If you’re a business owner who executes Facebook advertising, you’ve likely heard the term “funnel” get thrown around. It stems from the idea
that purchases aren’t a simple yes/no action, but rather, the result of a consumer journey, on which the brand takes its audience from being strangers – to converters.
Here’s how to go full funnel:
Start Broad
Take your target market, and build an audience on Facebook that reflects it. For example, let’s say you sell board games and want to market nationally to individuals aged 35-50 who are interested in chess. The potential reach of your campaign is listed as one million people. Welcome to the top of your funnel.
Run ads targeting this population in order for them to gain familiarity with your brand. As your campaign moves forward, you notice that out of everyone who’s seen your ad, 10% of them engaged with it in some way. This is called a qualifying event, and these people can be considered prospects for the next level of your campaign.
Continue To The Middle
Here’s where many businesses fall off. I mean, if I can send an ad to one million people, why would I narrow my focus, right? Well, you may be hitting a large audience, but you’re not guaranteed to get purchases from everyone. That’s what the middle of the funnel for.
Create a new campaign, and serve it to those prospects you just identified. You’re moving from educating about the fact your business sells board games, to asking if your audience wants to see some of your offerings. Your new ad focuses on landing page visits to your website. The campaign continues, and you notice that out of the prospects, 5% clicked the link to look at your products. These are called your leads.
Finish Strong
Congrats! You’ve narrowed down your original audience from one million down to 100,000, and then again to 5,000. These are the people most likely to make a purchase. You’re almost there. Create a new campaign that targets these leads, and gives them an enticing offer. They already know about your site, all it takes now is to convince them to make that purchase decision.
Offer up a limited-edition box or maybe a buy one get one half-off deal. Soon enough, you begin to see the purchases coming through faster than your past campaigns. You did it! Your marketing dollars are now going further, and you’ve created a mechanism for identifying and capitalizing on potential future customers year-round.
The funnel is all about efficiency. The top starts off broad. As you work your way down and narrow your audience, you’ll improve the conversion rate between people seeing your ad, and actually buying your product… Don’t worry; your business will become a well-oiled selling machine in no time. If this feels daunting, and you want to brush up on your social media skills or learn more about Facebook Ads, try checking out our blog.
