FACEBOOK PAID ADVERTISING -
SO CHEAP EVERYONE SHOULD DO IT
Facebook Advertising Tips
Old Principles – New Method
Marketing has always been central to the success of any business. Yet, now there are so many options available. You may choose to advertise in print, online, through direct mail or even just relying on your customers’ word-of-mouth.
With over a billion users, one option that you really shouldn’t ignore is Facebook. What makes this great is it is the cheapest way to reach large audiences. So, we believe that everyone should do it.
Your business may already be using social media or you may not. But one thing that we have found across a number of Small and Medium sized companies is that those that are using Facebook are not clear on what they are trying to achieve.
Many companies have created a Facebook Page out of a fear that they may otherwise be missing out. However like any form of advertising, in order to be successful on social media it is important that you have a strategy behind whatever you do.
Social media is not that different from other advertising channels. Did your business advertise in the Yellow Pages in the past? it was easy wasn’t it? You just bought an ad for a year and then you forgot about it…. the only downside was dealing with one of their sales people for two hours.
Other businesses may have advertised in local newspapers or used posters next to the tube station. Bigger companies may have even tried advertising at the cinema. Television was out of reach except for a select few.
The Good Old Days?
Each product had/ has its place.
You wouldn’t have read the Yellow pages for fun on a sunny afternoon, after all it had nothing but advertising in it. However, it was really handy when you actually needed something. Google is the Yellow pages of today, it became so powerful it is now a verb. When you want something now you just “Google it”.
So basically the way that we do business locally hasn’t really changed. The only thing that has changed is the way that we communicate with our customers.
So, How Does Facebook Fit In To All Of This – Brand Reinforcement
Think of it in terms of the local newspaper. The local paper publishes once a week and most people give it a cursory read and then stick it in the bin. It’s hard to get noticed in one issue, right?
Yet, if you had an advert for your “plumbing service” every week then that branding would slowly but surely enter into the consciousness of local people.
Then, when they suddenly needed some plumbing work done, they would pick up the Yellow Pages and recognise your logo and, hopefully, choose you over the competition because they have seen your branding on a regular basis.
Facebook Is Like A Poster-but On The Internet
Many local companies used to back this up by putting posters next to the tube station advertising their driving school, bathrooms or window company etc etc – we’ve seen them all.
Thousands of people would pass the poster every day in the morning and evening, familiarise themselves with your branding and when it came to making a decision to buy a new product such as a bathroom, they would grab the Yellow Pages and the company’s familiar branding would mean that they got chosen over the competition.
Social media is just like a local newspaper, or the poster down by the tube station. Social media advertising can let people constantly see your branding every day and then when they search on Google for services in your field they are more likely to select your website as your name and branding will feel more familiar than someone else’s.
You Are Mad Not To Do It
So, here’s why your company is mad not to advertise on Facebook:
Firstly, advertising through Facebook means that you could reach as many people (if not more) than radio or TV and in whatever country you want. But that doesn’t mean that it has to be expensive.
If you spend just £1 per day on Facebook adverts, you will get in front of 4,000 people. These are people that would not have seen your company otherwise. IF you are advertising on Facebook and your competitors are not, then you are outdoing them in brand awareness in your niche.
For just £1 per day it is a great way of getting the attention of potential customers. To be fair, if you can’t afford £30 a month-then you really shouldn’t be in business.
You Can Target Extremely Specific Audiences
Advertising on Facebook does not just involve putting an advert out there and hoping for the best. One of the most useful parts of advertising on Facebook is that you can target a really specific audience.
If you are not currently familiar with these options, Facebook allows you to target audiences by one, or a combination of, different options. The list includes:
– Geography
– Language
– Age
– Gender
– Workplace
– College
– Interests (including job titles)
– Categories
– Your own email lists
– Relationship status
– Education level
– College major
– School
So that means that your business could target people according to where they live, by what age they are and by their general interests. Say you are offering driving lessons, you may want to target 17-22 year olds studying at colleges near you. Facebook is the ideal way to do this.
What is more, you can also use Facebook adverts to promote events. You can get people to join your event for as low as £0.15 each – that’s a good return on a sold ticket – plus, you can specifically target the friends of people who have already said they are attending.
Want To Target Company Directors?
By targeting certain job titles, your company can generate leads from specific job holders within an organisation. This provides great targeting for any kind of B2B campaign. Clients often make the mistake that Facebook is just for teenagers and silly cat pictures-it really isn’t.
Facebook Advertising Is A Massive Marketing Opportunity
Because Facebook has a number of benefits that other channels simply can’t match. We recommend it as it is a completely unique marketing opportunity.
Some of the things that make it different are:
– Your business can reach more people than radio or TV and across all countries for every pound you spend
– You can target customers in a very sophisticated way
– It is extremely cheap as the minimum spend is only £1 per day
– Facebook also offers the lowest cost per 1,000 impressions in advertising history: averaging around £0.25 per 1,000. That is only 1% of the cost of advertising on TV
All of this means that Facebook adverts are incredibly affordable, very awareness raising, have good targeting and require very little commitment. You couldn’t ask for much more.
How To Advertise Effectively
Facebook recently made some significant changes to their algorithms affecting how many people will see any of your posts. This means that many less people see your un-paid posts than before.
Essentially, for any potential paid advertiser, many of these changes are really helpful, as they are meant to help you maximise the return from Facebook ad campaigns, but they can be confusing.
Facebook is also renowned for constantly making changes to its screen layouts, meaning that a lot of posting through automated means such as HootSuite will not get seen by as many people any more.
New Choices
Facebook’s recent changes. You can now choose whether you want to get more page likes, promote particular posts or select advanced options.
We have a few tips for each of these:
Get More Page Likes
This selection means that you are advertising your company Facebook Page and trying to grow the number of “likes”. This shows the title of your Page and a few words to describe your company. People will only be able to see the first 25 characters of your page name – so make sure that both are clear and snappy!
Promote Page Posts
Once known as “Sponsored Story”, this option lets you promote one of your recent posts. This appears in the News Feed (much better on a smart phone) so that people are able to interact with the post itself. Use this option wisely as you get charged whenever someone clicks or likes the post and they don’t have to like your Page itself ( be aware, some people actually think that they are liking your Page by liking the post).
Our tip is to select a post that has a great photo/image in it as then you get a bonus photo in yout advert. Research shows that Facebook users are more likely to click a post with an eye-cathing picture.
Advanced Options
This option gives you more flexibility in the way that you bid on your ad. Once you select this option, you will again be asked whether you want to advertise a Page or a Post – but then you bid on your advert.
By “Bidding” we mean the way that you are charged for your advert. When you choose to advertise on Facebook, they will automatically optimise this at a Cost per Mile (which simply means cost per 1000 impressions) model. But, you can also switch to Advanced Pricing and choose to advertise based on Cost per Click. It is worth deciding which method is best for you.
Hopefully this has helped you understand why advertising on Facebook can be great for your business.
Put simply, Facebook is extremely cheap to advertise on but it is important that you work out what you are trying to achieve. You may want to get the attention of young homeowners, college students, senior professionals or simply anyone in your local area. Facebook is one way to really stand out from your competitors, especially as hardly any local business are doing it.
Any questions? give us a call as we are willing to have a no obligation chat with anyone, and provide a free social media audit.
Shane McEvoy is a seasoned SEO and inbound marketing expert with nearly 30 years of experience in advertising. He established Flycast Media, a specialist B2B digital agency, and is a published author of two well-received guides while contributing to several industry publications - read his complete profile here.
