I recently attended a workshop put on by Facebook for small business owners to help them with Facebook Ads. Here are some of my takeaways, including the statistics, which I found pretty interesting.
Statistics:
- When is your market on Facebook? For example, new moms are on Facebook from four to seven in the morning because their babies are awake
- On Facebook you become part of someone’s life
- People spend 22 hours a day with their mobile phones at their side and globally there are now more mobile phones than there are people
- Only 10% of people in Uganda have electricity, but 30% have a mobile phone
- 21 million Canadians are on Facebook and most from their mobile phones
- Canadians love Facebook, even more than Americans do
- 60% of Instagram users like to hear about new products
- 50 million business users are on Facebook
General Tips:
- The world is visually focused so use images to tell a story
- Videos are even more popular, 100 million hours of video are watched daily
- Use Messenger to keep in touch on Facebook with potential clients. Mention that you will typically answer in a specific amount of time.
- You need to create really relevant content so people can see it
- What is your objective on Facebook? Is it exposure, leads, sales?
- Right message to right market
- Use Hyperlapse (an app) to show a video in super-speed (more interesting)
- Facebook shows your top five most recent posts
- You can mange everything with the Facebook mobile app and can set the time for your posts to display
- Use Insights to see interests, demographics, age, etc of your audience
Other Facebook Ad Options:
- Custom audiences are either people you already connect with (upload a CSV file) or a look-alike audience that is similar to people you know
- The Stratford Festival used custom audiences to target their past customers who hadn’t made a second purchase
- Use a Facebook pixel (code that goes on your site) to target custom audiences based on people who visited your website and then liked your Facebook page. Then you can target a lookalike audience similar to those people.
Effective Ads:
- Boosting your post is the easiest to start with
- Then start using the ads manager, including the Power Editor
- Select ‘Create an Ad’ in the right drop-down on your page. You can select ‘Local Awareness’ and get a map of your local area, then age and demographics choices, and amount you want to spend. Upload an image and add text. If you can include a ‘Get Directions’ button, your readers can click and get directions to your location right away.
- Website clicks or website conversions are two other Facebook campaigns if either of those options are your objective for the ad.
- When you create an ad, you become involved in a bidding process according to how you budget your ads.
Creative Best Practices:
- Leverage and customize the call-to-action buttons on your page
- Don’t write too much text
- Test and repeat
- You can add a series of images to crate a slideshow, which loads faster than video
- A carousel ad is a series of photos, each with a call to action. This type of ad has the best results because of a decrease in costs. Carousel ads can be used to show a single product or tell a story and can also be used on Instagram.
- Watch your Relevancy score and your Audience Insights
- Your goal is to capture your visitor’s attention in 3 seconds
Facebook Advice From the Small Business Panel:
- Have a detailed About section on your Facebook page
- You can start your page even when you are still in the planning stages for a brick and mortar location
- Try targeting by postal code when doing ads
- Use keywords in your ads and think about where people are in the buying cycle in relation to your product or service
- If your business is entirely online, when you go to a trade show or other event, choose your keywords that way.
- For a Valentines Day ad, target men if your product is jewelry or flowers
- Do one or two Facebook ads a day and learn when your customers are on Facebook so you can display your ad during those times
- Often people may not see your original ad, but their friends will tag them if the ad is relevant and they will see it then
- You can use the Shop Now call to action button and link it to an Etsy store
- Comments are really important, get people interacting
- You need a great inviting image, for posts as well as ads
- If you see a post doing well, use it as an ad
- Use your readers’ photos when possible
That’s it. I hope you enjoyed reading my notes as much as I enjoy writing them. But the most important thing is to take action, not just read about best practices. I’m planning to start using Facebook Live to answer questions on my Facebook Page and would love to have you join me at https://www.facebook.com/NonTechieOnlineSuccess and comment about the kinds of topics you’d like me to talk about.
To Your Online Success,
Carol
