Why Facebook Ads work

Whilst working with various SMMEs, I have that found the phrase ‘Facebook Ads’ sends marketing directors into the throws of panic, so with that in mind, I’ll guide you through Facebook Ads and find out how easily SMMEs can benefit from Facebook Ads.

So by now, we all realise how important it is to be on Facebook, after all, it is where your clients probably spend the majority of their days (much to the woes of their employers), but where we fail, is attracting more customers, ‘likes’ and most importantly, website traffic and sales.

Social Media is a necessity, but it can also demotivate, as the ROI takes a rather long time to show itself. We sit and post daily, updating faceless people, whose numbers seem to stagnate. Whilst constantly updating your page is fantastic (again, a necessity), it doesn’t help if you haven’t the people to see it.

This is where Facebook Ads come in. It’s not a faceless, nameless advertising scheme, aimed at the bigger corporates with oodles of cash for marketing and whose names are already well known. Facebook Ads are specifically targeted, aimed only at people who you want to target and best of all, you decide how much it costs.

Firstly, you choose who to target. In marketing, we all known demographics are vital, so if your target audience consists of mainly men over the age of 35 and under the age of 70, you put that in. Remember, Facebook garners all this information from individuals when they sign up. So now, you are only targeting men between 35-70 years of age, but come on, how many will that be? Millions? So you narrow it down.

Men between the ages of 35 and 70, within South Africa. Again, quite a few, so to further narrow it down, we list what they’re interested in.

When you sign up to Facebook, you list what you’re interested in – this is why Facebook Ads are so successful.

So now, you’re targeting men, between the ages of 35 and 70, who are in South Africa and have listed themselves as interested in your industry. This is your target market. Instead of mindlessly throwing marketing at uninterested people, you are now hitting exactly where you want to hit.

Much like Google Ads, Facebook charges more the narrower your search is. So, if you’re targeting 200,000 people, you will be paying more than if you were targeting 400,000. And, as Google Ads, you pay per click, so you can choose your budget. You will never pay more than your set budget.

The goal of Facebook Ads is not to send people directly to your website, but rather to increase your Facebook page followers. This may seem like an own-goal to you, but once again, the ROI is long-term. You can send people to your website, but is it worth it? Each follower may not instantly visit your website, but if they simply press the ‘like’ button, they will be receiving your information for weeks, months and possibly years to come. Your name becomes well-known, your brand reputable (if you  manage your page correctly) and your website traffic increases…slowly, but it does increase.

My suggestion? Put 10% of your marketing budget aside, do a couple of campaigns on Facebook Ads (they’re dead easy) and test it. If you don’t like the results, you’ve not lost out on much.

So, I leave you with these five steps to ensuring your Facebook Ad Campaign works:

1. Plan: The set-up process may be quick, but your thought process shouldn’t be. Sit back, think about who you want to target and how.
2. Be picky in your targeting: Facebook isn’t about ‘the more the merrier’ – getting uninterested people to your page and site is a pointless waste of time and money. Be realistic, micro-target (i.e. do not just choose ‘Education’ as a target audience. Choose ‘Education’ + ‘Online’ + Social Media’) and choose people who are most likely to be converted into a sale – 1000 sales is much better than 50 000 views.
3. Make your ad scream for attention: Design a fantastic graphic. It’s small, so let it stand out and not be busy. In your text, make sure you have your Call to Action. It’s so obvious and yet so simple to forget. If you don’t tell people how to act, they won’t.
4. Keep posting! It’s scary how many companies advertise their Facebook page and yet forget to post. Getting people to your page will not help you, if the last post was over a month ago.
5. Have a few ads: Test them out, check to see which one works. It’s really simple, as Facebook lets you ‘create a similar ad.

Let me know how your campaign goes and if you find you have questions, comment below and I’ll answer them for you!

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