How to Create the Perfect Facebook Advertising Strategy

Did you know that 97% of marketers use social media to reach their audiences? 

Besides leveraging the organic reach of social platforms, most marketers also invest in paid ads.

Of all the options out there, Facebook remains one of the most popular for running ad campaigns. 

According to statistics, 93% of social media marketers utilize paid Facebook ads.

If you’re looking to capitalize on the effectiveness of Facebook ads, you’re making a common but smart choice.

However, in order to create leads and trigger conversions, you have to fine-tune your Facebook advertising strategy.

If you don’t, your ads won’t perform well, and your efforts and ad budget will go to waste.

Ready to learn how to create the perfect Facebook advertising campaign?

If yes, don’t go anywhere, because we’re about to dive into the top tips for a flawless ad strategy.

Get Clear on Your Target Audience

Once you have completed the basics of getting started with Facebook ads—such as ad account creation—it’s time to get clear on your target audience.

There’s no point in paying for ads that are not directed at your target customers.

The more targeted your audience is, the more successful your ad campaign will be.

Failing to target the right audience will bring down the ROI of your ad campaign and basically waste your ad budget.

Fortunately, when it comes to targeting your audience, Facebook is your friend. 

Facebook’s targeting features, rivaling that of Google’s by far, include options such as:

• Demographics (including income level, education level, relationship status, etc.)
• Location
• Interests
• Age

To hone in on your target audience, you might need to do a little research.

However, once you know exactly who you want your ads displayed to, the ads manager page will allow you to finely target this subset of users.

Be Compelling

Another essential tip when it comes to Facebook advertising is to create compelling ads.

But what makes a compelling Facebook ad?

If you are stuck for ideas, think of it this way. Most people go onto Facebook for entertainment.

If you are posting boring ads that lack flair, you’re not going to stand out in anyone’s feed (or sidebar).

The trick is to create ads that provide some kind of draw or entertainment.

For instance, humorous ads generally do well because they engage people.

Even if you have to spend twice as long planning and creating your ads, don’t settle for uninspired or run-of-the-mill.

There are currently around 3 million businesses actively advertising on Facebook.

Of course, not all are direct competition, but when it comes to attention, anything is competition on social media.

Choose Your Ad Types With Care

While you are creating your Facebook ads, it’s also important to consider what stage of the buyer journey you are directing the ads at.

Here are the three main buyer journey stages you can target:

• Awareness stage: prospects haven’t heard of you and need to be introduced to your brands (tip: this is not the stage for hard-sell ads)
• Consideration stage: prospects have become familiar with your brand (here you can encourage interactions with your content)
• Conversion stage: prospects know about your brand, and are in the final stage of the buyers’ journey, ready to make a purchase if conditions allow (more direct calls to action are appropriate in marketing messages for this group)

It’s essential that you target the right tone of ads to the different categories of prospects within the buyer’s journey.

Imagine if you targeted a prospect in the awareness stage with ads urging them to buy your product?

This smacks of traditional hard-sell techniques—exactly the stuff that leaves most people running for the hills.

On the other hand, a more direct approach can be helpful for a prospect who is in the conversion stage.

They’ve been wanting to try your product/service for some time, they haven’t gotten around to making the decision, and there your ad’s in their feed, offering them a free trial.

In this example, you do not want to miss out on a conversion, by offering this prospect an “introductory” ad that’s aimed at familiarizing them with your brand.

They already know about your brand!

Do Competitive Analysis (AKA Scope Out the Competition)

Competitive analysis is a fancy way of saying spying on the competition.

Spying on the competition is always essential in business.

By analyzing what they are doing wrong, you can step in to fill needs and gain market share.

Competitive analysis can have many components, but at its core, you need to find out what your competition (both direct and indirect) is doing, and how you might meet the gaps in their offering.

From here, market yourself on Facebook in a way that lets potential customers know how you top any popular competition brands.

Leverage Facebook Lead Ads

The objective of a lot of Facebook advertising strategies is to lead prospects away from Facebook to a landing page or product.

This can, however, be detrimental to your strategy. 

Many users go onto the platform because they want to be on Facebook, and not led away to “random” sites.

Facebook offers an ad option called lead ads.

Facebook lead ads allow users to take action within the platform on your ad, such as signing up for newsletters, more info, etc.

If your ad lends itself to this format, your campaign might benefit this in-platform option.

Test Drive Your Campaign on a Small Scale

Most online marketers will tell you that ad testing is invaluable for optimizing campaigns.

Facebook offers a split-testing feature where you can test out ad visuals to determine which create more conversions.

With this feature, you can play around with things like font colors, visuals, and more.

Track Your Ad Campaign Data and Refine

Once you have set up your ad campaign, make sure you monitor your analytics and refine your strategy from this data.

By analyzing metrics like click rates and engagement you can determine which ads perform best for your brand.

Lastly, don’t forget to also engage in organic social media marketing.

Paid ad strategies tend to work best in conjunction with organic marketing.

Need Help With Your Facebook Advertising Strategy?

With patience and the right techniques, creating the perfect Facebook advertising strategy is possible. 

If you start by implementing the above strategies and tips, you’ll be off to a great start with your campaign.

However, learning how to advertise on Facebook takes time and practice.

If you want to enjoy maximized results right away, you can also choose to hire a company like us to professionally create your Facebook advertising strategy.

Here at Sprague Media, social media marketing is our game, and we’re good at it.

What’s more, we hold ourselves to a high level of accountability with our clients because we know trust’s earned in this industry.

If you would like us to kickstart your Facebook advertising campaign for maximum lead generation right off the bat, contact us today.