Advertising is always evolving and social media has
introduced a new wave of possibilities for both small and large businesses.
However, a question that every CEO may asks when considering digital
advertising is whether advertising on Facebook is really worth it.
This is a reasonable question considering the fact that
Facebook has more than two billion active users every month. This is not a
figure to ignore when the success of modern businesses is largely dependent on both
organic and paid traffic. It’s not surprising that many businesses are striving
to get more followers, likes, connections, and engagements that lead to actual
acquisition of subscribers and sales.
Basically, the goal of any modern business when it
comes to using social media is to expand the reach over the internet, enhance
brand awareness, and drive more traffic to their websites. But, organic efforts
alone may not enable your business to accomplish this objective fully. That’s
why you may consider paid advertising.
Facebook advertising is one of the best ways to complement
your organic efforts. Over the past years, Facebook has become an effective
social media marketing platform. And, businesses are now considering the idea
of advertising on Facebook.
Because you are reading this, you are probably
hoping that this platform will be the breakthrough opportunity that will take
your business to a new level. You most likely hope that Facebook Ads
will cost you a relatively less amount and yield better results.
Well, before you dive into Facebook advertising,
there are things that you need to know.
How does Facebook advertising work?
Facebook advertising is a form of paid social
marketing. It enables your business to find prospects by allowing it to target a
specific group of audiences. These are people that are most likely interested
in your services and products. Essentially, Facebook advertising enables you to
leverage the immense data that this platform has about its more than 2 billion
active users.
When running a Facebook advertising campaign, you
identify your objective first. Then, you tell the platform the targets that you
want to reach with your ads through the audience segmentation process. Thus,
Facebook displays your business ads to the most ideal audience or people that
belong to the demographics that you are interested in.
The custom parameters of this platform enable you to
come up with refined segments of your target audience. They also enable you to
come up with custom audiences. That’s because Facebook allows you to upload
data of your existing customers. This enables Facebook to come up with
“lookalike” audiences on the basis of your selected parameters.
Next, you come up with Facebook ads. These should be
highly visual and aligned with ways your target prospects use Facebook,
especially on their mobile devices. Finally, use analytics and data to evaluate
your ads performance and make changes accordingly to improve shares and
click-through rate as well as other aspects of your marketing campaign.
Case study
To determine whether Facebook advertising really
works, it’s imperative to consider a real-life case study
of using Facebook ads.
Current Meditation is a meditation studio that
tested the effectiveness of conversion-optimized Facebook ads. The ads were
aimed at encouraging more people to sign up for a free trial class by the
studio. The campaign resulted in five times more membership and 2.6 times more
leads from the conversion optimized ads.
The goal
The goal was to have more people sign up for a free
trial class on the website of the meditation studio. Simultaneously, the team
wanted to determine whether optimizing site traffic or conversions was a wise
idea.
The solution
The team came up with two campaigns. One campaign
comprised of ads that were optimized for clicks to the site of the studio. It
focused on people that were likely to click through to the studio’s site.
The other campaign was optimized for conversions. It
ensured that people that were likely to take a specific action saw the advert. In
this particular case, Current Meditation wanted people that saw this ad to
register for their free guided class.
Identical adverts with a single image of the popular
aerial meditation class of the studio were featured in both campaigns. The ad
copy promoted the free class deal while targeting people aged between 25 and 60
years residing in a 10 miles radius of this studio. It also targeted people
that are interested in mindfulness, technology, traveling, health and
well-being.
Results
The campaign ran for three weeks from 7th
to 30th April 2017 and it proved that conversion optimized Facebook
ads are effective and efficient. That’s because the campaign compelled more
people to try guided meditation.
It
also delivered:
·
5 times more membership due to
conversion-optimized ads
·
2.6 times more leads due to conversion-optimized
ads
So, is Facebook advertising worth it?
In real sense, a properly targeted Facebook
advertising campaign is worth the value of the money that is invested in it.
That’s because the above case study proves that if a Facebook advertising
campaign is set up properly with clear goals, it drives high-quality clicks
thereby bringing value to a business. Perhaps, that’s because this platform
allows for better audience targeting. Consequently, Facebook advertising is
often profitable than some online advertising channels.
The bottom line
Whether Facebook advertising is worth investing in
or not is largely dependent on your budget and goals. Nevertheless, Facebook
shares many case studies
that motivate and inspire people to use it to advertise their businesses.
However, these should not prompt you to invest in Facebook advertising without
doing extra research. As the above case study has shown, it’s possible to grow
a business with Facebook advertising. The most important thing is to use the
available data and analytics to create targeted ads and make appropriate
changes as it becomes necessary. And, don’t jump in head-first.
Tips
Before
you dive into Facebook advertising, here are crucial caveats that you should
consider:
·
Be patient- It takes some days or months
before your ad becomes profitable.
·
Target- Create ads that target the right
demographics.
·
Create eye-catching ads- These grab
attention while generating clicks.
·
Follow up conversions- Use emails to
follow up conversions.
Follow these tips when advertising on Facebook and
your campaign will most likely yield your desired results.
