Facebook is a popular place for businesses to connect with their customers. Although social media sites should be a place for you to have a conversation with your customer, rather than shout deals at them, Facebook does also offer the ability to place ads.
Facebook Ads allow the business owner to target potential customers, using key words and zip codes. You can even target only your current fan base and their friends. This allows you to spend your marketing dollars on potential customers who might have a higher interest in your business based on their location and listed interests on Facebook. According to Facebook, if a user sees a friend’s name in an ad on Facebook, they are 68% more likely to remember the ad and twice as likely to remember the brand.
First you need to identify your goals. Decide whether you want more fans on your page, to increase brand recognition, offer a discount or drive more business to your website. Facebook suggests that each ad campaign focus on one goal at a time.
Then you need to decide who you are trying to reach with your ad. Who shops in your store? Where are your customers located? Are they a certain age range or do they share an interest? You can create different ads to effectively market to all different types of customers.
Facebook makes it very easy to create your ad. You design your ad using a recent post already on your fan page. You then choose your target audience using key words and location. Choose your budget. Then submit your ad. It is usually approved by Facebook and is up and running fairly quickly.
The most confusing part of budgeting for your ad is the bidding option you choose. Should you choose Cost Per Click (CPC) or Cost Per Thousand Impression (CPM)? Cost Per Click is pricing where you pay for each person who clicks on your ad. This is best chosen when you want to drive specific action on your website or Facebook page. Cost Per Thousand Impression is where you pay based on the number of people who view your ad, regardless of whether they click on it. It is best used if you want to raise general awareness of your business within the targeted audience. Facebook suggests a bid price based on your targeting options. You may choose your own pricing options, but if you find that your ad is not being shown (Facebook will send you reminder e-mails letting you know that your ad is not active), then you will need to increase your bid.
You can control the cost of your ads by choosing a daily budget or lifetime budget. So, if you don’t want to spend more than $25 per day on an ad campaign (or $100 for the lifetime of an ad), your ad will be shown to the target audience only until you hit your budget. Then the ad will be removed from circulation. You can change your budget at any time.
You can monitor the performance of your ad through Ads Manager. It will show you graphs and statistics for the lifetime for your ad campaign(s). We suggest you check your statistics often to make sure your ads are working for your business.
Facebook Ads are one of the many tools Facebook offers to help promote your business. While you should not feel like it is necessary to spend money with Facebook to gain new customers, it might be a tool to try at least once to see if it is something that will work for you.
