Marketing is an integral part of business success. It involves reaching out to potential clientele while at the same time keeping existing clients happy. Today, businesses have to use multiple marketing strategies to stay ahead of the competition. Thanks to advances in technology, digital marketing practices are gaining traction. In particular, social media has taken the world by storm, presenting numerous marketing opportunities for businesses that want to win new customers and remain relevant. With the huge number of people who use Facebook daily, the social network serves as a great platform for spreading your marketing message. Here are a few things you should know about Facebook advertising.
What are Facebook Ads?
A Facebook ad is an advertisement that is created by a business to appear on the news feed or right column of Facebook. The advertisement is served to a Facebook audience based on demographic and profile information, user activity, device use information, and their off-Facebook activity. Since every business is different, it is important to identify your marketing goals when creating ads yourself or selecting any Facebook advertising packages. Identifying your goals will help to ensure that you are displaying the right thing to the right person at the right time.
There are several things you need to understand before creating your own Facebook ads. The first thing is your business goal, which is simply the reason for running the ad. Some common goals include getting more traffic to your website, webinar registrations, and more page likes and views. You should also identify whom you want to reach, how much you are willing to spend on the marketing campaign, and the photos or videos you would like to feature in your ad.
To create an effective Facebook ad, it is vital to know the basic parts that make up these ads. The ad creative includes the image and text that conveys your message to the target audience. There is also targeting where businesses select their audience based on factors such as their location, age, and gender, language, and behaviors. You can also focus on reaching people who are connected to your Facebook page or people who are similar to your audience. Placement refers to where the ad will appear, while the bid is the amount you are willing to pay to have the ad displayed so that customers can take the desired action. Your budget is the amount you want to spend on the campaign, and the schedule is the length of time the ad will run.
As your Facebook ad runs, you will need to track performance and edit the campaign. Careful tracking will let you identify the version that is working, and the one of that is not delivering your ad effectively.
Advertisements Versus Boosted Posts
Facebook advertising offers businesses two different ways of reaching new audiences: boosted posts and Facebook ads. As you put your money behind your social media efforts, you should ensure that the option you choose will be effective and help you reach your goals. The first step to doing this is to understand what boosted posts and Facebook ads are and know the differences between the two.
A boosted post is a post that you publish on your business’ Facebook page and which can be shared to reach the audience of your choice. The boosted post appears as an ad on the Facebook news feed of your target audience. On the other hand, a Facebook ad is an advertisement that appears in the News Feed on both mobile and desktop. It can also be displayed in the right-hand column on the desktop. Ads let you customize the headline, content, CTA, and more. Here are other differences between the two:
Boosted Posts are One-Offs While Facebook Ads are Campaigns
While boosted posts are one-off and will go away like any other regular Facebook post, Facebook ads run as part of a dedicated and ongoing campaign. This means that ads have to be in line with the larger content strategy.
Ads Drive Leads, Boosted Posts Increase Engagement
By their nature, Facebook ads are effective when you are looking to promote a product or service since they help to drive traffic to your website. With boosted posts, the best time to use them is when you want to boost brand awareness.
Facebook Ads Give You More Control
Compared to boosted posts, Facebook ads give you more control in terms of the content, your audience as well as your goals. This freedom of engagement often produces tremendous results, especially when you know your target audience.
Facebook Ads Deliver Better ROI
An important factor for marketing teams when executing campaigns is the return on investment. Facebook ads are built for ROI and will help you reach your goals.
Boosted posts are more budget-friendly
Facebook ads are popular among established advertisers with larger budgets. Boosted posts are ideal when you have a limited budget or want to test out a strategy before putting together a comprehensive campaign.
Facebook Ads let You Retarget
One of the notable advantages of Facebook ads over boosted posts is the ability to retarget. By making it possible to target ads to custom retargeted audiences, Facebook ads deliver impressive results in terms of conversions.
Both boosted posts, and Facebook ads have their benefits. Rather than trying to decide which one to use, businesses should use them together to reach a wider audience and reach their goals.
How Long Does it Take for Them to Work?
Considering Facebook’s immense global audience, Facebook ads can be effective, provided you have the right strategy. However, you may wonder how long you should run your Facebook ad to realize tangible results.
During the testing phase, it will take a minimum of three to four days for you to establish how the ad is doing. Before making a decision, you must ensure that you have enough data so you can confidently say one ad is performing better than another.
There is also the learning phase, during which you will need to find out the number of people who take the desired action. This phase allows you to make the necessary changes in terms of creativity, targeting, and budgeting. If you are running a long-term campaign, you should wait for between three and four days to see the desired results. Depending on what you observe, you can then refresh the campaign with a new image or change your target audience.
Facebook advertising presents amazing opportunities for businesses in different industries. However, you will have to understand what Facebook advertising is to come up with the right strategies to help you achieve your marketing objectives.
Image Source: BigStock.com (licensed)
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