Making the Most of facebook Ads #marketingmonday

Facebook has recently changed their algorithms. Actually, facebook is always changing their algorithms!

But this most recent change has really hurt brand marketers in a way they didn’t expect!
It works like this. You’ve set up your fan page, worked for months to get a decent number of followers and build engagement. NOW – facebook is not showing your posts to all of your readers! They can’t see what you are posting in their newsfeed!

WHY?

Facebook says they are trying to make their service better for the readers, by showing them the posts they are most interested in.

I like to think that facebook is as brilliant and greedy as they pretend to be. Nefariously hooking you with their free and effective advertising tool (your facebook page) and then changing the rules of the game – because they want you to PAY for advertising.

I believe it makes good sense for YOU to spend a little cabbage on some facebook ads, but it’s important to use some good strategy, so that your dollars aren’t wasted!

1. Boost Posts.
If you have specific posts that you want to have seen, boosting a post is the simplest way to do it. Just click the “Boost Post” button, and set your parameters.

2. Targeting.
Targeting is always important. You may be trying to create a national brand – but if you are paying per click, you want to try to REACH the people who are going to be most likely to be interested in your brand. Are there competitors or people that are similar to your brand? For example  –  if I was a cola company, I could try to target my ads to people who are fans of Coke or Boylans Cane Cola on Facebook… because by targeting their interests, I’m more likely to connect to the kinds of people who WOULD buy my soda!

3.  Budget
I prefer to pay per click…. as I think paying for impressions is not effective. Facebook will give you a recommended “Bid” – I always bid on the lower side, and I’ve never had an ad rejected for that per click bid.
You need to take some time to determine what you want to spend to reach people.
You can have an effective campaign for less than a dollar a day! The more you spend, the more people you will reach.

4. Campaigns
There are a number of different types of campaigns that you can setup.
If you want to get more people to LIKE your post – you should set up a “page likes” campaign – which will promote all of your posts, and your page as a whole to try to get people interested.

You can also promote specific posts, or promote a page that is NOT on facebook. (NOTE – when promoting to a non-facebook link – facebook can be pretty picky, and will reject a lot of ads. Especially if it is to an opt-in page!)

5. Sidebar ads.
If you are going to create a sidebar ad – there are two things this can do for you.

-Create brand awareness
This is one of my best kept secrets. If you get a targeted market, and you want them to be familiar with your brand… the easiest way to do that is to create a campaign that displays your logo on the right hand column, with your slogan or something catchy in the text portion. Don’t worry about whether it gets any clicks, but bid it out as a per click campaign. Again – just communicate your brand message, but do not write it with the goal of getting clicks, but rather the goal of constant exposure. It will show up in the sidebar for your target audience, and over time, they will become familiar with who you are. You will get SOME clicks – but it will keep displaying it until it uses up your budgeted amount. Think of this like a billboard, or a sign out front with your logo on it. The goal is simply to communicate your brand message, so that people are familiar. Do not expect this to generate measurable revenue right away, but rather to make people familiar with your brand.

-Get Clicks
These ads should be written with catchy text that makes people want to click. It helps if you have a picture of an attractive man or woman or both in the picture. Also – don’t be afraid to make one campaign for women and another for men… so your ad can more specifically target a demographic.

This ad will send people to your facebook page, or your site. I’m good with sending it to either, as long as you make it a point to follow up with new followers, new subscribers, etc, and continue to deliver the kind of good content that converts!

I have a wealth of other facebook ad advice to give. Feel free to contact me if you have questions!