Creating Successful Ad Campaigns: Facebook Ad Best Practices
For more than a decade now, Facebook has been the leading social media platform. While it was once primarily used to connect with friends and family, today, it’s also one of the best places for businesses to advertise.
You can create a business Facebook account to connect with customers organically, as you would on any other social media network. Facebook’s paid advertising platform is where you can make the most significant impact, though.
Like any other kind of marketing, Facebook advertising has standards and quirks you must keep in mind when running a campaign. In this article, we'll talk about how you can launch a successful campaign with these Facebook ad best practices.
Why Advertise on Facebook?
Between traditional advertising routes and the variety of digital advertising platforms that are available, why should you choose Facebook?
Increasing your reach
There are more than 3 billion monthly active Facebook users as of 2024. That’s more than 3 billion people you can potentially market your products or services to by advertising on the platform. No other social media platform, or advertising platform of any kind, can boast such a large audience.
Of course, no Facebook ad campaign will reach all of these users, but you can still use the platform to dramatically increase your reach. Advertising on Facebook will help you bring additional exposure to your company and increase your brand awareness.
Specific targeting options
When you run ads through traditional advertising channels, like television, radio, and print, narrowing down your audience and reaching prospective customers can be challenging. Luckily, Facebook makes reaching your target audience easy with its excellent targeting options.
Facebook’s targeting options allow you to fine-tune your ad's reach. For example, if you want to target only men who are over the age of 50 and are interested in hunting, you can do that with Facebook advertising.
The targeting options on Facebook include factors such as:
- The user's interests
- Their location
- Their age and gender
- Their previous engagement with your business
- Their similarities to your existing customers
Reporting
You never have to wonder how your Facebook campaign is going. All you need to do is check the comprehensive analytics dashboard that Facebook provides.
With this dashboard, you can track exactly how your campaign is progressing in real time. The most important metrics for you to track will appear there, and they'll be automatically updated as they change.
Facebook Ad Best Practices
Before you start crafting your Facebook ad strategy, it’s essential to understand the components of a good Facebook ad. Keep these Facebook ad best practices in mind.
Pick your targeting options
One of the first things you need to do is decide who makes up your target audience and how you'll target them. Avoid casting the broadest possible net. As much as it sounds great to get more eyes on your ads, it’s more important to reach people who might genuinely be interested in your business.
Facebook’s targeting options are comprehensive, so dig deep into what type of audience you want to reach. You’ll be able to get very specific through the platform.
Create relevant ads
Facebook favors ads that are highly relevant to their intended audience. The more relevant your ads are, the better they perform on the platform.
Try to put yourself in the minds of your target audience. What kinds of information and visuals would be most relevant to the needs and concerns of that audience? Write your Facebook ad copy from this perspective to ensure your ads connect with your audience.
Use engaging visuals
Users on platforms like Facebook respond best to content involving images or videos rather than plain text. If you create a strong Facebook video ad, your campaign stands an even greater chance of catching the audience's attention. Even if you can’t invest in producing video ads, at least try to use compelling images alongside the text in your ads to help them stand out.
Match your copy to your visuals
Your ad copy and your visuals should be closely tied. They should be two complementary parts of a cohesive ad — not two separate elements that are smashed together. Make sure your images and text go well with one another.
Make an intriguing value proposition
Facebook users get bombarded with various types of content, including many different types of Facebook ads. You need to convince them that they should click on your ad to go to your landing page. How is your business unique? What do you have to offer? Make sure your value proposition is clear.
Include a clear call to action
You have to lead your viewers by the hand and tell them exactly what you want them to do next. Add a large, straightforward call-to-action (CTA) button that spells out their next step. Some generic examples include “click here to buy now” or “get the offer before it expires.” A sense of urgency can help persuade viewers to click on your ad.
Test different formats
Video ads might work best for one business while text- and image-based ads work better for another. You won’t know which format will work best for you until you try a few. Test different ad formats on the platform with small runs to get more information.
Monitor and adjust
Even the best ad creatives don't always make the perfect ad on the first try. Monitor your campaign through Facebook's analytics to see how it progresses. One of the best things about digital marketing is that you can always adjust. If your campaign metrics aren’t as strong as you want them to be, make some changes in real time.
Launch Your Own Facebook Ad Campaign
Dipping your toe into any new marketing endeavor can be intimidating. Optimize Digital Marketing is here to help make the process easier. As digital marketing pros, we know how to craft the best Facebook marketing campaigns to promote your business.
If you would like to learn more about how Optimize can assist you with building your Facebook ad campaign, schedule your free consultation today!