Facebook is not the irrelevant has-been many would have you believe – far from it. While there are brighter and shinier social media darlings out there – like TikTok and co – Facebook is far from over, and losing sight of this fact isn’t going to do your business any favors. The idea that Facebook walked so the others can run is misleading – Facebook paid advertising is extremely relevant to brand growth. Check out these five primary tips from the digital marketing professionals at The Web Guys for making the most of your ad sets.

Paying Homage

Facebook’s social media hegemony is alive and kicking, thank you very much. In fact, according to Hootsuite, Facebook is the largest social network based on nearly every metric, including:

In 2020, Facebook had 2.74 billion active users monthly, which makes its reach singularly profound.
Facebook is the third-most visited website in the world (nudged to third only by Google and YouTube). When your potential customers and clients are online, the chances are good that they’re communing with Facebook.
When it comes to app downloads, Facebook is second only to TikTok.

Enough said. It pays to pay attention to Facebook.

One: Facebook Pixel? Install It

If you’re wondering whether or not you should install Facebook Pixel on your company’s website, the answer is that yes, you really should. Pixel is a wee bit of code that, once added to your website, reaps mighty results. This begins with informing Facebook about how visitors interact with your pages – in addition to details about their backgrounds, behaviors, and interests – and ends with more focused ad targeting (predicated on all that precious real-world data).

Two: Know Your (Target) Audience

Some companies are well aware of their target audiences. For example, if you are selling geeky gamer gizmos, you can rest assured that your target audience is the legions of self-proclaimed geeky gamers out there. Most enterprises, however, have a more nuanced target audience, and Facebook’s features – Lookalike Audiences and Audience Insights – can help you hone in on yours. While no one understands your target audience like you do, information sources like Google Analytics and Search Console can help flesh this information out, and Facebook can lend a hand with the optimization.

When it comes to harnessing the full force of your target audience, you need a framework from which to build. This begins with the answers to questions like the following:

What brings customers to your website?
What answers – in the form of services or consumer goods – can you offer?
What is it that potential customers most want to know about your brand?

Once you’ve culled the primary answers to these questions, it’s time to define specific audience groups based on characteristics such as interests, demographics, and shopping habits – all in relation to distinct categories of products or services, overall brand experience, age groups, and income levels. This is a great way to not only improve your advertising dollars’ ROI but also to tighten your cost-per-click budget.

Three: Testing, Testing 1 2 3

You want your paid advertising to do some heavy lifting, which means your copywriting and design matter. To help ensure that your ad sets are earning their keep, A/B testing is strongly encouraged. A/B testing involves testing the customer experience doing it this way as compared to doing it that way, and one important reason for doing A/B testing is that those guys over at Facebook are prone to switching things up without consulting you. Fortunately, Facebook makes it easy to A/B test for all the following important factors on its Ad Manager:

Ad copy (focus specifically on those headlines)
Ad design
Ad placement
Ad visuals
Bidding method
Call to action
Target audience

Four: Target Shooting

Setting your sights for your target audience is a pillar of advertising. If you’re trying to sell those geeky gamer gizmos, you shouldn’t be targeting investment bankers, for example (this is not to say that there isn’t crossover here). Targeting your ads as specifically as possible to your unique audience is your golden ticket, and the longer you run your ad campaigns, the more Facebook Pixel can help you with that.

Remember that retargeting is also a thing. By refunneling visitors into your target audience, you allow the time and space that can foster a true love connection. Are your offerings impulse buys? Common purchases? Bigger ticket items? These distinctions matter in terms of your advertising time frame, and you can target your audiences accordingly (with 30-day or 60-day advertising options). Finally, when it comes to returning customers – they are special to you, and you should let them know it. For example, give ‘em a bit of extra love by changing up the advertising they see (and not lumping them in with the lookie-loos), giving them the best deals, and/or hitting them with a discount.

Five: Respect Yourself

If you run a business, it’s more than just a financial endeavor – it’s a labor of love. Your goal isn’t to be just like the other guy but, instead, is to stand out from the other guy. You do your brand a disservice when you dim its shine. When it comes to your advertising dollars, you want to compare and contrast – to get a feel for what’s working out there in terms of both ad formats and targeting – before pulling the trigger on your own masterpiece. Ads Manager can help you get a better handle on best practices in your business space, but don’t be afraid to make it your own.

Facebook Has the Juice, and Digital Marketing Pros Can Help You Harness It

Facebook has staying power, and when it comes to your advertising dollars, this means business. Facebook can help you make your paid advertising work for you, and the dynamic digital marketing team at The Web Guys has the keen advertising insight and branding bravado to help light the way. Let your brand shine bright by contacting us at (317) 805-4933 today.