Social media was once considered to be only for teenagers or
for those looking for romance and relationships but that has changed
dramatically in recent years. Facebook
has evolved as one of the most valuable assets to advertisers who are striving
to reach a particular niche audience.
Facebook is the largest and most visited social network on the web today
is. Not only is it a popular location
for social interactions but also it is becoming a fiercely competitive
marketing tool. Many entrepreneurs are
beginning to tap into this advantageous method of generating leads and sales
for their businesses. Research is
showing that the average Facebook user spends just over 6 hours a month on
Facebook which is double the amount of time of its closest competitor,
Google. Over 50% of these users are
perusing Facebook from a mobile device which means that there are more than 543
mobile users searching for goods and services while on-the-go. Every day there are more than 3.2 billion
items that are liked or commented about on Facebook pages and that translates
into a very powerful mode of advertising for any business. Advertising campaigns on Facebook are
providing up to a 5 fold return on any investment because of the strategic
targeting of the right audience.
Consumers are becoming more aware of brands and are recalling what they
are seeing more than other online advertising averages. Facebook advertising is the catalyst for more
positive conversations about businesses as well. More importantly, the 47% trust rate for
advertising on Facebook commands a respect and awareness of this tool that can
effectively be used to expand the bottom line.
When
considering the most efficient way to invest advertising dollars, you should
include Facebook advertising in your plan.
You can connect to this exploding power to target new business, to
generate high quality leads, and to piggyback additional advertising
strategies, like word-of-mouth advertising, to more effectively stretch your
advertising monies. An entirely new
world of possibilities will be opened up to you with Facebook advertising.
Facebook
advertisers are permitted to geo-target an audience by country which allows the
advertiser the ability to limit or expand the message of their ad based on
settings that are selected. Most of the
countries in the world are now Facebook friendly which expands boundaries that
once limited the sale of products to smaller areas and locations.
One
of the features of advertising with Facebook is the advantage of keyword
interest targeting. When a user signs up
for Facebook, they create a profile page that is based on their interests,
likes, and activities. When you create
your ad for Facebook, you have the option of searching and selecting keywords
that are of interest to a specific user. This will better target an audience
that is already interested in your ad before they even see it. As an example, let’s say that you as an
advertiser are trying to reach people who are doing home remodeling
projects. When you type in the word home
remodeling, a list of keywords will be pulled up for you that are related to
the profiles of users who listed home remodeling as one of their
interests. You can then choose any of
these keywords in your ad to reach those people who have these keywords in
their profiles. You are targeting an
audience who is interested in your information and who will respond to your ad.
Before
you begin your advertising campaign, it’s important to clearly know who you
want to target. Customize your Facebook
advertising to the target market so that this tool work better for you and your
company. Try to vary your approach so you can attract different groups. 20 year olds will view your ad differently
than a 40 year old will even if they have the same need for your product. Appeal to your potential client in a positive
and attention-getting way. Be clear, concise, and brief.
There
are several ways to advertise on Facebook; you can use these cost-effective
ways to increase the traffic to your website and generate more business and
profits for you. The first way to
advertise on Facebook is to create a business profile so you can interact with
your list of “fans” whom you will persuade to become clients. You can send out updates, news articles,
special offers and promotions, and discount information to the entire list;
Facebook affords you the ability to communicate instantly with a list of people
who have already indicated that they are interested in your products.
Another
way that you can advertise powerfully on Facebook is to buy an ad that is
targeted toward a segment of the user base.
Each one of these users has an enormous amount of information stored in
their profiles. This information can be
used to target them based on a selected keyword or filter. Using this method will assure you of reaching
potential customers who are most likely to buy your product.
Word-of-mouth
advertising has been brought into the digital age with Facebook’s beacon
tool. News feeds let users access each
other’s personal profiles and postings or comments. Facebook allows businesses the ability to
report a user’s actions with the business website and company to the user’s
friends. If a Facebook customer buys a
product from you or engages in discussion regarding their satisfaction with
your company, their interaction with you will be posted in the news feed which
will automatically create a referral system for your business. It’s word-of-mouth in cyberspace.
The first thing to consider as you plan your Facebook ad
strategy is your goal. Are you going to advertise your product, expand the number
of people who like your business page, inform the Facebook community of your
business and what you do, or are you simply getting the attention of potential
customers. As your goals become clearer,
begin to decide on the type of ad you will create; there are three types from
which you can choose.
1. Crafted
ads target Facebook users by filtering demographic information such as age,
location, and gender. These ads will be featured in the right hand column of
Facebook pages.
2. You
can create sponsored stories which interact with a Facebook fan’s page with the
specific story. The ad will show up in
the right hand column once the fan likes your particular post.
3. You
can also select promoted posts which are more visible in the posts on friends’
pages and on their contacts’ pages as well.
One of the most powerful aspects of Facebook advertising is
the customer loyalty that you will build.
Create your own business Facebook page that will allow you to directly
interact with your clients. This will
give a more personal touch to your business and also will allow you to use
word-of-mouth advertising that you generate from your Facebook ads to spread
the word in a cost-effective way. Client
satisfaction, customer service, and buyer protection are all tenets of a
marketing strategy that will work nicely for you and your Facebook advertising
campaign.
You can offer special promotions, new products, or the
latest trends with your product with your Facebook ads to reach clients that
are strategically targeted and already interested in your product or
service. This will provide up-dated
information to your clients and keep them better informed in a time-efficient
way. Today’s consumers on are the go
with busy schedules and demanding deadlines.
These ads will connect with them and solve their issues and concerns in
a timely fashion.
Facebook ads are much more flexible than other internet
locations. You will be offered
additional character length for any ad descriptions that you might have. You can also improve your flexibility with
image-based ads that attract the visual buyer.
If someone participates in the Facebook community, then they are already
proven to be a visually stimulated consumer. Use images and photos of high
quality and that convey your message with the power of a thousand words. Your Facebook ads will be more visible to an
audience who is there to engage in obtaining information as well as to create
it themselves.
With the Facebook site itself generating such a high rate of
traffic on a daily basis, your ad has a much better chance of being seen and
having a positive effect. It will be seen a multitude of times by a targeted
audience who is already comfortable shopping the online arena. Users visit the site many, many times a day
and your ad will be there to greet them as they login and begin to participate.
You are also allowed with your Facebook ad to purchase space
on a click-based or impression-based fee structure. Using your budget and personal preferences,
you can tailor your ad campaign to meet the needs and goals of your business
plan.
Because of the targeted nature of Facebook, advertising on
Facebook can be affordable for you company.
You can reach your targeted audience with your online campaign for a
very reasonable price. The selection of packages that you can select is
extensive so that you can reach as many users as your budget will allow you to.
The use of smart-phones has skyrocketed in recent years and
your ability to reach this high volume of consumers is phenomenal. Access to these devices happens every second
of every day and you can tap into this gold mine of prospects. Your ads won’t
just be limited to laptop and computer users; you will be expanding your
potential client base.
You will be offered a choice between pay-per-click (CPC) or
per 1,000 impressions (CPM). Studying your demographic clicks and responses
will be an important first step. Begin
by starting a campaign that includes everyone and then, after a set number of
impressions, see who clicked on your ad and the responses that you
received. After some study and careful
insights, you can then rewrite the ad to appeal with that demographic audience
in mind. You can then reset your campaign as a CPC method. Finely segment your
ad to appeal to different age groups, or sexes, or relationship statuses. With this small touch, you will get more bang
for your advertising buck. Continually
test and modify your presentation to foster higher results with substantially
lower costs.
With Facebook targeting, the natural skew is toward a younger
than average audience that is female.
Sometimes users mislead others by submitting incorrect data on profile
pages. This will cause misrepresentation
of data and some of your ads will be seen by users who are not interested by
their very nature; you can only get a rough estimate of the people who might
see your ad. When initially targeting
your ad to an audience, you might begin with 10,000 people; 50% of them will
log into Facebook and see your ad. By
choosing this number, you will keep your costs under control and more
efficiently modify it before you launch the ad to a larger audience. Carefully select connections of people you
know who trust you and your business. This will give you a base circle of community
with which to begin your advertising campaigns.
Another important thing to consider when you are creating
your advertising strategy is to include additional languages other than
English. Inexpensive translators can be
hired on some of the work at home web locations to translate your copy for
you. Many advertisers neglect this
segment of the population and lose many dollars in profit for this lack of
attention to detail. You can open up a
new section of loyal clients with just a simple effort of reaching them in a
language in which they feel comfortable purchasing.
Another powerful tenet of advertising on Facebook is the low
risk involved in using this format. You
will have full control of your advertising budget and it will be a good testing
ground for your ad. You can learn if
your message is effective in communicating to a potential buyer who you are,
what you are offering, and how they can purchase your product quickly and
safely. You are free to modify your
message as needed and promote it to a better target. You can ascertain what works best with a
particular demographic and how to reach them with your message. Especially if you have a fledgling business,
you might want to use the high power, lost cost approach of a Facebook ad.
If you are striving to target your local audience, Facebook
ads have been proved to be very effective.
You can inform local and regional clients about your business and have
the “friend” network assist you as well.
Many local communities enjoy supporting local businesses that give back
to civic groups and Facebook can get your ads to them quickly and efficiently.
When you have a happy, satisfied customer, they can tell the seven people in
their social circle and those seven people will tell seven of their closest
friends and so the network will distribute the message about you and your
product. Testimonials serve to peak the interest of clients ready to buy but who
have just one more question. If someone has purchased your product already,
they can attest to its quality and your excellent customer service. Facebook is being used in your area by all of
the local people who are just waiting to be approached by your ad. The appeal of Facebook extends to everyday
people; you don’t have to be a computer genius to take advantage of this
advertising power.
By promoting your Facebook business page through the ads you
place on Facebook, you are guaranteed that the people that you are targeting
with your ads already have a Facebook account.
You can be assured your ads are reaching the audiences most likely to
buy from you and the communication vehicle is at your disposal 24/7.
One of the most powerful reasons of advertising on Facebook
is the budget management that is available to you. Thousands of dollars of advertising fees are
not required upfront. So, you don’t have to have capital outlay at the onset of
your advertising campaign. Your budget
can be as low as $1 per day if that is the option that you choose to
employ. Budgets can be changed daily or
at any time and by any amount that you wish.
The measure performance tools available on Facebook advertising allow
you to see and test ad rotations and explore which are the most effective tools
for you. After you run your first ad,
try changing a combination of the ad’s image, description, and title. You will measure the performance rate of your
campaigns by viewing the click-through rate which is the percentage of clicks
from the number of times it was viewed on Facebook. You will select the ad which shows the
highest click-through rate for you.
In a world of social media, advertising can be an excellent
way to reach customers. The users of
Facebook are very active; they log on daily sometimes multiple times. It
provides a way for you to reach customers with whom you might not have
otherwise connected. They are going to
find your ad on a social media sight more rapidly than they would your own blog
or website.
The exposure you receive is a very lucrative benefit to
advertising on Facebook. The more
customers who are exposed to your product, the higher your profits can
become. Facebook does an excellent job
of allowing all advertisers a multitude of targeting options that include age,
gender, interests, and relationship status.
These targeting filters will strategically develop an audience who is
primed and ready to buy. This is possibly the most beneficial tool of Facebook
advertising.
In addition to an effective list of potential clients, you
will have all of the benefits of instant results. In our fast-paced society of
today, speed in purchasing is important. A client will spend approximately 90
seconds looking at your ad before moving on to something else. Quality images and representations of your
product along with concise and clear descriptions are dynamic tools to capture
the attention of the audience and cause the perusing to develop into
purchasing. You can attract many new
customers in a single day and the profits can rise along with those viewing
your ads.
Before you even begin your advertising campaign, you must
set your budget and stick to it. There
are expensive options for you with Facebook advertising but you will have to
operate within your budget to obtain the success you are seeking. Use a common sense approach with your newly
acquired technological advertising to promote your company and profits.
In addition, a Facebook ad will provide you with a more
personal platform of advertising.
Research shows that consumers are more likely to trust your ad
especially if they see a link to a Facebook friend. Your ad is placed in the right hand column
and is a bit more engaging than an ad they see randomly on a search
engine. Even in the world of internet
marketing the handshake and confidence in a deal is important to make. By personalizing your Facebook ad, it’s like
extending your hand across cyberspace to reach out and seal the deal. This type of business advertisement will
foster good business relationships that ensure repeat business.
In effective advertising, everything is a balance. You don’t want to spend a lot of time
reworking your ads if they aren’t accurately targeting the audience you need to
be targeting. Spend time tracking your
progress and your effectiveness but don’t forget to interact and connect with
potential and current clients. Follow through with all of your strategies and
the components of your plan to generate new customers and increase your
profits. A Facebook ad campaign will be an
effort that takes time and patience.
Keep in mind that Facebook advertising is about developing relationships
and connecting with consumers not just selling them a product immediately. This platform of marketing is still
developing and using these advertisements effectively will take research,
study, and modifications that better hone your ad for consumers to view.
Facebook has become a powerful tool in the advertising
world. The expanse of active users coupled with the micro-targeting tools make
this method of telling others about your product one that will reap dramatic
rewards for your bottom line. You will
boost sales and maximize profits at a cost-efficient way for your
business. Your business will be given
the opportunity to build, improve, and maintain client relationships which is a
satisfying aspect of having your own business.
The clients with whom you connect will provide you with feedback,
encouragement, and testimonials that can help you reach your goals and dreams
as a successful entrepreneur. By using
the proper demographic, copy, and image, you will see your Facebook ad come to
life. Don’t be afraid to try this new
and unique method of advertising. It’s a fun and interesting way to reach an
enormous audience with a few simple guidelines that anyone can perform. It’s not rocket science but it can provide
you with an astronomical income that makes your business the success you knew
it could be.
