It seems like a day doesn’t go by where you don’t hear something about Facebook. And why not? At present, there are close to 600 million Facebook users – half of whom check their accounts daily. While these statistics are impressive, even more impressive is the type of marketing power this type of activity has. The geniuses at Facebook have recognized this, and subsequently have developed one of the most customizable advertising platforms in existence.
So, with all that being said, you might be asking yourself, “Why should I advertise on Facebook?” And today is your lucky day, because we’ve got your answers:
• No matter who your target audience is, you can – and will – reach them through Facebook. Consider these statistics: 43% of Facebook user are male, 57% are female. And the bulk of them are 18 years old and up.
• Facebook’s advertising platform consists of a highly developed system that makes use of the information in each users profile, including age, sex, interests and location.
• You are in total control of your budget. You can set daily limits to ensure you don’t overspend on your campaign.
• Your ads won’t be ignored. Facebook users are not annoyed by pop-up ads that are typically closed immediately. Ads on Facebook are seamlessly incorporated into the right hand column of each page while users browse through their friends’ profiles, news pages, games and “fan” pages.
• You have the ability to check the performance of your ad in real time. You can see how many people have viewed your ad and troubleshoot on ways you can improve it.
As you can see, Facebook is the best place for your online advertisements to be placed. And the best part is that setting them up is quick and painless. Here’s an overview on how simple it is to get started:
• Choose whether you want a Premium or Marketplace account (for all intensive purposes, we will be discussing the Marketplace account here)
• Identify your marketing goal. Is it to increase sales, build brand awareness, promote a new product or encourage more visits to your site? The possibilities are endless!
• Create your ad. Don’t stress too much about putting together the “perfect” ad from the get-go. It’s a rarity that this ever happens. Keep in mind that you can always edit your ads to make them more effective.
o Choose the image you want to use.
o Create a headline and write a compelling message. Remember to make it exciting enough to grab the attention of your target audience.
o Include a link to a landing page where people can click to learn more about your product or service. This might be your existing website – or even a Facebook Fan Page.
• Pin-down your target market. The more specific you make your target market, the greater your chances of success. Keep in mind that you can be very specific by choosing specific age ranges, genders, locations, likes and interests, employment and education.
• Decide whether you want to create a single ad, several ads or several campaigns. If you add more than one ad to a single campaign, it’s free. By creating variations of ads, you can experiment with different images, headlines and messages to gauge which one has the best conversion ratio.
• Set your budget. You can choose to have a daily budget limit – or a lifetime budget. Facebook’s advertising platform ensures that you won’t overspend on your campaign since your ads will automatically stop showing once your budget is exhausted. There are 2 pricing models for Facebook advertising as well, so you will also need to choose the type of advertising model that works out best for you:
o Pay for Clicks (CPC) – You only pay when someone clicks on your ad
o Pay for Impressions (CPM) – You pay based on the number of people who will be able to view your ad.
• Monitor the effectiveness of your ad through the Ad Manager console. From this console, you can see the number of times your ad is shown and/or the number of times it was clicked, in addition to information about who “likes” your ad – all in real time.
Clearly, advertising on Facebook is a convenient, efficient and budget-friendly to build brand awareness and generate leads. So, the big question remains: what are you waiting for?
