Facebook ads are displayed while users are checking their Facebook feeds. Targeting options are especially interesting considering the amount of information that Facebook gathers about its users! Targeting is based on interests, demographics, location, users who like your page, friends of users who like your page, lookalike audiences and more. This level of targeting allows you to test and find audiences that will engage with your brand. Users who view Facebook ads often take action at some point in the future through page or post likes, shares, contributing to online dialogue, spreading awareness and often acting as advocates for your services (whether or not they themselves end up using your services).
Facebook viewers are in a different frame of mind then when on a search engine – socializing as opposed to researching or browsing. Thus, ads can be shared with friends creating a viral effect and expanding your reach at no additional cost. Furthermore, this sharing option compounds an awareness effect because a message from a friend is much more powerful than one from a company.
Facebook offers a variety of different ads and placement options to reach your most relevant audience. You can create one ad to show in all of Facebook’s available placements, or multiple ads to define even greater relevancy.
Campaign Objectives
There are different campaign objectives to use within Facebook, all constructed with business goals based on your advertising needs. Some examples of these objectives and goals are:
1. Awareness – Business Goals:
- 1.1. Brand Awareness: To increase people’s awareness of your business/brand.
- 1.2. Reach: To show your ads to as many people as possible in your target audience.
2. Consideration – Business Goals:
- 2.1. Traffic: Send people to a URL off of Facebook.
- 2.2. Engagement: Reach people to engage with your post.
- 2.3. App Installs: Send people to a store where they can download your app.
- 2.4. Video Views: Get people to watch your video.
- 2.5. Lead Generation: Collect leads for your business.
- 2.6. Messages: Connect and communicate with people on Facebook.
3. Conversion – Business Goals:
- 3.1 Conversions: Get people to take an action on your website (ie: add item to cart, make a purchase, download an app etc.)
- 3.2 Catalog Sales: Display products from your e-commerce store to generate sales.
- 3.3 Store Traffic: Promote your brick-and-mortar locations.
Facebook Ad Types
Depending on your objective, Facebook offers multiple ad types to suit your needs. Some of the most popular examples of these are:
- 1. Photo Ads: Used when you want to drive people to your website. Consists of headlines, descriptions, display URL, a call-to-action, and an image. The recommendations vary by placement. https://www.facebook.com/business/ads/photo-ad-format#
- 2. Video Ads: Video ads grab attention! There are various types of video ad formats that are available to use in multiple ad types; some of which are standard video, slideshows, stories, carousel, and boost a post. Video specifications vary.
https://www.facebook.com/business/ads/video-ad-format# - 3. Facebook Lead Ads: Building a customer base is essential for any type of business. With Facebook lead ads, a potential customer simply clicks on your ad and a pre-populated form pops up with their Facebook contact information; making the process easy and fast. Lead ads are also capable of CRM integration for easy retrieval.
https://www.facebook.com/business/ads/lead-ads - 4. Slideshow Ads: Similar to video ads, but using images to create a video effect. They load quickly and can use multiple editing features such as motion, sounds, and texts.
https://www.facebook.com/business/ads/slideshow-ad-format# - 5. Carousel Ads: Allows you to display up to 10 images or videos within a single ad, each card with its own link! This is a great way to showcase your products, services, and/or promotions. You can allow Facebook to optimize the order of the images, but to tell a great image story it’s best to opt out of the automated feature. https://www.facebook.com/business/ads/carousel-ad-format#
Targeting Options
Facebook offers a multitude of options to best target your business to the most relevant audience. Some of the many targeting options are by:
- Locations
- Demographics (age, gender, languages)
- Interests
- Behaviours
- Job Titles
- Custom Audiences (example: customer lists)
- Lookalikes (people who are similar to a custom audience or your business page)
You can use Detailed Targeting to include or exclude people based on criteria; as well as Connections to include or exclude people based on connections to your page, apps, or events.
https://www.facebook.com/business/help/717368264947302?id=176276233019487
