Facebook Ads Thoughts
About Facebook Advertising
Facebook advertising is built on the same methodology as most of the other platforms out there. You assign a certain amount of money to an ad or an advert group and from that point on, Facebook decides when and where your advert will be displayed based on your preferences and how much money you are spending.
With that said, and most of you know this already, the real work and effort is based in the optimising each moving part of the ad itself, and importantly, its destination.
Like any great recipe, and the composition of a great advert is in the sum of its parts. The first of which is your Facebook page.
When you create your ad, you can choose the destination. This is where the user ends up when they have clicked your ad. Some people prefer to link to some content outside of Facebook, but your ad needs to have a super powerful call to action if that's the case because you are asking people to leave the environment where they feel comfortable. Conversion rates tend to be better when the destination is your Facebook page. So what does the user see when they get there?
Are you the kind of business that just lists promotion after promotion on your page? The chances are that you are are hurting yourself a bit, or you might be gathering the wrong kind of audience. Evidence suggests that by always posting promotions and special offers, you are getting a higher volume of users who just link to voucher sites or are serial competition hounds.
Building your audience on Facebook is a practice in patience and commitment to offering other human beings something more empathetic. I could go on about this forever, but for the sake of this post, let's just say that when a user has clicked on your ad and come over to your Facebook page, it should be somewhere that feels 'lived in'. Somewhere where conversations and the to and fro of a brand to consumer relationship is authentic and reciprocal.
Also, don't forget that if you are a Shopify shopkeeper, you can tell Shopify to add your shop to your Facebook page.
Once your ad has been clicked on, make sure that whatever is at the top of your page, or your custom tab is saying the same thing as your ad, but with more context or further information. Do not make the mistake of using different fonts, imagery or tone of voice. You need to think of the ad as a journey of continuity where all of the building blocks go hand in hand.
Other Tips and Tricks
When you are setting up your advert, you may not know much about your intended audience. It's a bit sneaky but just advertise to people on Facebook who like your competition. These people are almost certainly in the right demographic.
Make sure the image in your ad is eye catching. Only 20% of your ad is allowed to contain text, so use something that's going to stick out. It doesn't have to be a picture of your business or product, just something relevant.
Use video when you can. Yes, it is more expensive, but you might be surprised. Video has the best conversion rates because it can be much more personal. Voice, music, images all add to something much more engaging than just a picture and text.
In summary, I have seen some adverts fall flat on their face, and others do incredibly well on a small budget. The main takeaway here is to remember that the ad is one thing, but your destination says everything about your business. Spend some time on looking at the whole journey and have a measure of what success 'looks like'. Is it a certain amount of page likes? Product sales? Email sign ups? Event signups? Shares? Whatever you are aiming for, do yourself a favour and plan ahead for your best outcome.
Also, did we mention our extremely popular responsive Shopify themes? Your shop has to look good when visitors come around :)