Creating "smart" ads on Facebook can result in significant reach. Here, "smart" doesn't refer to the actual content, but to the strategic approach.
The content must be relevant to your products and services and resonate with your target audience. The creation of the actual content cannot be influenced by any specific Facebook process, but the performance of a Facebook ad certainly can.
And that's exactly what the goal of any Facebook ad should be: to reach as many users as possible for the least amount of money (thus optimizing your return on investment, or "ROI"). Many Facebook ads fall short of this goal, but there are a few simple steps you can take to achieve it. In this article, we'll show you how.
1. Define your primary goals
A successful Facebook advertising campaign depends on the strategy you've developed. Since Facebook offers several different ad formats, it's important to know what your ultimate goal is. Therefore, you should design your ads accordingly. For example, if your goal is to generate as many clicks to your website as possible, you will need a link to that website - the rest of the ad design should encourage people to click on the link frequently (this can also apply to an image or graphic).
However, if you want to promote the download of a product or encourage users to sign up for your email newsletter, a clear call to action (CTA) is essential, and you may need to work with a conversion pixel to clearly determine whether your campaign is successful.
2. Create an irresistible offer
For a Facebook ad to be effective, the content must be on point and perfectly tailored to the right audience. A traditional ad can accomplish this, but Facebook offers many other ways to create an irresistible offer.
In addition to "classic" promotions like the still-popular giveaways, you can offer free downloads, request product samples or provide discounts. For example, hotels can promote an exclusive giveaway of a night's stay at their property - such promotions quickly gain attention and lead to significant reach. If you offer an email newsletter, you can include free e-books or checklists with the subscription. The sky is the limit.
3. Use engaging images
Regardless of your goal with Facebook advertising, an engaging image almost always works wonders. However, it's important to make sure the image is relevant to the topic - avoid kittens if your ad isn't about cats.
Background: An ad on Facebook is most successful if it gets a lot of clicks from the start. You can achieve this effect with an image that is exceptionally click-engaging.
To do this, images need to be high quality and eye-catching - they need to grab the viewer's attention. This is even more critical for mobile ads than for desktop ads. The more clicks your ad receives in this way, the more relevant it becomes in the eyes of Facebook's algorithm, resulting in it being shown to even more thematically relevant users - further increasing your reach.
4. Include a clear CTA
Not every Facebook ad can include a special button with a clear call to action (CTA). However, if you want to promote a special offer that includes a download or even a purchase option, you can use a call to action button.
And you should, because these buttons result in significantly more clicks, which means more traffic, more reach, and ultimately more sales or downloads. You can amplify this effect by including a similar or complementary call to action in your visual content. This provides a second opportunity to engage the right users with your ad and can further increase the click-through rate (CTR). This way, you can take advantage of Facebook's broad reach while keeping your costs down.
5. Keep an eye on Relevancy Score
Facebook introduced the Relevance Score a while back to give you an idea of how well your ad is performing. In this context, "well" means how relevant the ad is to your target audience.
On a scale of 1 to 10, the Relevancy Score indicates how successful your ad is. If you get a score of 10, you've hit the mark, because it can't get any higher. On the other hand, if your score is low (you should definitely avoid anything below 9), your ad will be considered less successful and less effective (always compared to similar ads).
The relevance score is high if you receive little negative feedback on your ads and a lot of positive feedback (such as likes, comments, shares), along with minimal negative interactions such as hiding the content or unfollowing your Facebook Page associated with the ad. Conversely, if your ad receives few positive interactions and many negative interactions, your relevance score will decrease and your ad will become more expensive.
6. Run A/B tests for ad optimization
The Relevancy Score is an ideal quality indicator to accurately evaluate your ads. If you find that your Relevancy Score is low, you should pause the ad and test a new one.
Traditional A/B testing is easy to do on Facebook. You simply create two or more ads with the same goal and run them with identical budgets. After a short period of time, you can determine which ad is performing better.
Then pause all the ads that aren't performing well, create new variations based on the best-performing ad, and test all the ads against each other again. Over time, you'll consistently find the ad that works best and gives you the highest ROI.
7. Keep track on KPIs
Relevancy Score and A/B testing allow you to measure how well your ad performs during its time on Facebook. But that doesn't absolve you from the responsibility of evaluating whether you've met your goals at the end of each campaign - that's the ultimate goal.
So compare the results to your original strategy. Check to see if the ad drove more traffic to your site, resulted in more downloads, or increased sales. If the ad performed well on Facebook, but you didn't fully achieve your goals, there may be a problem with your landing page.
At the end of the day, a smart Facebook ad strategy can only work perfectly if the ad on Facebook effectively targets your audience and drives them to a landing page where they convert. Only then can you truly take advantage of the low cost of Facebook advertising and achieve a high ROI.
Lastly:
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