Do you ever wonder if all the Facebook ads you see in your news feed are actually effective? It's especially interesting considering that sometimes you find them to be annoying and a total nuisance. In actually, they can work wonders and if you're a business owner, you should think about getting on board, because you might see a massive return. But just what are the benefits of Facebook ads, exactly? I suggest you check out our post on how to do Facebook advertising if this is new to you!
Aside from email marketing, flawless web design, SEO, and organic social media, Facebook ads are important. There are billions of people who use Facebook every day, and if you place a targeted ad on the platform, your chances of reaching them skyrocket. This is a necessity — organic traffic on Facebook is almost non-existent. We'll talk more about that later.
Note: To be clear, when we're referring to running ads on Facebook, we're not talking about using the Boost button. We're talking about going to business.facebook.com to create highly targeted ads from scratch. This is an important distinction!
In case the benefits of Facebook ads are still vague to you, let's talk more about why you need to be investing in them. Here are some of the benefits of Facebook ads that you need to know. You should also learn the worst times to post on facebook to get more views!
The Facebook Advertising Platform Offers Robust Analytics
Mark our words: You won't find these analytics elsewhere.
Facebook has no limits when it gives you reports and analytics about the performance of your ads. You'll never have to guess or make your own assumptions about what's working and what isn't. Instead of having to determine your conversion rates and other social metrics, you'll see them already neatly laid out for you right within Ads Manager. All you have to do is analyze them and determine your next step. Just make sure you understand the algorithm facebook rules for the best results.
You're provided with metrics about your weekly reach, post engagement, page likes, and which posts have the best performance. But it doesn't end there. Gain insight on things like clicks, conversions, and even sales. And honestly, this is just the tip of the iceberg.
By seeing this data, you can adjust your ads based on what's needed, instead of having to guess or finding out later on that your investment was for nothing. Remember, if you can't track and measure something, you can't know if it's working or how you can improve.
Facebook gives you so much power when it comes to tracking and measuring the progress of your ads. But there is also a Facebook dislike button so be sure to post great content!
You Can Micro-Target Your Exact Audience
Facebook's targeting capabilities when it comes to the level of granularity are beyond amazing. You can target based interests, behaviors, demographics, age ranges, connections, locations, or languages. You can event target your competitors' fans.
The targeting capabilities can dig deeper than any other platform, and you can layer them and combine them to make sure you're eliminating users who aren’t your target market. This is important! The audience quality is more important than the size. We want conversions. You should be looking for Facebook users who are potential customers — the people who will most likely buy your product, instead of just random visitors. Also, check out our post on how to schedule Facebook posts to learn how to boost your engagement!
Targeting is probably where Facebook excels the most compared to other advertising platforms. You just won't find these options elsewhere. You can even start a private facebook group for more targeted info!
You Can Create Ads Catering to Your Specific Objective
The act of creating an ad on Facebook is made simple by the platform. It guides you through steps that let you choose the kind of ad, target your audience, and set a timeframe and your budget.
Furthermore, the ad is customizable based on your what exactly you're trying to accomplish. Facebook refers to these as "objectives." Whether you want post engagement, website clicks, page likes, or something else entirely, you can create an ad based around that.
This allows you to better control the ad you create. It also tells Facebook how it should be optimizing your ad to deliver to you the best results possible.
Since the ad is customizable, you can create something that will reflect your brand and target audience for a better response.
You’ll Reach Far More People Than You Ever Will With Organic Posts
Ah, yes. Organic reach. Let's talk about this now.
If you're running a business page, you might not be aware that only the tiniest fraction of your followers even see what you post. It may sound extreme, but it's completely true.
Over the last couple of years, Facebook has been decreasing business pages' visibility in news feeds — a frustrating algorithm update for business owners everywhere. Even Mark Zuckerberg confirmed that they would be prioritizing posts from friends and family more frequently, effectively putting us business pages on the back burner.
If you're going to use Facebook for marketing in any capacity, you must use ads if you want your potential consumers to know about your business. You don't need a big budget, but you do need a budget.
Facebook ads give you a lot of bang for their buck, and if you know how to target and create them, the return you'll see will be worth every single penny.
Ads Allow You to Remarket to People Who Have Already Interacted With You
Remarketing is another way of reaching your target audience, because users who have visited your website in the past will see your ad. Let's talk about why this matters.
The first time people see your business on Facebook or your website, they probably glance at it and don't go any further, even if you piqued their interest a little bit. And why would they? They don't know you, and they have no reason to trust you. In the future, if they see your ad again, it gives you a higher chance of converting those people.
One touchpoint isn't going to be enough. People need to see your brand anywhere from three to seven times before they'll finally take action.
With Proper Targeting, You Can Get Clicks and Conversions for Cheap
That is made possible because Facebook’s CTR (click-through-rate) is steadily increasing due to their of their improved advertising tools. That's why businesses are learning how to use ads properly. Due to the constant improvements in targeting capabilities and creativity, business owners can effectively target audiences they want to reach, and they can do so for a low cost.
With the minimal cost you pay to run a Facebook ad and specifically target only the people you want, you're spending a small amount of money to reach however many people you need to and ultimately make money off of your ad.
To be clear, what ends up costing the most money is testing your ads, which you'll almost always have to do. Facebook ads hardly ever work on the first try and need to be tweaked. This is very normal. You should account for this testing phase when setting your budget.
You Can Easily Find New Leads With Facebook Ads
Once you find your audience that converts the fastest, it's possible to attract people who are just like them by using Facebook's "lookalike audiences." This feature allows you to take a custom audience and use Facebook to find similar people who are most likely to purchase from you.
Conversion pixels, those who install data from apps, and your Facebook fans can be used to build lookalike audiences. You can define the size and targeting options a lot more deeply to ensure that your lookalike audiences accurately reflect your target market.
You Can Add a Custom Call-to-Action Button
The majority of digital ads have a CTA (call-to-action) button that will take your audience to the desired destination, like your website. This is effective because you quite literally have to tell people what to do. Then, they're far likelier to do it. It sounds simple, but it makes a huge difference in the performance of your ads (and your blogs!).
Plus, users are often looking for more information before making a decision.
By using Facebook ads, users can easily go to your website; but there are other options, too. The current available CTA buttons include Book Now, Apply Now, Contact Us, Sign Up, Download, and Learn More.
People Are Almost Always on Social Media
Businesses cannot ignore Facebook. It's huge. It's everywhere. That's why your business needs a Facebook page — because current and future customers are there. On average, a person spends almost 2.5 hours daily on social media, and Facebook is their go-to.
Follow the crowd. If the majority of your target audience is on Facebook, then you need to be on Facebook too.
You Can Easily Scale Your Content Promotion
If your website always has great content, you want people to be aware of it. That's the reason why you consistently share update across your social media networks. But do you think that's enough? Unfortunately, it's not.
Facebook ads are there to amplify your content reach. Because of ads, you'll end up reaching more people than you ever will organically. This makes it not only feasible but easy to scale your marketing strategies. Once you've got an ad that converts really well, you put more and more money into it until it no longer performs the way you want it to. You can also create duplicate ads and target other segments of that audience.
When you put a little ad spend toward it, amazing things can happen.
You'll Encourage Customer Loyalty
Today, a lot of businesses correctly use Facebook pages to help their followers feel like they belong in that community. These pages give businesses a chance to have direct interaction with customers to build their brand image and enhance customer loyalty.
One of the many benefits of Facebook ads is that they give businesses heightened opportunities to engage audiences. This will lead to more growth, a higher retention rate, and eventually more sales — all because you used Facebook ads to establish better relationships.
Facebook ads may be cheap, but don't underestimate them just because of the price tag. They'll take your business to new heights. Bear in mind that there is a learning curve. Ads Manager isn't intuitive, and you can't expect results overnight. Truly, you can never expect results overnight when it comes to business.
However, if you dedicate time to learning how to use the platform, and you test, test, test your ads, you'll eventually find success spending money on Facebook.
Are you currently running any Facebook ads? How are they going? Let us know in the comments section below!
The Bottom Line
All in all, it’s hard to go wrong with Facebook ads. They are a great way to reach your target market and increase brand awareness. With the right strategy, you can see amazing results from this powerful advertising tool. Have you tried Facebook ads for your business?