Facebook is one of the top social media platforms to utilize for B2B marketing. This comes as no surprise as reports show that over 25 million small businesses integrate this platform into their digital marketing strategy. Facebook appeals to many digital marketers because it possesses a powerful marketing tool, the Facebook Ads feature.
Unfortunately, while any person can make an impression or get an acknowledgment through a “like” on a Facebook ad, most ads fail to bring a positive ROI, which is a major concern for marketers. If you are patiently waiting to see a spike in numbers, you may be in for a disappointment. Are you curious as to why your Facebook ads are not producing your intended results? If so, you should consider reevaluating the following factors.
Define Your Target Audience
A targeting option such as location (city, country, language) or specific gender is too broad when marketing. You should look at your product or business through the eyes of your ideal customers and micro-target. Ask yourself: “Who is my ideal customer?” “What is my ideal consumer interested in?”
Base your assumption to a category such as a sport, hobby, life stage, religion, interest or similar products in your market. You need to find where your consumer is hiding and target that specific group. To market your business better, it is a good idea to conduct some background research before breaking the bank. Facebook offers great audience insight tools, which include demographics based on what Facebook users make available:
- Age and Gender
- Lifestyle; which is based on purchase behavior and brand affinity
- Relationship Status
- Education Level
- Job Title
Creating a custom audience is another vital tool that is even more specific to your ideal market, honing in on factors such as politics, life events, income, and device owners.
Monitor and Test Your Facebook Ads
Facebook can help increase your brand’s exposure, but it is ultimately your responsibility to monitor and analyze the results of your campaigns, to best market your business. It is important to use third party verification to track the flow of clicks leaving Facebook and visiting your website. This way you can get a glimpse of your web traffic to really understand which Facebook ad is performing, which ad is not, and tweak accordingly. From there, you can brainstorm new campaigns from past results and ultimately achieve success or sales.
After setting your Facebook ads to a specific landing page, you can track the conversions using UTM parameters (tags added to URLs) and Google Analytics. If you are operating on WordPress, you can use the stats page or invest in the Jetpack plug-in. You can also utilize Bitly links, as well as a world of marketing automation systems.
A useful way to make sure each ad gets ideal engagement is through A/B testing (split testing). This method consists of taking two very similar Facebook ads and tweaking each differently with a graphic or content. Then, you closely monitor the two ads to see which one performs greater and is better suited for optimal conversions.
Find the Right Format
While formatting is important, a successful Facebook ad begins with solid content. Once you have a good piece of information, you can then fit it into a particular format and even repurpose it in many different ways. Referring back to your ideal customers, again ask yourself “How well do I know my audience?” Is your consumer more visual, like an interior designer, fashion designer or perhaps in the beauty industry? If so, then you should use a more visual format such as a slideshow ad, page like ad, canvas ad or just use your vivid imagination regarding a graphic.
Conversely, are you an executive chef trying to bring in customers to dine at your restaurant? If this is the case, create an event response ad inviting your consumers to your business. Remember that audiences are more likely to respond and engage with posts that are inspiring, brings unity, gives advice or provides exclusive offers like discounts and coupons. Make sure your content is king by producing quality content and monitor it when you see your audience falling flat.
Utilize Your Brand Advocates
A better way to sell your product is to feature a satisfied customer through a video testimonial or an online contest. This is a smart tactic for an ad campaign and it will actually spiral from your target audience, to your featured customer sharing it on their page for their personal audiences to view. If this tactic can work for large conglomerates like Starbucks and Target, then it can work for small businesses as well.
Convert Your Visitors into Customers
The best way to measure the success of your Facebook ads is to place Pixels (trackers) on specific websites. This will monitor the flow of traffic from your ad to your site. If people are already familiar with your product, make sure these ads are being seen and drawing customers back to your website.
Remember, it is important to take the time to narrow down your target in order to have an edge over the competition. By creating Facebook ads meant for your market, your customers would actually want to see them. If you like helping creating or managing your Facebook ads, contact the experts at Premiere Creative. Call (973) 346-8100.