5 key ingredients to make your Facebook ads irresistible
Facebook ads can be one of the most targeted, cost-effective ways you can advertise and, done correctly, they can reap serious rewards for your business. We provide five tips to help you reach new customers and profit from this advertising platform.
- Pick your ad type carefully
There are a plethora of different types of Facebook ads to choose from. You should make sure you select one based on your overall objective. Here are some of the most popular types of Facebook ads and what you might use them for:
Link click ads
A link click ad is designed to drive traffic and leads to your website, whilst also encouraging people to like your business page. The most effective link click ads usually feature an offer, promotion or free trial, and can also feature a video with continuous looping.
Boosted page posts
If a post on your business page is already doing well, paying to give it a boost can amplify its reach. The ad will look exactly the same as your page post, but have the word ‘sponsored’ at the top.
Carousel ads
If you’re an eCommerce business and you’ve got products you want to show off, carousel ads are great as they let you promote up to 10 different products at once.
Lead ads
Lead ads are useful if you have a piece of free content you want to give away or an enticing offer, allowing potential customers to sign up in exchange for their email address – and they don’t even have to leave Facebook to do so.
Canvas ads
Canvas ads are particularly immersive, allowing users to simply tap to open an ad that catches their eye to explore products and services in depth. Users can tilt the image in different directions and zoom in with their fingertips, which is great if you have products to showcase. You can currently only place canvas ads on mobile, however if you read on, you’ll find out why this can be a good thing…
- Design for mobile
Nowadays, most web users choose their smartphones to browse the internet over a PC or tablet. And when it comes to social media, 80% of time spent online is via a mobile device. Plus, according to the experts at AdRoll, mobile ads have 9.1 times higher click-through rates than web ads, so it makes sense to design your ad with smartphone users in mind.
- Make an impression with professional design
Amongst a sea of bland, seemingly endless Facebook ads, how can you make yours stands out? By hiring a professional designer who will make sure your ad is un-scroll-past-able, that’s how.
The creative elements of your ad – namely, the graphics and words used – will determine whether your ad is a success or a flop. Studies have found that the image you choose is responsible for 75-90% of your ad’s performance, so there’s a lot riding on how it looks.
Your ad needs to be colourful, attention grabbing, contrasting with the rest of the newsfeed and optimised to the correct size for every screen.
- Nail your copy
Your main value proposition has to be immediately obvious and should include a strong call to action, boldly telling your potential customers what steps they should take next.
It’s also important to remember that Facebook has strict rules on how much copy you can use in your advertisements. If you feature text on top of your image, check the text-to-image ratio by using Facebook’s very own Image Text Check tool.
- Take a targeted approach
Targeting is an essential step in any successful Facebook ad campaign and it’s about getting your ad in front of the right people.
You can target people based on a whole range of factors, such as location, interests, gender and age. One of the most effective ways to choose your audience is to create a custom audience using an existing list of contacts (e.g. email addresses from Mailchimp), or those who have interacted with your business page or Facebook pixel.
A Facebook pixel is a code you can embed on your website to track visits from users who are signed in to their Facebook account. By recording who visits your site, you can then use this information to retarget site visitors with your ads on their Facebook.
Lookalike audiences are another great way of reaching new people who might be interested in what you have to offer. Facebook helps you find users who are similar to your existing database, based on their interests and demographics. Remember, the more targeted and niche your audience, the more impact your ad will have.
Learn more about our social media advertising services here, and please get in touch if you’d like to find out how we can take your Facebook ads to the next level.
Katrina Barry, Client Account Manager
T: 0131 510 8262
