Facebook advertising can seem daunting, even if you’re used to platforms such as Google’s long-standing AdWords.
Its user-centric model and plethora of targeting options provide advertisers with a wealth of tools to use, however, it can also be a little overwhelming.
What’s more, without a plentiful supply of compelling and engaging content, even the most talented marketers will find themselves clutching at straws on how to get the performance they desire.
But fear not, we’ve knocked up a selection of our favourite tricks to help you get your head around advertising on both Facebook and Instagram!
1. Install the Facebook Pixel
This has been around for sometime now, however, many companies are either A) unaware of this feature and its potential or B) unsure on how to install, configure and, well… use it.
Facebook’s Pixel is a small piece of code which, when installed onto all pages on your website, can be used to remarket to website visitors, create audience lists for lookalike audiences and custom audiences and much, much more.
The benefits to this are vast, creating audiences based on users who have previously visited your website will help minimise wasted ad budget and allow you to serve relevant content to more qualified audiences.
And for all you ecommerce businesses out there, Facebook’s Pixel can be paired with your product catalogue to create automated remarketing adverts for all users who have visited product pages but not converted. Very useful!
Check out Facebook’s official installation guide to get started.
2. Consider Custom and Lookalike Audiences
There’s already a vast amount of targeting options available to you in Facebook’s advertising platform, however, one way to really dial in your targeting is through using Custom and Lookalike audiences.
In a nutshell, Custom Audiences are lists of Facebook users which are created from the specifications you define.
For instance, you could choose to only target those who have engaged your Facebook posts, visited your website or purchased a product from your site.
You can even target people who have interacted with your business offline!
With Lookalike Audiences, the same lists can be created, however, Facebook will then process this data to find user outside of this list who have similar attributes and behaviour across its network.
One great way to use this is to export your newsletter database into relevant segments and upload these into separate Lookalike Audiences.
You can then use these audiences to advertise to people who share similar interests to your subscribers, increasing the relevancy and impact of your campaigns.
3. A/B Test. Always.
There’s always ways to optimise your campaigns performance and, through well structured A/B testing, you can find out exactly which version of your campaign performs the best.
And, more importantly, you’ll know why.
To get started with A/B testing, simply create a campaign in Ads Manager, choose your objective and select “Create split test” at the bottom.
The experience will now be identical to creating a normal campaign, with the exception of choosing your variable. You decide your variable from the following categories:
- Creative (what your advert looks like)
- Delivery optimisation
- Audience
- Placement (Instagram Feed, Facebook right hand column etc)
These categories encompass a vast number of options which can be included in your split test. Every aspect of the campaign can be tested, including: region, language, interests custom audiences, Facebook and Instagram placements, advert image, landing page… the list goes on.
Pro tip: keep a log of each advert and it’s A/B testing setup along with the winning variant so you can continuously monitor your campaigns. This will help you better understand your audiences and create higher performing adverts forward.
4. Use Video
There’s not much that needs to be said here: video performs better.
We won’t go down the “an image paints a thousand words” analogy but, put simply, incorporating a concise, professional-quality video into your advert will help convey your messaging far quicker and more effectively than any image ever could.
Couple that with the fact that Facebook’s algorithm generally favours video over other formats and you have even more reason to invest this type of content.
Using video in place of images can help to increase your ad’s relevancy score (which will consequently drive down costs) and increase your click through rate.
5. Make sure your ads don’t overlap
One often overlooked feature is the ability to check how much the audiences you’re targeting overlap.
To find this out, go to Assets > Audiences and select two of your audiences. Now click Actions > Show audience overlap – a modal box will now appear, giving you a breakdown by number and percentage of how many people appear in both audiences.
This is important as, if you are running two or more campaigns with overlapping audiences, your ads will be competing with each other, causing your costs to soar as a result.
If the overlap percentage is around 5-10% then you don’t have too much to worry about, however, always try to keep this to a minimum if you can.
When used correctly, social media advertising can be a powerful addition to your marketing toolset and one which can contribute to brand awareness, lead gen and conversion.
Using these tips will help you to refine your targeting, improve the relevancy and performance of your campaigns and, most importantly, increase your return on investment.
If you’re lacking the right content for Facebook adverts or are simply having problems getting the most out of your campaigns, get in touch with us guys at Névé Studios – we’re here to help!