I run Facebook Ad Campaigns for small businesses. I also build landing apps for those campaigns. I firmly believe there is no better place to spend advertising money on than Facebook. Nothing else out there allows you to drill down to a very small and specific demographic like Facebook does. That said, I see a lot of dumb and wasted ads. I guess Facebook is ok with that, but I’m not. Here’s how to do it better.
Never run an ad campaign that drives people to the homepage of your website or the Timeline (wall) of your Page in the hopes they’ll find what you want them to. We’re smarter than that – or at least we should be.
First question I’m going to ask is, “What is the purpose of your Ad Campaign?”
Seems simple enough, right? “Heck, you just told me FB is the BEST place to run a campaign – what more purpose do I need?”
But it’s not a simple question. Let me ask you it this way… There’s four reasons to run an ad campaign on Facebook, which one suits you best? That would be easier.
REASON #1: BRAND RECOGNITION
Plain and simple, I want to run ads that illustrate my brand, my logo, my ______. So when they are driving down the street and see my brand, logo or my ______ they’ll recognize it and say to themselves, “There it is again. That reminds me, I really need to <insert action item> that stuff”.
Case in point: Ketel One Vodka
REASON #2: FACEBOOK PAGE LIKES
I want my Page to have more LIKES. We post daily, we engage with our customers, we do everything right, but we just want to bump it to that next level.
Case in point: Real Estate Agents – Military Friendly
REASON #3: FACEBOOK CONTEST
We’re running a contest and we want as many entries as we can get.
Note: this is one instance where you can get both Likes and Entries. You can require a Page LIKE to get to your entry form. Requiring any other Facebook actions as in uploading an image, leaving a comment, can get your Page deleted.
Case in point: Gillette
REASON #4: A SPECIFIC CALL TO ACTION
I sell widgets and have a great widget that would benefit so many people. I have a clear definition of who they are as well as what their problem or concern is – if only I could get my message to them, I’m sure they would jump on it.
Case in Point: Pinterest Webinar
Webinars are great and all – and for the instance I show above it is her product that she’s selling (or her coaching). The call to action for the typical real estate agent my be something like “How much would your home really sell for?” or ” How to buy foreclosures and not get burnt” to name a few.
So there’s the four specific reasons to run a Facebook Ad Campaign. Pick one. Only one. You can’t run a successful campaign that combines all of them. Just one.
Got it? Ok, so now we’re ready to start. Do you want to lead the clicks out to a targeted landing page on your site or keep them within Facebook? There’s a distinct advantage and disadvantage for each. Sponsored post story, Page Post Like Story, or Page Like Story? Social Proof or not? Target recent interests? Exclude fans of your Page but target their friends? Pay Per Click, Per Impression or Action Optimized CPM? How will you configure the A/B testing on your ads? That’s just the start. Yeah, I know, questions upon more questions upon more questions!
THE SALES PITCH…
Running an effective ad campaign isn’t easy. Running a crappy one is. As a small business you barely have a budget and you certainly don’t have an on staff advertising team. The great part is that you don’t have to. Sometimes it’s better to bring in an expert.
My name is Mike Mueller. I help small businesses run effective Facebook Ad Campaigns.
I am for hire. Let’s talk. (925) 456-4567 or Mike@AreWeConnected.com
* for the record, I purposely chose 4 different ad campaigns that I am not involved with.
Related articles
- The Yellow Brick Road of Facebook Ad Campaigns (areweconnected.com)
- Case Study: Nutella Facebook ad campaign outperforms TV (simplyzesty.com)
He's an avid hockey fan, rides a mountain bike, sometimes rides a road bike, has a few motorcycles (he had a really fast one, bought a cool orange one, rode a really slow one, and now,a perfect "BDR Weapon"). If that isn't enough, he makes cheese and sourdough bread, loves strong beer and good red wine, and poorly plays the Mandolin.
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