinct copy to get the viewer engaged with your lead ad. Also, a lead ad is something that needs ongoing maintenance and monitoring to get the highest ROI.
Can We Help?
If you’re serious about bringing in qualified leads to your funnel and building credibility and brand awareness, don’t leave your Facebook lead generation ad campaign to chance. The SEO and marketing professionals at Australian Internet Advertising understand how to craft and launch an effective Facebook lead ad campaign to get you conversions and sales. Contact us today and see what we can do for your business.
