Many have raised the question: Do Facebook Ads work? Since its rollout in 2007, Facebook Ads has created a space for new and established companies to reach and engage with their audiences, drive traffic to their site, and rack up impressions for their brands.
The social media site has 1.93 billion daily users as of the 4th quarter of 2021. That’s a lot of potential eyes for your business. Knowing your target audience and reaching them in meaningful ways is the key difference between gaining valuable conversions and burning through your ad budget.
Our Social Media Manager, Aaron Sprengeler, is here to explain how Facebook Ads could benefit your company.
Do Facebook Ads work?
Yes, they really do. Almost too well. In recent years, Facebook has doubled down on its Ads efforts, favoring ad placements in its algorithm over organic posting, which means if you want your brand to be seen (even by your followers), you’ll need to invest in advertising on the Meta platforms (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp).
Of course, there are some types of businesses that aren’t allowed to advertise on Facebook; this article addresses that point.)
But just because Facebook has developed a “pay-to-play” model doesn’t mean you’re out of the game; even small ad budgets can make a difference.
Facebook Ads operates on an auction system that considers advertiser bids, estimated action rates, ad relevancy, and ad quality. In short, Facebook claims to show your ads to those most likely to engage with it based on how well it performs with similar users.
While marketers using Facebook ads can place manual bids within their ad budgets, we recommend allowing Facebook to bid dynamically based on your cost or value goals. What you do want to keep customized control over is your ads’ spending limits, audiences, and creatives.
Campaign Goals
When creating an ad, Facebook will ask you to select your goal:
- Awareness (objectives that generate interest in your product or service)
- Consideration (objectives that get people to think about your business and seek more information), or
- Conversion (objectives that encourage people interested in your business to buy or use your product or service).
Each of these categories is broken down into more specific actions that will dictate the ad bids placements based on who from our audience is most likely to take your preferred action.
How much to spend
Spending limits should be based on your business’ budget and specific cost-per-result goals. When in doubt, start small with a low budget. As your campaign reaches the end of its allotted spending, Facebook will prompt you to reset your budget to continue ads. This can serve as a great opportunity to reassess your strategy, make changes if needed, or continue running the ads you have in place.
Audiences
As we said, Facebook will automatically show your ads to people who are most likely to find your ads relevant. You can further target your ad delivery with three audience selection tools:
- Core Audiences (defined based on criteria such as age, interests, and geography),
- Custom Audiences (people who have engaged with your business online or off), or
- Lookalike Audiences (new people whose interests are similar to those of your best customers).
When creating a core audience, use the location and age filters. We also recommend using detailed targeting features such as interests, hobbies, careers, household income, etc.
Creatives
Content is (still) king. Everything included in your ad sets, from copy to images/videos, should reflect your brand voice. Less is more when it comes to ads, so be sure to
- Keep videos short (~15 seconds)
- Images free of text
- Ad copy is succinct and to the point
Depending on your ad type, you’ll need to optimize your strategy to get the best results. If you use images and videos, be sure they are high-resolution and properly demonstrate your product or service in action.
Generally, the algorithm prioritizes images with humans in them– the more often you showcase people in your ads, the better. If using carousel ads, stick with a common theme for the 2-10 images/videos you feature. Try showcasing a different product on each image with its own landing page or use it as a more interactive format and have each slide tell a story or step-by-step process of how your product/service works.
Big Picture Takeaway
Facebook is a powerful platform for businesses to reach audiences, target and retarget customers, and increase overall brand awareness. With Facebook ads, you can initiate a fully automatic way to create and buy ads or implement a more hands-on approach to your online advertising and targeting strategy based on your needs.
Likely Impact
- Easy way to set goals, build ads and see ROI based on marketing objectives
- Drive more traffic to your pages and sites and build a list of potential customers
- Convert followers and create Lookalike Audiences to gain new customers
The Bottom Line
Facebook makes it easy for businesses to advertise and grow their presence, but not without a price. To see positive growth on social media, businesses need to implement paid ads on Facebook in addition to their organic strategy.
Want to learn more about how Search & Convert can help grow your business? Our Hall of Experts is here! Send an email to the team and we’ll be in touch!