As the wise rocker once sings, The waiting is the hardest part
These days, that applies to Facebook marketing, too. We have seen a preview of what the new Facebook features will bring. Now, all that’s left to do is wait.
While we don’t know what the future holds, there are some things all brands can do to get a head start. These things aren’t too difficult and are definitely necessary. It doesn’t matter what your opinion is of Facebook, it’s time to get prepared.
1. Set Goals for Ads
ads that are clear about what they are selling are more likely to be effective Keeping track of your ad’s progress is important to see if your marketing strategy is working. Some organizations, for example, use ads to get people’s attention, while others want people to engage with content or links.
Facebook provides definitions for two different types of ads that can help businesses achieve their desired outcomes. Ads that change based on what a person has shown interest in on your website in order to better target them. Lead ads are designed to provide viewers with an easy way to get the information they are interested in.
2. Select Your Audience and Choose the Location
To make sure your ads are seen by the right people, you need to specify how far they will reach. Facebook allows you to target your ads to a specific audience by adjusting the following settings: location, demographics, interests, behavior, and connections.
The location of your business can help you to create a more targeted marketing strategy, by identifying potential customers who live in the same area and are therefore more likely to be interested in your products or services than someone who lives in a different state or country. The demographics tool allows you to target your audience by choosing the age range, gender and job title that you want to reach.
Even if you have a general idea of who your target audience is, you can still use the interests, behavior and connections criteria to further narrow down your audience. This will help you to better focus your marketing efforts and ensure that you are reaching the right people.
Did you know? Facebook is more useful than other platforms for reaching an older demographic.
3. Set Your Budget
Ads Manager is a tool that helps you manage your Facebook ads. You can use it to buy ads on Facebook, Instagram, and Audience Network. Ads on Audience Network show up on other publishers’ apps.
In order to buy an ad on Facebook, you must first create the ad, and then submit it to Facebook’s ad auction. The ad auction allows you to set the parameters, including your budget, that will be used to deliver your ad. You will need to calculate how much money you want to spend each day and how that spending will change over time.
When you’re placing an ad on Facebook, you have to set a maximum bid, which is the most you’re willing to pay, for someone to either see it or interact with it.
4. Create Compelling Ad Copy
In marketing, the quality of your copy is the most important factor, and Facebook ads are no different. No matter what kind of advertisement you decide to run, the text needs to be addressing your ideal customer directly, and make them want to hear what you have to say. You have to be specific about who you are targeting and what you want them to do in order to be effective.
Here are the primary written components of your ad:
- Headline: Start with the headline. Don’t fill it with a boring list of features or blatant marketing jargon. Instead, make it conversational and engaging. When developing your ad, the field listed as the headline is essentially the first sentence above the image; it needs to be as good as the first line in your favorite novel if you want people to keep reading instead of scrolling past.
- Description: Use the description field to combat any anticipated objections. This text will be prominently displayed beneath the image and is easily visible without the viewer clicking to read more. If viewers learn that your offer is completely free or has a money-back guarantee as they are scrolling, you may get them to stop and reconsider.
You will need to tailor your copy to fit each audience segment you are targeting even if the offer is the same. It is important to try out different combinations of things and test them to find the most effective one.
Tip: Prioritize simplicity in online ads. It is easier to capture someone’s attention with a simple ad than a complex one.
5. Use Images and Video
If you want people to pay attention to your copy, you need to make it eye-catching. Your image should be carefully curated to visually articulate your offer or brand. Your video should be something people will want to watch.
Make sure to use high-quality images that are relevant to the advertising copy if you use stock images. Facebook has several restrictions on the types of images and the amount of text that can be used on ad images.
Choosing to use video for your Facebook ads can be more effective. More and more people are watching videos online, and it’s easier than ever to edit them using video-editing apps that are becoming increasingly user-friendly.
When incorporating videos or images into your ads, be sure not to violate any copyright laws, or the creator could take legal action against you. Before using an image, it is important to make sure that it is free to use or that you have the creator’s permission. This will help to avoid any legal issues.
6. Create Messenger Ads
Messenger ads are in an early stage of development, making it a good time to start using them. Messenger ads are great because they appear in the Messenger app along with messages from friends, family, and colleagues. Although it is a small area, it feels very individualized. This is likely because not many companies take advantage of this space.
Messenger ads should maintain an intimate feeling. You can create successful campaigns by using a chatbot service. This process allows you to either ask your subscribers a question or offer them something of value. After collecting leads, you can create an automated system that refines the leads and makes it feel less like a sales pitch and more like a friend’s advice.
7. Get On The List
The best way to get access to the latest and greatest products is to sign up for the early access list. This will ensure that you are one of the first people to get your hands on the newest products. You can sign up to be a part of the beta testing for both Graph Search and the new newsfeed.
8. Audit Your “About” Page
It might be a good idea to go over the information in your brand’s “About” section again. Some of that data could be used in Graph Search. Are your categories correct? Is your address up-to-date? Are you focusing on the right keywords? Your name and username play a big role in how easily users can find you on Graph Search.
9. Lock Down Your Likes
Graph Search makes information that was previously private, like “likes”, public. So it’s easy to find out which politicians like big butts or which companies have employees who “like” racism.
Can you say reputation management nightmare? Companies and their employees should educate themselves about privacy settings, according to the Washington Post. The Post has a great primer and infographic on the subject.
10. Fine-Tune Your Visual Content Strategy
As Facebook provides us with more and more information about the new newsfeed, it becomes increasingly clear that visual content is very important. If your content strategy does not include visuals, now would be a good time to start including them.
11. Get Meta
The articles that you share will soon have a larger image, a more prominent title, and a longer article summary. Be sure to take advantage of all the editable fields for each link.
You can optimize the title, meta description, and photo of a link. Making just a few small changes to your site could result in more users, so don’t ignore this easy opportunity.
12. Blog With Bigger Photos
It is important that you upload high-quality, large images to the blog or site you will be sharing from, as larger images will be automatically generated from the links you post. Facebook recommends a width of at least 552 pixels.
13. Encourage Check-ins
Storefront business? Think of ways to encourage customers to check in at your business, whether it’s with a sign, discount, or contest. Check-ins will be given more prominence with a map on the new newsfeed, and they will be a big factor in Graph Search as well.
14. Get To Know The New Feed Options
The most notable change coming to Facebook is that users will be able to filter content into different feeds. In addition to the default mix of updates from friends and brands we’re used to now, users will also be able to choose from other “subfeeds” like:
- Most Recent: All posts, in chronological order
- All Friends: All posts from all friends
- Photos: All the photos posted by friends and brands a user follows
- Following: All posts from the brands and public figures a user follows
15. Prepare For A Reach Drop
Let’s be realistic. Users can now choose to ignore messages from brands by looking at their “All Friends” feed. They’ll probably take advantage of it. Tell your boss, client, or any other interested party that there may be a period of adjustment ahead.
16. Get Trending
Facebook’s new newsfeed will reduce clutter by grouping together stories on the same topic in a mini-carousel of headlines. This way, users can quickly scan multiple articles on the same story without having to scroll through individual posts. By being prepared and knowing what topics are trending, brands can take advantage of newsjacking opportunities like Oreo did during the Super Bowl. This could result in more people paying attention to the brand.
17. Make Sharing Your Goal
As users can now choose to filter out brands, it is more important than ever to create content that is worth sharing. If your content is only being seen on the “All Friends” feed, that will become the norm.
18. Optimize Your Post Times
At least some of the subfeeds that are optional will be shown in chronological order, including the one that primarily shows brand content. The content in these feeds moves quickly and if your fans follow other brands, your content could be gone in a few minutes. When thinking about your brand’s Facebook page, it is important to consider when your fans are most active on the site and experiment with posting during those times. This will help you to determine how often you should be posting in order to reach the most people.
19. Prep High-Quality Images For FB
What does it tell you when Facebook makes photos bigger and creates a photos-only feed? It’s time to invest in high-quality, high-resolution images. Take advantage of Facebook’s rich display opportunities. If you’re looking for ways to engage your audience, using photos is a great option. This could be something as simple as turning a pullquote into an image.
20. Make Your Cover Count
Haven’t looked at your cover photo in a while? Revisit it now. If someone likes or interacts with your page in the future, your cover photo could be included in their News Feed.
The new update will provide more information about your page on Facebook, so it is important to have a cover photo that represents your brand and makes people want to learn more about it.
21. Think Multimedia
Not only photos are important to optimize, although they are the most important element. Video content will become increasingly prevalent in the new newsfeed, with music apps like Spotify potentially opening up new marketing opportunities for brands.
Share different types of media with others and get excited about the potential of what can be done with it. Multimedia is critical to your Facebook success.
22. Learn the Fundamentals of Facebook Advertising
Facebook’s ad targeting has become much more specific in the last few years. At first, people were not sure how to create Facebook ads that would be successful. They tried a few different methods, but some of them did not work well. Now the platform allows you to more specifically target your advertising by choosing the type of ad campaign, setting objectives, and targeting custom audiences.
You can also run multiple versions of the same ads to determine which is more effective and limit the amount you spend. You can do this by carefully allocating your budget by day and ad.
If this all sounds complex, that’s because it is. It is important to take your time and learn the basics of setting up your campaign correctly. Stunning copy and attention-grabbing graphics are no longer enough.
Although it can be beneficial to have a firm understanding of how Facebook ads operate, if you lack the time to continuously stay updated on the latest changes, it may be advantageous to consult with a marketing professional who is experienced with using them.
Some tips for finding a good marketing company are to ask for references, look at their industry expertise and request work samples.
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