Nowadays, digital advertising and targeting potential customers are accessible to every business thanks to social media networks. They are largely popular, with over 6,6 million active users on major platforms in 2020 (Statista, 2020). However, not only a huge potential audience is attractive in social media adverting, but also the tools and data that can be utilised to create successful advertising campaigns.

Reach your desired audience with social media advertising

One of the most powerful features of social media ads is the possibility of reaching the desired audience. The social media target audience is a group of people who are most likely to be interested in the company’s product or service (Riserbato, 2020). Targeting allows companies to reach their desired audience by defining demography, location, interests, behaviour and more (Kelly, 2019). The more specified and detailed the audience is, the better because the business can successfully reach people who need its service and product.

Take advantage of the custom & lookalike audiences

Organisations can also target people who are already engaged with the business, such as customers who have completed the order, added something to the cart, have visited the website, or installed the organisation’s app (Newberry, 2018). These groups of people who already have a relationship with an organisation are called custom audiences. Custom audiences can also be used to create lookalike audiences who share key characteristics with existing customers. Targeting specified audiences, especially customers who already know the organisation, can produce high conversion rates (Newberry, 2018).

Measure your performance, adjust your ads  accordingly & fulfil your overall marketing goals with social media advertising

Social media ads can also be very effective thanks to access to data about ads performance. They help to understand how ads perform with the audience and adjust them accordingly (Pedotto, 2020). These data can help to find out how to improve organisation services, products offered or content. Moreover, social media advertising works best when coupled with other elements of digital marketing efforts (Kelly, 2019). For example, social media ads can help potential customers discover a helpful blog article on the organisation’s website, which drives traffic and generates new leads. Besides increasing website traffic, an organisation can fulfil many marketing goals with social media advertising, such as raising brand awareness or building conversions (WordStream, 2020).
Social media networks opened the possibility of targeting the right customers at the right time with customised and attractive ads that can improve brand recognition, loyalty and conversion rates. A great social media advertising strategy can significantly benefit an organisation’s digital marketing efforts.

References

1. Kelly L. (2019) ‘ How social media advertising can support your digital marketing efforts’ Medium [online]. Available at https://medium.com/@elkelly15/how-social-media-advertising-can-support-your-digital-marketing-efforts-dd2b21f950b6
2. Newberry Ch. (2018) ‘How to use Facebook custom audiences: a step-by-step guide’ Hootsuite [online]. Available at https://blog.hootsuite.com/how-to-use-facebook-custom-audiences/
3. Pedotto L. (2020) ‘7 reasons to advertise on social media’ StrikeSocial [online]. Available at https://strikesocial.com/blog/social-media-advertising-benefits/
4. Riserbato R. (2020) ‘What a social media target audience is and how to find it’ HubSpot [online]. Available at https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/social-media-target-audience
5. Statista (2020) ‘Most popular social networks worldwide as of October 2020, ranked by number of active users’ Statista [online]. Available at https://www.statista.com/statistics/272014/global-social-networks-ranked-by-number-of-users/
6. WordStream (2020) ‘Social media marketing for businesses’ WordStream [online]. Available at https://www.wordstream.com/social-media-marketing

Learn more about Facebook advertising: Q&A

What key objectives can be satisfied with Facebook Advertising? 

Facebook allows satisfying various marketing objectives within three major stages of the customer journey: awareness, consideration and conversion. A company focusing on the awareness stage aims to help new customers discover the brand or products/services (Shuteyev, 2020). The consideration stage is the next phase, where a company strive to deepen customer interest in a product/service so that the customer will purchase something in the next step of the customer journey (conversion). One of the ways to satisfy the awareness objective on Facebook is creating a brand awareness campaign where the company focuses on reaching potential new clients and getting as many impressions as possible (Gotter, 2019). If the business wants to focus on the consideration stage, many ad campaigns can be used on Facebook, for example, traffic, engagement and lead generation campaigns. The traffic ad campaign is one of the most popular ones. It focuses on sending users to a specific page, like an event page or app page, that gives the visitor various options, from registering and requesting more information to purchase outright (Gotter, 2019). A business that focuses on the conversion stage of the customer journey can launch conversion, catalogue sales or store visit campaigns. One of the most popular ones is a conversion campaign which allows gaining more online purchases, newsletter signups or registration for a course/event (Gotter, 2019).

What are the main Facebook advertising formats available? 

Many Facebook advertising formats are available, such as image ads, video ads, slideshow ads, carousel ads, instant experience and collection ads (Facebook For Business, 2020). The ad format should always depend on the campaign goal. Popular image ads can drive visitors to the website (Cartwright, 2020). Another excellent ad format for driving traffic to a website is a video. Video can also educate the audience about product features (Cartwright, 2020). An alternative to video ads is slideshow ads. They are perfect for telling a story and showing off a product or product range (Facebook For Business, 2020). Slideshow ads can be quickly created while setting up a Facebook campaign by selecting a template and uploading pictures or videos. Another way to showcase products/services is carousel ads or collection ads (AdEspresso, 2020). They are perfect for presenting many products or product collections in one ad. It is important to remember that each ad format requires different specifications for creatives. For example, video ads support videos with 16:9 to 9:16 aspect ratios with file sizes of up to 4 GB max and no longer than 120 min (AdEspresso, 2020).

How can you target audiences when creating a Facebook advertisement? 

Facebook allows targeting specific audiences using a combination of data. This is perfect for reaching new customers, especially if an advertiser has already defined a buyer persona. The audience can be defined by geolocation, languages, demographics, interests and behaviours (Kim, 2020). For example, if a company sells maternity clothes in Ireland, it can reach Irish women aged 25-35 interested in maternity clothing and pregnancy-related topics. Facebook also allows targeting existing customers, the so-called custom audience. It reinforces a brand and increases lifetime customer value, order frequency, and loyalty (Kim, 2020). A custom audience can be created by uploading a customer list with emails and phone numbers or based on website visitors and app activities. It is ideally suited to use in remarketing campaigns, for example, to target customers who view cart page (Newberry, 2019). It is possible to exclude customers who purchased something recently if they will not likely repurchase something soon. Another possibility to target audiences on Facebook is to create a lookalike audience. A Lookalike audience includes users who share characteristics with people already engaged with a business (Newberry, 2019).

Explain the key elements that make up a great Facebook advertisement. 

One essential key element that makes up a great Facebook advertisement is reaching the right audience. Each ad should target a clearly defined audience. This audience can be further narrowed down by segmenting it by demographical attributes and hobbies (Jackson, 2020). This allows the offering of relevant and personalised content to Facebook users, which should be the ultimate aim of every digital advert. Another vital element of a good FB ad is creating compelling ad content. The ad caption and title should be short, relevant, eye-catching and include a clear call to action. Moreover, it should focus on how customers will feel or benefit after using a product or service (Shewan, 2020). For example, an advert promoting cleaning services could stress that the client will save time, eliminate monotone chores and have more free time. The ad should also contain high-quality, relevant and visually appealing images, a collection of pictures or a video that goes together with the ad copy (Siemasko, 2020). The ad should also be personalised to its audience; for example, an ad targeted at women who love fitness should present relevant products like women’s fitness clothing. I also think monitoring the results of Facebook ads is crucial. It can help to adjust the ad and maximise the return on investment.

References

1. AdEspresso (2020) ‘The beginner’s guide to Facebook advertising: Beginners guide to Facebook ad types’ AdEspresso [online]. Available at https://adespresso.com/guides/facebook-ads-beginner/facebook-ads-types/
2. Cartwright B. (2020) ‘The Facebook ad types: how to choose the best ad type for your goals’ HubSpot [online]. Available at https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/the-facebook-ad-types
3. Facebook For Business (2020) ‘Types of Facebook ad formats’ Facebook Business Help Centre [online]. Available at https://www.facebook.com/business/help/1263626780415224?id=802745156580214
4. Facebook For Business (2020) ‘About slideshow ads’ Facebook Business Help Centre [online]. Available at https://www.facebook.com/business/help/149759192130274?id=603833089963720
5. Gotter A. (2019) ‘How to choose the right Facebook objectives for every campaign’  Disruptive Advertising [online]. Available at https://www.disruptiveadvertising.com/social-media/facebook-objectives/
6. Jackson Ch. (2020) ‘ 5 essential elements of any Facebook advertising strategy’ Bozzi Media [online]. Available at https://bozzimedia.com/5-essential-elements-facebook-advertising-strategy/
7. Kim L. (2020) ‘5 ridiculously powerful Facebook ad targeting strategies’ WordStream [online]. Available at https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2015/01/28/facebook-ad-targeting
8. Newberry Ch. (2019) ‘8 Facebook targeting tips for cheaper ads and more conversions’ Hootsuite [online]. Available at https://blog.hootsuite.com/facebook-targeting/
9. Shewan D. (2020) ‘7 awesome Facebook ad examples (and why they work)’ WordStream [online]. Available at https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2016/05/23/facebook-ad-examples
10. Shuteyev P. (2020) ‘Awareness, consideration & decision: how to convert at each stage’ Snovio Labs [online]. Available at https://snov.io/blog/awareness-consideration-decision-what-to-convert-with-at-each-stage/
11. Siemasko E. (2020) ‘9 tips to write the best Facebook ads ever (with examples)’ WordStream [online]. Available at https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2016/06/29/best-facebook-ads