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One great thing about Facebook advertising is that it’s so easy, anybody can do it. Unfortunately, not everybody who uses Facebook advertising gain the same huge benefits. And if you’re wondering what is it that makes others win big at Facebook advertising and why others don’t, here are some of the important things you should know.
Facebook Advertising Strategy
1. Test your ads.
As in any type of advertising, testing your ad is important in order to see what really works. An ad may acquire plenty of impressions but no click throughs, while another ad may obtain many click throughs but no conversions. By testing your ads you’ll discover the right message, the right image, and the right price that will maximize the efficiency of your ads. When testing your ads, it is important to slow down. Change one element at a time on your ad up until you feel it has already reached its maximum level of performance. If you go and try to change everything all at the same time, you might not be able to find out what’s actually working.
2. Use Cost per Impression (CPM) first.
While it’s quite tempting to use cost per click ads (in which you’ll only pay when someone clicks on your ad), this is not always the best place to start. With CPM, you‘ll be able to test your ad more effectively over a wider range of users. If you start with CPM campaign first, you can test your ads and find out which ads perform well and which give you the lowest return. Although some people might tell you that CPC is the way to go as this is the model we’re familiar with in Google Adwords, you shouldn’t believe them. When you’ve already tested your ads and know which works, that’s the only time you should switch to CPC as you already know how much budget to put in your advertising campaign.
3. Test at various times.
Different ads perform differently at different times of the day, and even on different days of the week. For this reason experts advise that you test your ads at various times of the day and during various days of the week to find out what ad performs best and when.
4. Refresh your ads on a regular basis.
When you’ve already discovered your best performing ad, there’s a tendency to keep it forever. You shouldn’t. Studies show that a Facebook ad has an average lifespan (the time when users start snubbing it) of around one week. Have a good supply of ads (that you’ve tested and proven) which you can interchange to keep your ads always fresh.
5. Keep your followers on Facebook.
Many advertisers commit one grave mistake with Facebook advertising, and that is driving people directly to their website or blog. The problem is that most Facebook users feel much safer on this site and want to stay in their comfort zone. If you’re wise, you wouldn’t want to interfere with this loyalty factor. So instead of directly driving them away from Facebook, just drive them to a tab on your business page, where you can motivate them to like your page or get their information to add to a mailing list. Only when they’re at ease with you should you send them away from Facebook.
6. Measure your results.
As in any advertising strategy, it is important to measure the results of your Facebook ads. Good thing Facebook has its own tools that you can use for this purpose. In addition, you can also use Google Analytics to evaluate what Facebook users actually do after they visit your website. Only then will you know whether your Facebook advertising is working or not.
So these are the elements of the winners’ game plan with their ads at Facebook. Are you ready to be a winner as well? If you're not sure, please contact us if you need help in Facebook marketing.