We all know Facebook as basically the birthplace of social media marketing. Even though many other platforms have arisen since then, there is still an overwhelmingly large amount of people who use Facebook every day. As of right now, Facebook has more than 2 billion daily active users and potential customers for you. These users range from CEOs and students to stay-at-home moms, so no matter what target audience you have, chances are they are using Facebook. Because of the popularity of this platform, there is also lots of competition for the attention of these users by brands and their ads. Here are a few tips from top marketing agencies in Los Angeles on how to successfully promote on Facebook.
What does a good ad look like?
In order to learn how to promote on Facebook, you must start by making sure your ad content is ready to be promoted. If you promote with the right placements and formats, but your content isn’t captivating enough, then you won’t get anywhere.
“Brands that ignore social media…will die. It’s that simple.” -Jeff Ragovin
Visual
Your ad has to be very visual. In the Facebook algorithm, visual content is more popular and tends to be shared more. It also tends to be more memorable and sticks in the minds of customers. Most people scroll social their Facebook page when they have time to kill or want to take a break from something, so reading a long text on an ad is not something most people will do. No matter what you are promoting, marketing agencies in Los Angeles urge you to have ads that are visually appealing. Try to create something that engages the audience, to make them feel important, and that feeling will be associated with your brand long after they scroll past the ad.
Relevance
This point relates straight to your target audience. Your ads have to be relevant to your target audience. Even if your ads are very visually engaging but lack the content that your target audience wants to see, no one will click on your ad. In order to maintain relevance, you must have a thorough analysis of your target audience. Marketing agencies in Los Angeles recommend you create a few marketing personas that include age, gender, location, budget, hobbies, and other relevant information to help you promote effectively on Facebook. This is also going to come in handy when you decide to create your ad, and Facebook asks you who your ads are made for. You must create your audience, including their location, age, sex, spoken languages, interests, and their connection to other pages, and these will be the people whoa re going to see your ads. It is critical that you know your audience and who your products are targeted at, in order to promote successfully on Facebook. Keep in mind that each second your ad is on someone’s screen is a second you are paying for, so do your research to avoid wasting your money and effort. Facebook also has a feature that will rate your ads, and you will receive a relevance score. The more times your ad gets shared or clicked on, and the more relevant it is, the higher your score is. A higher score means more favorable treatment from Facebook, which means more customers and more revenue. This is also a handy tool for analysis, to understand if you’re on the right track or not.
Value Proposition
A value proposition is primarily the reason your ads must be clicked on by those who don’t know about your company. There should be something on your ad that will tell the customer why they should discover more about your product and how it is different from anything else. Try to ask yourself why your product stands out. Place yourself in the target audience members’ members’ mind space and try to understand what catches their attention enough to click on it. It is vital that your value proposition be believable. Saying your products is the best in the world will come off arrogant and repetitive, and you can’t expect anyone to believe it. But offering 30% off new customers’ first purchase is a great value proposition. Remember that customers are ordinary people like you, and they won’t fall for an ad that you didn’t put enough effort into.
“The most powerful element in advertising is the truth.” – Bill Bernbach.
Call-to-Action
Once a customer sees an ad they like, they want to be immediately led to the next step. Usually, most people don’t have the time or the attention span to remember the name of your brand, exit Facebook, open a new tab, and find your website by searching the name. Your ad should offer the opportunity to learn more about the product on the spot. Something like a “Buy now and save 15%” sign can also add a sense of urgency to your call to action. Marketing agencies in Los Angeles report that most clicks come straight from ads that lead to websites or Facebook pages of the brand.
Where should my Ad be?
Once you have your ad that matches all the points above, it is time to move on to the placement of the ad on the Facebook timeline.
Right Column
This is the type of ad you have probably already seen, as it is the most traditional and popular type of ad on Facebook. This is when the ad is placed horizontally on the right side of the news feed. Placing your ad will still get attention, but Los Angeles marketing agencies that research Facebook promotion have noticed that there are less expensive clicks and conversions on the right column. If you are planning to place your ad on these\, it has to be extra visually appealing to attract the user’s eye away from the feed itself and into the right section.
Desktop News Feed
The desktop ad shows up right in the customer’s timeline as they are scrolling on a computer, and it has a similar look to native advertising. Marketing agencies in Los Angeles specializing in social media marketing have reported that this type of ad usually has a much higher engagement rate when compared to the ads in the right column. But they are also more pricey. In order to avoid being scrolled past, your ads must be very compelling and captivating.
Mobile News Feed
This is a similar placement to the one mentioned above, but this shows up on the news feed of the user scrolling on their mobile phone. It shows up as a post from the users and pages they usually interact with, so it doesn’t stick out too much. According to top Los Angeles marketing agencies, this is the go-to ad placement for those with a younger target audience and is usually a very high engagement yielding placement.
What format should be used for ads?
Facebook offers a multitude of ad format types that you can choose from according to your target audience and brand personality.
Photo Ad: How to Promote on Facebook
A photo ad is an ad that includes an image, which is the main point of promotion for your product, event, or service. If you are hosting an event or a party, the dates and entry times on a photo of your venue will make a great center for your ad. Your ad can also consist of a photo of your product that will grab the user’s eye. Marketing agencies in Los Angeles recommend using an image resolution of at least 1080×1080 when using this ad format on Facebook.
Video Ad
The centerpiece of video ads is usually GIFS or videos. This type of ad should be used to demonstrate how to use your product or service. For event advertising, it can show clips of the venue or how to arrive there. Around 80% of all data consumption on Facebook is done through video, so using video will help you to create deeper connections with your viewers.
Stories Ad
Ads on Facebook Stories are one of the new features Facebook has put out, and it lets you post your ad as a temporary clip or image. Your story ad will be sized according to the mobile device dimension but will be displayed to desktop and mobile users. Users will see your ad in between viewing those of their friends. For this reason, Los Angeles marketing agencies suggest using ads that seem candid and less formal. Facebook stories can also be used as a looking glass into the personality and daily life of your brand, and shouldn’t be treated like traditional advertising.
Messenger Ad
This specific type of ad shows up as a message in the user’s Facebook Messenger inbox. These ads let you interact with your customers by showing them your new offers and answering their questions. You will have the opportunity to set up some auto-responses, which will apply to frequently asked questions and deals. Through this ad, you will also be able to listen to the responses of your audience, which will help you improve your marketing strategy. You can set the first question ““What product would you be interested in?”” and three vague responses, and then from whichever they pick, your ad will show them a more specific product.
Carousel Ad
Carousel ads are composed of a few images and videos that a member of your audience can rotate through, and all of this media will be describing a single product or service that the ad is for. Your Carousel Ad can be made of up to 10 images or videos and with a link to each of the websites. These ads contain a lot of media, so use this ad if you are planning on promoting multiple products or multiple features of one product. Los Angeles marketing agencies recommend using carousel ads to tell a story that will unfold in these images or videos, that will end up somehow explaining a process that has to do with your products.
Slideshow Ad
This ad format is very similar to the Carousel ad format, as it also divides your ad into individual images that your audience sees after one another. But, the slideshow format only previews images and not videos, but the images play after each other similar to a video. Slideshow ads use much less data on Facebook than similar Carousel ads, which is ideal for reaching those with slow internet connections. Facebook gives you the opportunity to choose from a whole bunch of pre-created music and images if that is what you desire. Los Angeles marketing agencies would recommend this type of ad to try to stimulate a video-like experience without breaking the bank and using it to make a complicated process simpler for your customers.
Collection Ad
With this ad, you will be able to bring your purchasing process right onto Facebook. This means your customers will be able to go from finding out about the product to immediately buying it at once. The collection ad will feature a main image or video that will promote a product, with a grouping of 4 smaller images under it that a user can click on. The instant storefront collection ad should be used to show a few products as part of one ad campaign. Another style called the Instant Lookbook is recommended to model the same product in a few contexts, such as outfits. If you want to tell more of a story as opposed to just product promotion, marketing agencies in Los Angeles would recommend using the Instant Storytelling collection ad type.
As a Conclusion | How to Promote on Facebook…
As you have seen, there are a few factors that go into effectively promoting on Facebook. For the ideal campaign, you must keep all of these in mind, and track your results. If you aren’t getting as much revenue as you predicted, maybe try a different placement or format and see how that works out. But, keep in mind that most times, promoting on Facebook only is not going to be enough, and you will need a wider social media marketing strategy, which will include other platforms your target audience uses. Facebook ads are the perfect place to start and will definitely get you going. So what are you waiting for, get started with your Facebook ad!
