By What would you do for the chance to market to a room of more than one billion people? Who cares that a room that big isn’t even physically possible? The real point is that you don’t actually need to do much. Facebook has over 1.65 billion monthly active users whose feeds are ready and waiting to display your content (VentureBeat). Plus, Facebook ads have the lowest cost per 1,000 impressions in the history of advertising, so what is there to lose (Adespresso)?
Facebook Adverts will put the content in front of your audience, but it’s your job to make sure they click on it. tweet If you’re looking for ways to pull in customers through ads, you’re in the right place! Let’s explore some of the best tips and tricks to make your content more valuable to your audience when you're advertising on Facebook.
Before you even start writing copy and designing images, you’ll need to know your audience, and have a Facebook Business Page. Let’s pretend you’re a local nerd-themed cafe looking to attract other geeky caffeine-addicts to your business. You’ve done the first steps of branding your business, like creating the clever business name “Klaatu Barista Nikto” (classic sci-fi, anyone?), and deciding that your target audience is 18-40 year olds interested in sci-fi, comic books, Game of Thrones and other geek media. As we’ve proven that newsfeed ads have more marketing power, we’ll focus on this type of ad for our journey. Now, with a business, a target audience, and a type of ad, all systems are go on this Facebook Adverts adventure.
7 Tips to Advertise on Facebook
1. It’s All About the Image
Even the best copy on the web will do nothing without a killer image to pull people in. In the digital age, people are constantly bombarded by text content, so a well-designed image is what makes content stand out when advertising on Facebook. It’s been shown that content with a relevant image will get 94% more total views than a piece of content without one (Business2Community). Scrolling down an endless Facebook feed, it’s easy to skim over a wall of ad text. It’s the image that will break up the text and offer something of interest to the viewer’s eye! However, after they see the image, they’ll examine the text around it, so make sure your image is relevant to your copy.
For Klaatu Barista Nikto, a geek-themed image or a photo of their food and drink would do a lot to introduce the audience to their brand. You can even overlay your image with text to give a broad idea of the content your customer is seeing. Don’t go crazy with the text overlay, though! Not only does Facebook not allow overly text-saturated images, but you run the risk of bombarding your audience with too much information, detracting from the look of your ad. Use Facebook’s handy image text check tool to see if yours fits the bill.
You know those police suspect photos from security cameras that are zoomed in, blurry and look to be about eight pixels max? Yeah, don’t let your image look like that. While Facebook will automatically crop and resize your image to fit the dimensions of the ad space, you’re better off creating an image that fits the proper dimensions so you don’t risk any unfortunate manipulation of your picture. The dimensions recommended actually depend on your ad objective, so check here for the optimal size.
2. Provide Something of Value
The piece of content you put in front of your audience needs to offer something of value to them. Everyone wants something for free, or as close as they can get, but the issue is figuring out what exactly you should be offering. That’s why a key part of advertising on Facebook is knowing your audience.
What kind of content would geeky caffeine-addicts want to see on their feed? Things like coupons and discounts would be both relevant to your customers, and something your business can easily offer and follow through on.
Your offer doesn’t have to be physical. Don’t limit yourself in terms of what you can give to your clients—thinking outside the box may help you come up with the perfect offer for your customers. Intangible offers such as access to studies exploring the productivity and psychological benefits of coffee are not physical, but hold value to your audience nonetheless. If you have information that may be of use to your clients, offer it to them through your Facebook Ads to increase your click-through rate.
3. Solve a Problem
Everyone has problems, including your customers. It’s your job as a business to know what those problems are, and how you can solve them. Draw attention to the problem in your first line, and immediately offer the solution to keep your customer interested. You can also frame your ad to solve a problem your customer doesn’t even know they have. By listing the pros of your product or service, people will automatically think of the cons of not having your product. If you’re selling drill bits, don’t sell the bit, sell the ability to make holes.
Similarly, starting your copy with words like “finally,” and “at last,” implies that what you’re offering had been lacking in your customers’ lives before, and you’re here to save the day. For example, does your agency fully understand churn, and the primary reason behind churn for their customers? Not only is this valuable information, but we’ve also offered a solution to a problem in the industry.
4. Clear Call-To-Action
After reading your ad, what will keep your customer’s finger off the scroll wheel? That’s where the call-to-action (CTA) comes in! At the end of your ad, make sure you tell the viewer the next step, whether it be to “Call now,” “Learn more,” or “Sign up today.” A snippet of text outlining an action for the viewer to take will help increase the click-through rate of your ad (AdRoll). If you have more content you want your customer to access from the ad, let them know with a “read on” or “watch now.” Furthermore, adding a sense of urgency to your CTA will encourage viewers to act immediately. We always want what we can’t have, marketing’s FOMO (Fear of Missing Out), and having a CTA like “Buy now, offer ends soon” urges the customer to take advantage of your offer before it’s too late.
5. Quality Over Quantity
When it comes to advertising on Facebook, it really is quality of text over quantity. Users don’t want to be bombarded by a wall of text when they’re scrolling down their feed—it’ll only make them scroll faster. Limiting your character count with your copy will keep your ad succinct, and help you avoid repeating yourself with empty text. However, less text means fewer words to woo your audience! Let your audience know right away what you have to offer—whether it be coffee to zap those Z’s, or valuable Google info for your audience’s digital agency.
A few words can go a long way when you know how to use them. According to an analysis of Facebook content by Dan Zarrella, verbs and nouns are more effective in your copy than adjectives and adverbs (Dan Zarrella).
6. Playing the Numbers Game
Numbers can speak louder than words. Numbers and statistics show your audience you know your stuff, and back up your copy with facts and data. Throwing in a fraction or a percentage implies that there’s research to back up your claims, and makes you more trustworthy. Do more than just imply, though. When you cite numbers, be ready to back them up with a credible source. The more scientific something seems, the more likely we are to believe it, but don’t let false facts backfire on you and your business’s reputation. It’s even been shown that specific numbers, like using 1,234 rather than 1,200, improves your post’s performance (CopyBlogger). It’s a rare case of KISS (Keep It Specific, Stupid!) that will help add legitimacy to your ad and keep customers interested. Another odd fact about numbers in posts is that odd numbers in the title (e.g 5 Interesting Marketing Facts!) are more likely to draw someone in than even numbers (StartupsAfter50). Would you have read my tips if there were only six?
7. How Relevant is your Ad?
With a target audience of 18-40 year old nerds, does advertising the cleanliness of the cafe bathrooms make sense for Klaatu Barista Nikto? Most likely not. The relevancy of your ads to your audience matters when it comes to eye-catching content. Keep your copy in the realm of what your audience would enjoy. In Klaatu Barista Nikto’s case, this might be Game of Thrones jokes or coffee facts. The further away you get from your audience’s interests, the further they move down the page from your ad. Lucky for us, Facebook has a Relevancy Score tool to help determine how interested your target audience will be.
That’s All Folks!
Did you get it all? There’s no TL;DR (Too Long; Didn’t Read) for these tips, so know your stuff before you start getting creative. Did you just learn how to write clickbait? Again, no. Facebook users have been rallying against clickbait in recent months, and I’m not here to lead you astray (The Washington Post). The difference between clickbait and quality copy is enough to fill an entirely new blog, so we’ll get to that another time. While you may not be able to fit every tip in on your first go (and it will get messy if you try), keep this information in mind so you can create several ads with different tactics. Choose metrics that make sense for your goals, and monitor which of your Facebook Ads perform the best. You can use Facebook's powerful Ads Manager tool to measure the uptake of your ads, so you can continually test what works, and find your perfect tactics. Now that you’re locked and loaded with all the ad expertise you need, you’re ready to embark on your own advertising on Facebook adventure!