With approximately 1 billion active monthly users on Facebook, it can be a great place to advertise your product or service. Facebook has made available a number of ways to advertise, including: Facebook Ads, Sponsored Stories, Promoted Posts, Sponsored Apps, Event Sponsorship, and Sponsored results. I will be focusing on Facebook Ads; specifically ads that promote ‘likes’ for your business fan page.
I’m sure you’ve noticed the images, blurbs, and links on the right side of your Facebook home feed. Those are Facebook Ads. This form of advertisement can be very valuable to a business if used effectively. Let’s discuss how to build, target, and buy your ad.
FACEBOOK ADS 101:
BUILDING YOUR AD
Step 1: Decide whether you want your ad to take the user to an external link (website, blog, etc.) or to your Facebook fan page. For more exposure to your business page, select your fan page as the Facebook destination from the list provided.
Step 2: Choose your ad headline (up to 24 characters), body (a brief description of your product or service 90 characters or less), and an image. I suggest the use of an image that is sure to grasp the user’s attention. Make sure to use words that strongly define what it is you are advertising. A catchy headline is always recommended as well.
Step 3: Determine where on your Facebook fan page you want the ad to take the user. A good landing page (the place whoever clicks on your ad is taken to) is your timeline. This will assure that the user is able to tell who you are and what you do as soon as they ‘land.’ For this reason, make sure that the information in your ad is consistent with the information on your Facebook page.
TARGETING YOUR AD
Step 4: Target your ad to a specific location (city, state, country), gender, and age. This is why before building your ad, you should define your target market. Try and be as specific as possible.
Step 5: Choose the interests of your target consumer (who’s Facebook home feed you want your ad to show up on). Facebook gives you the option to target people that have ‘Liked’ specific Facebook pages. For example, if you are a music teacher, you can choose to display your ad to Facebook users that have ‘liked’ the Music fan page or Guitar fan page. This works well for local businesses if they choose to target users who have ‘liked’ the local Chamber of Commerce fan page etc. You can also select activities and interests that people have listed in their Facebook profile.
Note: As you target users, you can see the number of users that will possibly see your ad. This number will fluctuate as you add/remove target specifications. Be aware that sometimes a bigger number is not always better. You want the right people to see your ad, not everyone on Facebook.
Step 6: Target which type of connections see your ad: Anyone (anyone on Facebook that fits your target user profile), people connected to your fan page (only people that have ‘liked’ your Facebook business page), people not connected to your fan page (users that have not ‘liked’ your business on Facebook).
Step 7: For advanced targeting, target your ad to users who ‘like’ a specific brand on Facebook. You can also target your ad to the friends of the users that have ‘liked’ your Facebook fan page.
BUYING YOUR AD
Step 8: There are two different ways to pay for your ad. The first option is CPC (cost- per-click) – this means that you will bid on the amount of money you will pay for every time a user clicks on your ad. Keep in mind that with CPC, you are only paying when someone engages with your ad. Facebook will always suggest their own price and you can stick with that, or create your own bid. The second option is CPM (Cost per 1,000 impressions – – every time someone sees your ad). With this option, you are paying every time someone sees your ad, even if they don’t click through.
Note: You can set a budget for your ad and when that budget is up, Facebook will stop running your ad.
Facebook Ads are a great way to target a specific audience. Next time you think about promoting your business on Facebook, try running a Facebook Ad.
