There are over two billion people that use Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp at least once per day.
With such a huge portion of the global population at your fingertips, how do you reach them?
In learning how to advertise on Facebook, that also means taking the time to recognize who your target audience is and understanding how to make them pay attention to what your business is offering.
It all starts with promoting your business on Facebook the right way.
Promoting Your Business on Facebook
Facebook has some stellar opportunities to promote your business, but you have to know how to apply their tools to maximize your reach.
You can get as specific as you want with the features that are available. From demographics to detailed location information, you can hone in on your audience like a shark would on its dinner.
Because of the flexibility, you can Facebook advertising offers. You also have the opportunity to control your budget down to the penny. After all, you’re only ever going to pay to reach the people you want to reach.
As great as micro-targeting sounds, there’s more to it than just selecting an audience. There’s an art to promoting your business on Facebook.
Picking the Right Way to Advertise
When you start researching how to advertise on Facebook, Instagram, or any other digital platform, all of that information can become overwhelming quickly.
With all of the buzzwords that you’re bound to see, it’s hard to see the forest through the trees. Don’t go with the “shoot first, ask questions later” approach.
Instead, take the time to learn the different advertising approaches to see what makes sense for your business and the audience you want to reach.
Display Advertising
First off, display advertising is not an umbrella term for online marketing. It’s a common mistake to think so, but there is a difference.
Display ads are the ones you can spot from a mile away. Unlike native ads, display ads typically are in boxes at the top, bottom, or on the side of a webpage like a banner waving at you saying “I’m here and completely clickable!”
You can’t miss a display ad.
Its counterpart is a native ad that looks much more organic in comparison with the page that it’s on. Clickz has an excellent example of such an ad on their page where everything in the ad looks exactly like the content with the exception of a single word: Sponsored.
These ads are easy to miss because they don’t always look like ads right away and can be a great way to advertise non-invasively.
Instagram Advertising
While not as robust as Facebook, Instagram is no small piece of the digital marketing pool. There are approximately 500 million users that sign on every day to Instagram alone.
This is one case of letting FOMO drive for a little while because you don’t want to miss out on what Instagram advertising has to offer.
Times have changed, and you don’t need an Instagram influencer anymore – not like in the days of yore when you had to find someone who had a steady and impactful influence on Instagram to drive your posts.
It’s a good thing, too, because it was expensive and you couldn’t necessarily target your audience very effectively. On the bright side, because it has changed, advertising on Instagram is as easy as advertising on Facebook.
Within the Facebook advertising platform, you can create Instagram ads that have the same properties you can expect with Facebook – cost scalability, specific targeting for audiences, and reports that give you good information.
Facebook Advertising
In January, Mark Zuckerberg posted that Facebook had released its quarterly updates. That’s where he talks about the number of people that are using the Facebook family of apps.
With 2.7 billion people using all of them and a couple billion using them once a day, Facebook advertising is incredibly appealing for any business owner.
Advertising on Facebook can be as refined as you need when it comes to targeting your audience. In fact, it has one of the most robust collections of features when it comes to reaching the people you want to reach.
Facebook advertising has a multitude of different options for you for campaigns, how to target your audience, and it’s all part of the Facebook advertising strategy that you haven’t put together yet.
Facebook Advertising Strategy
You’re going to get different results depending on the type of ad you create and the population that you target for each ad.
To develop your Facebook advertising strategy, you need to understand the different types of ads that are available to choose from.
Facebook is full of different advertisements hoping to tap into someone’s pocketbook. The chances are that you’ve seen them all.
Ads on Facebook
Photo ads are probably the most common Facebook ad that you’ll recognize. It’s an ad that is meant to display advertising for your product with a picture, a description, and a link. They’re simple and easy to create with only a few quick clicks.
Slideshow ads are also easy to set up as they encompass a collection of pictures or videos that are compiled in a short video ad. Bonus – they use less bandwidth than traditional videos, making them mobile-friendly and quick to load.
Another common ad you’ll see on Facebook is the ever prominent video ad that is a complete streaming ad that is pretty much just a commercial for a product or service. Differences tend to run in video quality and delivery, but these are generally effective Facebook advertisements.
There are many more different types of ads that you can create on Facebook, but these are the most popular for a reason. Understanding the ads makes it easier to select the types of Facebook campaigns you’re most likely to have success with.
Types of Facebook Campaigns
As you get started on Facebook ads, there are three parts to the process that all work together to get your ads in front of the right audience.
First, there’s the campaign. That’s where you decide what your overall objective is for your ad. Do you want to promote your page? Do you want to raise brand awareness? What about increasing audience engagement? Maybe you’re in it to drive sales up.
Second, it’s time to create your ad set. Your ad set can have a single ad or multiple ads. At this stage, you’ll also target your audience, figure out your budget, and ad placement.
Then, of course, you must create the ad you intend to use. If you want to drive up brand awareness, then maybe you need to approach it with a photo ad that showcases the humor your company wants to exemplify.
Audience engagement may include using a different approach with a video that attracts attention. With the many different types of campaigns available, you can tweak them to fit your goals.
You might want to check out this best selling course “Facebook Ads & Facebook Marketing Mastery 2020” at Udemy!
Targeting Your Audience
When you go to create a new ad set, you’re going to name your campaign and select the page you’ll be promoting. Once you do that, you’re going to get into the nitty-gritty to target the audience you hope to reach.
Start by picking the right location. If you live in Central Texas, then it wouldn’t make sense for you to target Montana if you’re providing services that are local to where you live.
Alternatively, if you provide a service or product that should be available across a larger geographical demographics, then you may want to cover your entire state.
Creating Your Ad Set
As you create your ad set, you’re also going to see the audience size indicator. It will give you a good impression of how many people you can reach with your ad.
Once you’ve got it down to where you want your ad to reach, then you start narrowing down the criteria even more.
Targeting with detail by selecting interests that will work well for your ad’s reach. As an example, if you have an archery business targeted at the shooting sports fanatic and not someone who is interested in bow hunting, you can make that choice.
Including or excluding connections can also be extremely effective. You can choose to target people that don’t already like your Facebook page to reach a new audience. You can go the other way, too, and target people that already know you with products or services that you offer.
As you build your knowledge on how to advertise on Facebook, something else you don’t want to miss is the way installing Facebook scripts can help you, too.
Installing Facebook Scripts
Wait a minute. Facebook scripts?
So the answer to this is a lot of yes and a little bit no. Facebook scripts aren’t something you write to retrieve information, but there is a tool that will give you all the information you need.
The answer is Facebook Pixel, and it is invaluable once you know what it is and how to use it.
How to Use Facebook Pixel
Pixel is a bit of code that you place on your website, and it is designed to track Facebook ad conversions and build targeted audiences that you can focus on in the future.
Facebook Pixel is non-invasive, but it does track cookies while users are engaged with your site or your Facebook advertisements.
What Facebook Pixel Can Do For You
This addition to your website will follow how people continue to interact with your site after they have gotten there from a Facebook ad. You can even tell if your site is being visited from a mobile or a desktop device.
Having that bit of information can help change the way you target your audience in your ads. You can also retarget your audience if you wanted to.
You’ve seen those ads where you’d swear you were just looking at that Instant Pot on Amazon, and then, boom, there it is in a Facebook ad. Those ads are courtesy of Facebook Pixel and its ability to retarget.
In the words of Maui, “You’re welcome!”
Optimize Your Facebook Advertising
Facebook Pixel makes it possible to optimize your Facebook advertising strategy down to a science. You can track data to go for particular conversion rates.
Pixel collects information to let you know which ads are more valuable, so you’re not wasting money on an ad that isn’t really doing the job.
You can also create a lookalike audience based on the data that Pixel gives you. It’s like handing you the keys to the kingdom, and all you have to do is unlock the door.
How to Advertise on Facebook and Conquer Your Goals
Yes, there is a learning curve.
Yes, it means you’re going to have to do some reading and research.
It will all be worth it, especially when you walk around your local shopping center and hear people saying things like, “I was just looking at that fuzzy blanket, and then it was on my Facebook feed! It’s like my phone knows what I’m doing!”
Then you can inwardly smile, knowing exactly what’s happening. You’ll also know that advertising on Facebook works and audiences can be targeted if you have a well-rounded understanding of how to go forth and conquer.
Are you ready to take on Facebook and advertise to the millions of people waiting to see what you have to offer?
We’d love to hear what your first step is going to be, in the comments below!
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