Setting up a Facebook Ads Campaign? Read this first.
Creating a Facebook Ads campaign on Ads Manager is a fairly simple task that any business
owner can do, and yet if you don’t have the right expertise you may be leaving money on the
table. Following are some key factors to consider before you set up a campaign, to help you get
the most from your Facebook advertising.
The Facebook pixel is a snippet of code that is embedded on your website, designed to capture
data on who has visited and what actions they have taken. By installing the base pixel and
standard events, you can track whether your visitors are staying on site to browse, adding to
cart and whether they make a purchase. This also helps you to retarget those who are almost
ready to buy but may need one more touchpoint. If you are running ads without a pixel, you are
missing the fundamental benefit that Facebook advertising offers. Setup is fairly simple from
Events Manager, with many integrations now available.
Optimisation is an important consideration as this will dictate which parts of the audiences you
will reach and what action they are likely to take. If you are seeking purchases, your first step
shouldn’t be running a campaign for engagement. When you choose an optimisation, Facebook
will find the people within your selected audience most likely to take that action. Start with your
number one priority first. If you have enough budget it’s a great idea to also run engagement
ads to increase your omni-presence. With organic reach on the decline, paid social is key to
being seen, even by your own followers.
Boosting a post will amplify your existing post to a wider audience, with no optimisation. If you
have a wildly popular post that already has lots of engagement and is creating the effect you are
seeking then you may see success in boosting. Otherwise you will likely see a greater reach on
your single post and no other benefit. A targeted ad campaign set up with the right objective,
audience, creative and copy will almost always return more value for money.
Setting up a campaign and switching it on is only the beginning. As the results start to
accumulate, it’s time to make decisions on how to optimise your ads further. Always leave your
ad campaigns for a few days to ensure they start to feed out and stabilise before making
changes. It can be tempting to tweak early, but you run the risk of stalling your campaigns
before they get going. Check your ads and switch off poor performers. Look at the percentage
of people who are clicking through to your website. If it’s under 1% then consider tweaking your
ad creative or copy. Do you have a high bounce rate? Check your mobile experience and make
sure your ads are relevant to the landing page you are sending your audience to.
Take a holistic view of your marketing, and ensure that Facebook Ads are only one part of your
overall strategy. Email marketing, PR and organic social media all have important roles to play.
With the introduction of changes to Facebook advertising following the iOS14 rollout, these will
become even more valuable to your business.
Facebook advertising can be successful for businesses of all sizes, if you know what you are
doing. If you are a business owner and not seeing results from your campaigns consider
investing in training or outsourcing to a freelancer or agency. This can save time and money,
and leave you to get on with what you really want to focus on: your business.
By Karen Powell, Facebook Advertising Strategist
http://www.karenpowellsocial.com
~Business Game Changer Special Promotion~
