Social media has graced the world for almost 19 years. However, only recently Facebook has evolved into an essential marketing tool. Gone are the days of buying ads in newspapers; communicating on Facebook has brought a whole new element to the advertising world.
Facebook advertising can be hugely beneficial for businesses, and when used correctly can successfully generate profits.
How Does Facebook Advertising Work?
Facebook currently has 1.23 billion users. It is the most used social media site around.
With an increase in business pages and paid promoted posts, in 2016 Facebook is on track to make $4 billion from their advertising profits alone. By 2010 there were more people visiting Facebook than Google.
There are several different types of Facebook ads that can be used. Each ad type has a different objective, from promoting a business page to achieving website clicks.
Is Facebook Advertising For You?
Facebook doesn’t charge businesses for their “page”. It is the advertising that costs money and helps to generate sales.
There are many different ways for you to market your company with the help of Facebook.
First, it is essential to know that this social platform is all about building relationships.
You have a genuine opportunity to build an ongoing relationship with your customer, which will result in sales for your company.
There are many avenues for advertising, but it may take some time to see a Facebook ROI.
Creating Your Objective
When you decide to sell on Facebook, you must have a page setup. The next step is to create your objective. There are eight objectives to choose from, they include:
- Page Post Engagement – Allows you to promote posts to generate further reach and engagement among the target audience.
- Page Likes – This helps to build your brand by allowing you to grow your audience through “likes.”
- Click To Websites – This allows people to click directly to your website from Facebook. This type of ad is one of the most successful sale converters.
- Website Conversions – By adding a Facebook pixel to your site, you can allow and track specific actions on your site. This is particularly useful for tracking sales conversions.
- Install App – This allows you to create an app that people can install that goes directly to your website.
- App Engagement – You can use this to get people to use your desktop application.
- Event Responses – This is used to increase attendance at an upcoming event.
- Offer Claims/Rewards – Create and giveaway offers that people can redeem in your store.
Facebook Advertising 101
There are several ways that you can advertise on Facebook.
Once you have your objective and know what your goal is for your campaign, you take the next step.
Slideshow
Slideshows brings your business to life with video ads. Video consumption has increasingly moved online and to mobile, with people wanted to engage with video more than any other medium.
Slideshow allows you to easily create a short ad that is watchable on any device, anywhere.
These little ads allow people all over the world to see and hear the story of your product.
Carousel Ads
A carousel ad allows you to advertise multiple products at once, providing a click through function to your specified website.
You can create multiple ads for your services or promote other areas of the business. The format is flexible and has many creative options; it will also lower the cost of your cost per click advertising option.
Dynamic Product Ads
Not only does this option give you a report on which ads are doing best, but the Dynamic Products Ad will allow you to reinforce your customer’s interest by having feature products that customers have already viewed on both your website and your mobile app.
Dark Post
A dark post is an ad that will come up in the users new-feed and look more or less like a normal Facebook post. You are able to customise the call to action to help improve the quality of the lead going to your website.
For example, if you are promoting some sort of offer you could have a Call to Action (CTA) such as “sign up” or “learn more”. The user can then click through to your website or landing page and sign up to redeem the offer.
These posts appear as sponsored ads in a user’s newsfeed, but they do not show up on the business page.
Promoted Post
Boosted posts are used to create increased reach and engagement on a post, thus promoting your business and page.
You can boost posts on your page so that a specific type of audience will see it. This is helpful for driving engagement to your Facebook Business page, but also driving potential customers to your website, landing page, product or services page.
The Facebook ROI
When it comes to measuring the ROI from these campaigns, it is important to remember that Facebook is first about making the connection.
There are two sides to consider when analysing and reporting on a Facebook Advertising campaign. Firstly, there is the direct ROI from your Facebook ads. Secondly, there is the community and connection you are building around the brand on Facebook.
Once you make the connection then you will see increased ROI.
The key to creating a successful page is to ensure you have a social media strategy. A clear content strategy and direction will enable you to create content that is unique, engaging and relatable, thus increasing potential profits.
Is Facebook Advertising Worth It?
More and more businesses are moving away from traditional methods of advertising and seeking options that are more affordable and contemporary.
When compared with traditional methods of advertising, Facebook provides much more affordable and achievable options.
The whole world has turned to social media, allowing Facebook to become a valuable platform for increasing sales and generating profits.