Facebook Advertising
In this social media advertising series, we will be breaking down the Ad Types, Pricing, Audience & Targeting, and the Why Factor of each spotlighted social media platform. First up: Facebook.
Why Use Facebook Ads?
Facebook is by far the king of the hill when it comes to social media advertising. The social giant has 1 billion registered users (33% of all Internet users world wide) and 699 million daily active users (23% of all Internet users world wide). With an audience like that, advertising is like going fishing in an aquarium; your odds for success are pretty high.
Ad Types
Facebook has 3 major ad types: Online Sales, Local Stores, & Mobile Apps.
Online Sales ads appear in your regular news feed and are designated by “Suggested Post” at the top of the ad. The Optimizely ad pictured to the right is an example of a Page Post ad because it invites users to “Like” your brand's page. Ads can also feature call-to-action buttons like “Shop Now” that will take users to a dedicated landing page for the brand.
Local Store ads are a lot smaller than suggested post ads. They appear in the sidebar to the right of your Facebook feed and include an image, a limited amount of text, your CTA (call-to-action), and the site they will link you to if clicked on.
Mobile App ads usually appear in a carousel format in your newsfeed. You can swipe left or right to view usually 4 or 5 “Suggested Apps.” Mobile app ads have a CTA that usually includes a button in the bottom right asking users to “Install Now” or “Download” your app.
Facebook will only allow a certain amount of text in the feature images of each ad. Usually if less than 1/3 of the image has tex,t your safe. Anything more than 1/3 and Facebook will give you a big fat rejection. Feature images also have to adhere to certain size requirements. I’ve included a Facebook Ad Types Cheat Sheet infographic courtesy of nanigans.com at the bottom of this post.
Pricing
It is difficult to price out exactly how much a Facebook ad will run you. This is due to the hundreds of options in targeting and campaign selections that Facebook offers. However, it is worth noting that Facebook has the lowest cost per click (CPC) impressions in ad history at $0.25 per 1,000 impressions. Facebook also has a required minimum per campaign, requiring you to spend only $1 per day, which is relatively cheap, as you will see, compared to other social media platforms.
Audience & Targeting
Facebook allows advertisers to target by demographics including gender, location, education, language, age, etc. What is specific to only Facebook are the features of targeting by interest and behaviors. Targeting by interest may include targeting a list of people categorized by their interests on the platform. People who like snack foods, alternative rock music, airplanes…these are all interest groups. Targeting peoples’ behaviors includes tracking their purchases or charitable donations.
Facebook gives advertisers so many options for targeting audiences that it can often be too much to take in. A great way to narrow your target audience before making your Facebook ad is to figure out your ideal customer’s Social Technographic Profile. As mentioned in my Groundswell post, Social Technographic profiles will allow brands and advertisers to narrow their target audience, and then simply use the targeting tools Facebook provides to select these characteristics. The more you narrow, the less money you’ll spend because you won’t need to market to everyone (a billion people is a lot).
Closing Thoughts
Due to its massive user-base and seemingly unlimited campaign and targeting options, Facebook is an ideal advertising platform for both small and large businesses. They’ve also had plenty of time to perfect their ad-game since launching the first social media advertising campaigns back in 2007. Hey, it’s nice to be #1, right?
What Facebook ads most appear on your homepage and newsfeed? Which ones do you click on the most? As always, comment down below! I'd love to hear what you have to say about this series!
For more social media advertising details, check out my next post in the series: Twitter Advertising. To get started creating your own Facebook ads, click here.
Facebook ad images courtesy of wordstream.com; infographic courtesy of nanigans.com.
Facts provided by wordstream.com, moz.com, hootsuite.com and the book Groundswell.
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FACEBOOK AD TYPES CHEAT SHEET INFOGRAPHIC COURTESY OF NANIGANS.COM