This is the third post in the Advertising on Social Media Series.
Check out 5 Questions to Ask Before Running Ads on Social Media and Your Guide to Running Ads on Instagram.
What is the first platform that comes to mind when the phrase “social media” is mentioned?
I’d bet a large majority of you said “Facebook”. So obviously when talking about advertising on social media, Facebook would also be at the top of that list as well.
Is Facebook the king of social ads?
The most popular form of social advertising is Facebook Ads. Facebook could be called the “King of Social Ads” as they have led the way and set the pace for advertising through social media networks. With their extensive targeting capabilities and their acquisition of Instagram – Facebook still reigns king.
Ad Objectives
The first and most important step in setting up your Facebook ad is to get your Facebook Ad Pixel installed on your website so you’re able to track the effectiveness of your campaign. After that is installed, you are now ready to select your campaign objective. Facebook offers several marketing objectives that are split up into three categories:
Awareness
Show your ads to a wide audience to gain reach and brand awareness
Consideration
Increase leads, video views, website visits, engagement and app installs
Conversion
Drive actions on your website or to your place of business
Facebook also provides an easy way to split test your ad campaign so you can test multiple campaign objectives. Once you have selected your objective, give your campaign a title and dive into setting up your audience. This is where it gets fun…the targeting options are limitless.
Audience Targeting
Over 2 billion active users is a lot of people. Facebook’s gender demographics are pretty evenly split with 83% of women and 75% of men. People aged 18-29 are the highest active users on Facebook at 88%. So if this is your target demographic, no question Facebook is where you should begin your social ad campaign.
From demographics, interests and behaviors you can get very specific and create a very targeted audience for your ad. You are also able to upload customer lists to show your ads to your current clients, create lookalike audiences and retarget those who have visited your website. Be sure to utilize audience exclusions to help narrow down your audience. The closer your ad matches your targeted audience, the better your ad will perform. Facebook gives a Relevancy Score of 1-10 to your ads to show how relevant your ad is. A score of 10 is the highest possible and means your ad closely matches your audience target.
After you’re satisfied with your audience, Facebook provides several placements for your ad. Unlike other networks, Facebook has Instagram, Messenger, Videos and the Audience Network to showcase your ads. The Audience Network is a way for you to expand your ads beyond Facebook and into other mobile apps. There are also advanced options that allow you to select which mobile devices and operating systems to serve your ads.
Budget and Schedule
Next, select your budget and ad schedule. Ad budgets can be set up as daily or lifetime budgets and you can select if you’d like your ad to run continuously or for a specific amount of time. Be aware of your competition and seasons where ad costs may be more competitive. If your audience is more active during certain hours of the day, you can make sure your ads are shown during only those hours. Last, but not least you’ll need to either select your ad from an existing post on your page or create a new ad.
Ad Formats
Facebook offers 5 ad formats to choose from:
Carousel
Create an ad with 2 or more scrollable images or videos
Single image
Create up to 6 ads with 1 image each at no extra charge
Single video
Create an ad with one video
Slideshow
Create a looping video ad with up to 10 images
Collection
Feature a collection of items that open into a fullscreen mobile experience
This helpful infographic explains the best way use cases for each type of ad.
Run the ads
Now you’re ready to run your ad! Don’t forget to track your conversions by adding the Facebook Pixel to your site and make sure you have enabled conversion tracking before running your ad. Measuring your ad results is the most important part of any social ad campaign, so make sure you can track your campaign objectives and measure your goals.
