Overview of Facebook Ads
Facebook Ads are unique and a major part of advertising for companies in the 21st Century. Megan Adams does a great job in explaining and demonstrating how to effectively use Facebook as an advertising platforms for companies (2019). Guiding questions while creating advertisments should be;
– What is your goal?
– Who are you targeting?
– What is your budget?
– How will you pay?
Once these questions are answered, the advertiser may begin to develop their ad for their chosen audience (Adams, 2019).
Facebook is inherently unique because of the fact that creator can specifically target specific demographics, interests and locations of their target market. This allows the advertisements to be the most effective that they can be. By incorporating the ‘Call to Action’ – also referenced by Lurie in his 2014 LinkedIn Learning videos – the advertiser allows the target market to know exactly what they want them to do. This is done with a specific button that allows you to ‘buy now’ or ‘learn more’ (Adams, 2019).
I know that personally, Facebook does a very good job in providing the advertisements relative to each person. The algorithms use, truly work. I have used many of these advertisements to either influence a purchase or spark future interest in a product.
How Facebook Ads Work and How to Create Them
Facebook Ads are fairly linear and easy to navigate. They focus on Ad Campaigns which have various Ad Sets and then a multitude of single advertisements to diversify the overall campaign message. This campaign is unique for each target market and goal of the company. The following photo is a visual aid to explain the structure of Facebook Ads.
When creating Facebook Ads, again, the first step to do is to choose the target audience. Such targets can be interest based, behaviour based and connections based. By using interests to target your audience, you are able to target anyone who matches at least one of your criteria listed. Regardless of the method you use to target your audience, the first step is recognizing that there are multiple ways to do so using Facebook Ads. It is also essential not to include too many of the targets. Adams strongly recommends using anywhere between 1-3 targets in each area with 5 being the absolute maximum (2019).
Viewing your Data and Implementing Best Practices
The benefit of advertising through Facebook is the amount of data that is presented specifically to your ad, ad set and overall campaign. Details include; money spent, impressions, reach, link clicks, etc. The tracking that Facebook does allows for accurate and instantaneous information.
When finding best practices whilst using Facebook for advertising, some key items need to be addressed; ‘Call to Action’, imagery and formatting. The Call to Action, as referenced by both Lurie, 2014, and Adams, 2019, is the action button at the bottom of any advertisement. This button should lead directly to the page related to the ad and must be relevant to the content. All images included in the advertisement must be clear, relevant and accurately formatted to be most effective.
Conclusion
As a page manager for a non-profit organization, the videos done by Adams in 2019 are very relatable. They demonstrate how an advertisement can enhance the traffic to a specific page, area or event. By raising awareness, the brand recognition and event reach are increased indefinitely. Going forward, it is exciting to try some of the tricks provided to be able to benefit the club moving forward.
Thanks for reading! Keep an eye out for the next blog post.
~Adelle
Sources
Adams, M. (2019, October). Advertising on Facebook, video recording, LinkedIn Learning.
Image by NeONBRAND on Unsplash
Lurie, I. (2014, May 30). Writing Marketing Copy. Carpentaria, CA lynda.com.
Nussey, Virginia. (2019, October 15). 7 unexpected tips that will make your Facebook ads more effective. Search Engine Journal. https://www.searchenginejournal.com/tips-facebook-ads-more-effective/328531/#close
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