Best Ways to Advertise on Facebook: Five Points Check List [Updated]
Trying to run Facebook Ads but ending up wasting away Ad spends?
Well, you are not alone.
There are many advertisers just like you who try fishing in the large pond of Facebook Advertising, hoping to find that one big fish and go home like winners!
They try different demographics, interests, lots of different images and tweak copies over and over again.
But when this does not result in success, it feels like you are just throwing away money at Facebook.
We are going to tell you the best way to advertise on Facebook and get the results you dream of!
And hey! Don’t forget to participate in the exciting Real-Time Tests that we have included in this post (two of them!).
So, let’s dive in!
Are Facebook Ads Really Worth it?
We get it.
The first question that comes in the minds of advertisers before they even run a campaign is — ‘Is it even worth it?’
The simple answer to the question is YES, IT IS!
Hey! Look around all the social media channels we have today.
We have Twitter, LinkedIn, Snapchat and so many more.
And each of these has its own native Advertising Platform in place.
But do they deliver the way Facebook does?
No!
Why’s that?
It’s mainly because of Facebook…
- Provides the most robust features installed for advertisers who want nothing but results for their money spent.
- Boasts of the most advanced tools for targeting the right audience.
- Allows unbelievably great insights into what works and what doesn’t.
- Has the biggest online audience to search for your niche audience, something that you are bound to find.
Facebook is here to stay and its advertising system is the best thing that can ever happen to any business.
That’s so true when you have just started out!
Not convinced yet?
Gary Vaynerchuk, CEO of Vaynermedia Inc. has every small business thinking of this–
“If you’re a practitioner, if you really had to sell to survive, you would realize that the most under-priced ad product right now is Facebook Advertising. If you had to sell to feed your children, you would put your money there.”
Why does he say that?
It’s because he knows that this is the right time to advertise on Facebook — when the average cost of running an ad on it is still reasonable and the conversion rate is still high.
Well, to be honest, Facebook wants to earn money, correction, a lot of money!
So,
What will happen when all the Big Companies of the world come and start advertising on Facebook?
Facebook will increase the Average Cost of Running Ads on its platform!
So it’s absolutely worth it to run Ads on Facebook when you can still do it.
When talking about Ad spending, let’s take a look at these statistics
Running Ads on Facebook will lead you to a learning curve.
And it’s true that Facebook Ads seem a little sophisticated in the beginning.
Calm Down!
Don’t let this intimidate you.
The single reason why their Ad system is sophisticated is that it has so much to offer to the advertisers!
Facebook Power Editor is designed to give you better, more targeted results while helping you stay on budget.
By gleaning into a little bit on how to run Facebook Ads and making sure you take the right steps, you will be able to make your Ad campaigns profitable time and again.
This brings us to our next section, where we provide you Top Five tips to run a successful Ad Campaign.
Here are the five best tips to Advertise on Facebook:
Tip #1: Your Offer Decides Ads Performance
Strong copy will not overcome a weak offer but…in many cases; a strong offer will succeed in spite of weak copy written by marketing morons.
Late Gary Halbert, a renowned advertiser of the 20th century is talking about direct response copywriting, but today, this principle applies to almost every form of advertising.
Ask yourself — “Do you have an offer that your audience will love?”
If NO, then go back to the whiteboard. Brainstorm and think of a better one.
If YES, then you have a great shot at creating an ad that will pay off!
That, ladies and gentlemen, is a fact.
Okay, let’s do the real-time test #1, right now!
Example 1
Example 2
You know what we’re going to ask you — Which one appeals to you the most?
Well, both are great ads. We agree on that.
But one of them has a competitive edge.
You guessed it right. The second one!
Why?
It’s because the second ad focuses on how the user will look with the product on!
While in the first one, users don’t have a clue of what size the product is and how good will it look on them.
These are important aspects of a product which any customer will pay attention to.
You know how the product will look on you, so you will go for the second sponsored ad!
Further Reading: 9 Influential Factors That Affect Facebook Ads Performance
Here’s the best thing about great offers –
Great Offers Sell Without Selling
You got to find a way that makes your ad look sexier than your competitor’s.
Even more important part is that people shouldn’t feel as if you are selling to them.
That is just a turn-off.
People hate being sold to, so take care of that.
You got to go outside the box and beyond “10% off on Credit Cards” kind of offers.
So, how can you do that? How do you know what your audience loves to click on?
Here are a couple of tips that Neil Patel, one of the top online influencer recommends:
- Read “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion” by Robert B. Ciadini, where the book will guide you through the six weapons of influence and show how advertisers use them to persuade the audience.
- Read as many books on psychology as you can because marketing is simply human psychology in action.
- Understand what your competitors are doing and outperform them with a better ad.
The third tip that you just read is absolutely brilliant!
Let’s take one of the most popular examples in the world of advertising –
What’s more exciting than seeing two of the most successful fast food chains in the world compete for Online Glory!
While Wendy’s went with…
Burger King came out with something more amazing!
When these two fast-food giants fight, who really wins?
The audience!
But this is not what we are focusing here.
When these two Gladiators of the retail fast food chain are humble enough to fight online for user attention, even though they know they might lose, what do you think of yourself just sitting idle and not advertising already?
Look at your competitors and go do better than them!
You’ll have the results.
Tip #2: Target the Right Audience
One mistake, a big one, which many new Facebook advertisers make, is judging a campaign by the numbers it produces.
Trying to reach as many people possible should never be your goal.
Well, this isn’t entirely wrong, but it’s not the right approach to running Facebook ads.
What this does is it brings down your chances of finding any significant success with running Facebook Ads.
Tell us in the comments: What are your Facebook Advertising goals?
You got to have a Goal
A purpose when you create a Facebook ad.
This purpose should reciprocate in the core values of your target audience.
If you go onto target everyone who’s online, the ad’s purpose is defeated!
So, instead of focusing on increasing your reach to a high number of people focus on reaching the right audience.
This is one of the most important tips you should keep in mind when you’ve just started out with Facebook Advertising!
Let’s understand why.
There are four strong reasons why you need to get super-targeted with your audience preferences.
- You need to spread your content to people who not only are interested in knowing about your content but are also open to sharing it with other people as well.
- You need to reach people who are at a specific part of your sales funnel. Your content will influence them to take the next action.
- You need to reach people who are inherently curious about your type of business.
- You need to reach people who find your content relevant, and are highly receptive and welcoming to your message.
Although it might feel wrong targeting a small group of people, in the long run, that’s how you succeed and get more conversions.
That’s exactly how you grow online!
Apart from this, here’s what you should also focus on knowing
- The platforms that appeal your audience and used mostly
- Their language preferences and communication tonality as well
- The kind of content that best resonates with your audience
- Their general preferences, likes, dislikes, etc.
To do that, Facebook has provided the Audience Insights feature that gives a stronger, clearer understanding of who you are targeting.
Further Reading: Useful Guide On Why And How To Use Facebook Custom Audiences
Tip #3: Choose Creative Wisely
Your ad needs to stand out!
If your ad looks just like every other ad on Facebook, well, you don’t exist!
You not only need to put the right copy on the ad but also you need an image that can make your audience stop scrolling
So, how exactly will you make sure that your ad that your ad creative makes a difference?
Here’s how you can create a better Facebook Ad Creative.
Use Text Creatively
Yes, we know that Facebook no longer disapproves your ads based on the amount of text on the image.
But the text that goes on the image still matters!
Facebook rates you Low, Medium and High depending on the text you add on the image.
But here’s a secret you should know. Shh! don’t let anyone know.
Facebook loves Ad Images that contain little or absolutely zero text.
So if you really have to use text on your image, you got to do it creatively!
Practice brevity!
Don’t go ahead and add any text just of the heck of it.
Check out our Tip #5 to see how exactly you can produce great creative!
Practice Consistency
The image you choose should remain consistent everywhere — from your ad copy to the landing page!
The image must align with the soul of your message.
It must instantly connect with your audience on an emotional level.
Well, this only happens when you pay great attention to consistency!
No matter how many ‘How-tos’ you read, you won’t get results from Facebook Advertising if you are not consistent.
For instance, if you are creating a campaign to advertise your online shopping store, you must use an image that reflects how it would feel when a visitor lands on your store.
Well, this was for the ad.
For the landing page, make sure the copy and the images you use match the ad creative!
This provides a great user experience for the visitor as he faces zero cognitive dissonance.
Further Reading: Top 10 Reasons Why Your Facebook Campaigns Are Failing
Tip #4: Go for Video Ads
Well, if you are one of Facebook’s 1 billion active users, you must have noticed something extraordinary.
A surge of video content on your news feed.
This content shift on Facebook has something for you in store.
Video is a powerful content format.
Marketers realize that and have already hopped on board to get the most out of Facebook Video Ads.
Adobe says that shoppers who view video ads are 1.81x more likely to purchase than the one who doesn’t.
But to stand out on Facebook you got to leverage the video Ad in the right way.
When choosing to go with Facebook Video Ads, you’ll be shocked to know the following fact:
Facebook allows Video Ads that can be 120 minutes long. That’s insane!Click To Tweet
Tell us in the comments if you would watch a 2-hour long Video ad.
Do you think there’s a chance that anyone will ever complete a 2-hour long Video ad on a social media network?
Let us know!
Video length matters when it comes to running ads for businesses.
Image source: Wistia
People watch more than 80% of the videos that are shorter than 30 seconds.
The above graph shows how the number of views drops as the video ad increases in length.
When choosing the right video to use for advertising, you got to ask yourself the following questions:
- Which videos performed best organically on Facebook?
- Which videos perform best on your website?
- Which webinars have driven the most engagement?
- What does your audience like to watch?
Metrics like engagement and play rate of your Video content are something you should be looking at.
These determine which videos are worth putting money behind.
Promote your best content, always!
This leads us to the last tip which is…
Tip #5: Run, Test, Track, Tweak, Repeat
Facebook Advertising is beyond just creating an Ad and feeding it money to reach more people.
It’s more about understanding what works and what doesn’t.
The last tip here is all about Testing and Learning.
Let’s take a look at this example.
Alright, guys! Are you ready for this real-time test #2?
Which of the above two ads will perform the best?
You got 5 seconds to decide!
TIME’S UP!!!
Haha!
Comment below if we got you this time around!
Guys, when you decide about the ads the way we just did right now, you are judging them on your opinions.
It’s like an athlete performed on the track, judged his performance and announced himself as the winner of the competition!
The athlete will never know his true potential until he performs against other players.
In the same way, you need to test your ads!
You just don’t know which ad will perform well until you test them.
And here’s a fun fact, even Adespresso believed that the first Ad would outperform the second one.
Further Reading: Top Advanced Facebook Marketing Strategies to Boost Sales in 2019
So when a giant like Adespresso cannot predict the result, you should make sure you press on the verdict only after testing!
When it comes to testing Facebook Ads, opinions don’t matter. Test & Learn.
Assume Nothing, Question Everything!
Final Thoughts
With these five best ways to advertise on Facebook, you can try to improve your Facebook ads and grow your business online!
Facebook Ads are a great way to advertise for your growing business.
As we already mentioned, Facebook is here to stay. So, this is the best time to jump on the ship and begin sailing!
When you begin with your Facebook Ad campaigns with the basics done right, you improve your chances to succeed.
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Author: Dinesh has been doing digital marketing since 2007. Now he manages a team of digital marketers, developers, and project managers. As the CEO of Ads Triangle, Dinesh has helped hundreds of businesses to grow their revenue through digital marketing.
Originally published at www.adstriangle.com on December 7, 2018.
