If you want to start running paid ads in 2024, Facebook could be a brilliant place to start.
Why set up a paid ad campaign on Facebook? It’s got the largest user base of all the social media platforms, it offers highly detailed targeting, and you can take advantage of a wide range of ad formats.
If you want to give Facebook ads a try, here are five of our expert tips to apply to your Facebook advertising strategy.
1. Start by understanding what you want to achieve
Facebook Ads is great as it’s easy to use – you specify the goal of your ad, determine your budget, identify who you want to show it to and press publish. Job done!
However, before you jump in and start setting up your ad, it’s essential to understand your end goal and the purpose of your advert. This will help you ensure that your ad campaign stays on track and that you don’t waste time and money showing your ad to the wrong audience.
Before you begin:
- Identify your target audience. Where do they live, what do they do for a living, what are their hobbies and interests? This will ensure you set up the targeting for your ad correctly.
- Think about what objectives you will set for your Facebook ads campaign. Do you want to drive conversions, increase brand awareness, or generate leads? This will influence the ad format you use.
- Decide what page of your website your ad will point people to. You need to make sure you’ve designed your page for conversions – more on that later.
- Put your budget in place. While you can increase or decrease your budget throughout your campaign, it’s good to have an idea in place. You can set a budget limit, which means as soon as you hit that limit, Facebook will stop showing your ads.
- Choose a bid strategy. This is how the Facebook algorithm will bid for you when determining when and where your ads will be shown. Do you want Facebook to manage the bidding on your behalf (automated), or do you want to control your bids yourself (manual)?
- Determine how you’ll track and measure the success of your campaign. What metrics are most important to you, and how will you identify if your campaign is a success?
2. Experiment with different ad placements
One of the great things about Facebook is that you can take advantage of various ad placements on both desktop and mobile.
For example, as well as the standard ads that you might see in Facebook’s newsfeed, you can also run ads in Facebook Marketplace (like the image below), in the right column of Facebook, as well as Stories and Reels.
Each different ad placement has its advantages. For example, Facebook Marketplace ads are great if you’re selling B2C, while the right column of Facebook is a cost-effective option for businesses on a budget.
As well as different ad placements, why not try running ads under the various Meta-owned platforms too?
You can create ads on Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, and the Meta Audience Network, where you can promote your adverts on selected mobile apps.
3. Focus on ads that stop the scroll
People spend about 20 hours a month on Facebook – that’s about 45 minutes a day!
While that might sound like a lot, your ads will have a lot of competition from other businesses that are advertising. This means you need to do everything you can to stand out.
This is especially true on mobile where users will be scrolling through their feed – how will you make them stop, pay attention, and click on your advert?
An excellent place to start is your visuals. Experiment with different colors, fonts, compositions, and images to see what people engage with most. Here’s a great tip – check out the Meta Ad Library to see what ads your competitors are creating. This can help you design stand-out graphics and copy that shows off your unique selling point as a business.
4. Create a high-quality landing page
If your Facebook ad takes customers to a landing page where they can learn more about your product or service, it’s vital that your page looks great, functions well, and is easy to convert on.
This means a higher conversion rate, a better return on ad spend, and an increased chance of success for your Facebook advertising strategy.
Consistency is important – make sure your ad and the landing page it takes prospective customers to have elements in common. This increases trust in what you offer, improves conversion rates, and can even boost your revenue by up to 20%.
Take, for example, this Facebook ad by Semrush, and the corresponding landing page. The colors, fonts, and images are all the same, while the copy and call-to-action buttons are similar.
5. Regularly monitor your ads
The key to a Facebook advertising strategy that leads to results is regular testing and monitoring.
Paid media isn’t something you can set and forget. It’s essential to monitor your statistics and keep an eye on what your competitors are doing. You must also optimize your ads to ensure your click-through rates stay high and your cost-per-click stays low.
One feature we love on Facebook is the A/B testing function. This allows you to efficiently run two slightly different ads at the same time to see which one performs best. It’s great for seeing what your prospective customers like the most about your ad campaigns.
Want to know more about how to run ads on Facebook?
We’re paid ad specialists here at Aimers. Whether you want to audit your existing Facebook ad campaigns to ensure they’re optimized for conversions or need someone to manage your ads effectively, our specialists are here to help.
Plus, we’re a proud Meta Business Partners member, meaning Meta has vetted and approved us for the professional technical skills and services we provide.
Get started with us today, and take the first step towards supercharging your Facebook advertising strategy!