Facebook ads always seem to be changing, which can make ensuring that they reach your desired audience a bit tricky. Some general advertising tactics are tried and true, such as A/B testing, but others are unique to Facebook, making them more mysterious to the average small business marketer. Yet like everything social-related, the key to optimizing your Facebook ads involves unlocking a few simple tactics, coupled with a dash of creativity. Switching up your layouts and copy, expanding on what’s been successful in the past to create even stronger ad targeting, and a simple Instagram placement can do a lot for your web traffic. Optimizing your Facebook ads connects a truly interested audience with a simple online purchase opportunity, and that leaves both parties pleased that they got social.
Conduct A/B Testing
A/B Testing is as old as time, and on Facebook, it can go one of two ways: either the targeting of the ad or the ad creative must change. Once you’ve determined what works in both of those categories, take it further by making smaller changes, such as changing your call to action from “Shop Now” to “Learn More” or switching from a direct product shot to a lifestyle photo. With time, you’ll come to see trends that will naturally lead you in the right direction, and ultimately, lead to much better ads.
Vary Your Creative
While it helps to use images and text that your customers are familiar with and therefore recognize, they may eventually begin to tune them out. Sometimes, the best idea is to be disruptive, because remember- your business page is competing for the same space in your audience’s newsfeed as their friends and family. Keep it interesting by varying your ad creative using existing posts as inspiration! Did one of your recent blog article or posts receive a lot of engagement, or had particularly high reach? Turn it into an ad! At the top of the ad creative section, click on the tab entitled “existing posts,” then select your choice from the list.
Create Lookalike Audiences
Once you’ve got a general idea of your target audience, you can expand on this by creating a lookalike audience in your company page’s ad manager! However, you should keep in mind that you will need to save an audience from a previous ad to complete this process. If you have an existing general advertising audience and you’d like to build on it, simply click on +create audience to access a drop down menu, which will then give you the option of creating a lookalike audience. Doing so accesses the algorithm’s ability to locate people with similar interests and buying habits as those who have already successfully clicked on your ads.
Use Carousel Ads
Carousel ads are fairly new to Facebook, but they can be extremely effective at capturing audience attention, particularly if you have a series of images that compliment one another. If your product or service is something that makes the most sense to a consumer as part of a greater whole, you will be well served by creating a carousel ad. Simply aggregate your best images and upload them all in a series. This is a great strategy if you’ve seen certain products perform better than others. Upload photos of your best sellers’ alongside less popular products to leverage sales.
Try An Instagram Placement
Instagram is still the fastest growing social media channel out there. Simply sync your Instagram account with your Facebook account (you can do so in the ad creative using your Instagram username and password), then select it as a placement when determining the duration and location(s) of your ad. The best part about joining the Insta-world is that your small business could be tapping into an entirely unexplored new audience. Getting in front of different users, particularly if your business is a visual one, can be crucial for long-term success and a return on your investment in social media marketing.
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