5 ways to up your game with Facebook ads
Hands up here who is still pressing ‘boost post’ on your Facebook posts or ‘promote’ on your Instagram posts? That’s exactly what Mark Zuckerberg wants you to do. He makes you think that Facebook advertising is sooo quick and easy. You know these little notifications that pop up from time to time?
There are only a few times that I will actually ‘boost’ a post for my clients. The first is if I’m on the go and won’t be able to access a computer for a little while. In this scenario, I’ve usually got pre-defined audiences already established. The second reason is if the only action I want people to take is to actually see the post (i.e. I’m not asking them to engage or click through or call me).
The power of Facebook and Instagram advertising is incredible. There is NO other platform or medium out there that allows you to target so specifically or tailor and ad that entices people to do exactly what you want.
So, if you’re ready to up your game with Facebook/insta advertising, here’s where I recommend you start:
1) Install the Facebook pixel (base pixel, event pixel)
Even if you’re not planning on using it yet, get that pixel on your website ASAP! Facebook will start collecting creepy data on your site viewers. From there, you can create custom audiences.
2) Facebook remarketing
I recommend ALL B2B businesses do this. If you’ve managed to get someone to visit your website and they haven’t taken action such as filling out your enquiry form, it’s time to hit them with an ad on social media enticing them back. For example, if you are a tree lopper, you can have an ad that pops up for people who visited your website in the past two weeks that says ‘Hey! Do you still need that tree cut down? Get in touch today. Here’s a 20% off voucher for your first call out’. Most of the time, people are so intrigued about how this actually happened and the stalker-like nature that they will click through again. People need 3 -6 exposures before they take action. This is the perfect way to do it.
3) Start a video view campaign
Whilst it’s true that video is not going to be the silver bullet it was 6 months ago, you can still get video views for just a couple of cents. I’m talking CRAZY affordable advertising. For most of my clients, I will have a video ad running constantly with a budget of just $2 a day.
4) Create a custom audience
These are my favourite, favourite things. You can create custom audiences for just about anything. I recommend you start by creating a custom audience for:
- Your website viewers for the past 30 days
- A ‘lookalike audience’ for website viewers for past 30 days
- Your mailing list subscribers
- People that have watched for than 10 seconds of your video view ads.
That way, when you go to push out a promotion, you have a warm audience already sitting there who know of you and have engaged with you in some way! Far,far better than spending money having a shot in the dark.
5) Follow up with call to action ads
Most people stuff up Facebook ads because they go straight for the sell. They’re marketing to people that have never heard from them and they haven’t qualified their audience. The trick is to set up a campaign where you build a warm audience with something entertaining and relevant to them, you retarget those people to send them to your website to take action, then follow up a third time with a strong call to action. Jab, jab, right hook!