5 Ways Businesses Can Make a Good Facebook Ad

Make Your Facebook Ad Stand Out in 5 Ways

Having a Facebook Advertisement is not enough to be considered a good advertisement. There are other factors that page owners have to consider to create a good ad on Facebook.

Facebook is one of the world’s most powerful social media platforms. You can go up to anyone, and chances are that they have a Facebook account. Your spouse has a history; your siblings have an account; your parents have an account; and, heck, even your pet probably has a Facebook account. So many people use the social media platform that it’s the perfect place for businesses to promote products, events, and more! The web platform has become such a popular place for companies to show their wares that Facebook created a service aptly called “Facebook Business” to allow business owners to increase their business’ visibility. One of Facebook Business’ significant features is the ability for businesses to promote on Facebook and even the company’s sister platforms, including Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp.

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What are Facebook Ads?

Facebook ads appear on a user’s feed on desktop, mobile, and in the right column of Facebook on the desktop. There are two popular types of Facebook Ads: Traditional Ads and Boosted Posts.

A fair share of traditional ads is seen on the right side column of a user’s Facebook Feed. 

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1. Traditional Ads are advertisements that users will see on the right column of a user’s Facebook feed on the desktop. When a business creates a conventional ad, the advertisements can also be displayed on Facebook’s sister services, including Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp.

If Facebook feels that your page’s post can reach more users, the boost post button appears.

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2. Boosted Posts are Ads that use items from a Facebook Page as a source. Any item from a Facebook page’s feed can become a promoted post as long as the post abides by Facebook’s guidelines and policies. The ad can be a wall post or an original video the page owner has shared, among other examples. Boosted Posts are only visible on a user’s Facebook Feed on Mobile, Desktop, and a user’s Instagram Feed. Users would not be able to see a boosted post on Messenger or Whatsapp.

Besides traditional ads and boosted posts, users can create advertisements using other Facebook ads.

Having a Facebook Ad does not guarantee that users will click on the ad. Advertisements should not be made simply for the sake of having a promotion. Users should create ads that are catchy as they are informative. Suitable Facebook Ads are not just words thrown on a picture. Every ad needs more details than meets the eye. Page owners can do five things to make their Facebook ads stand out.

1. The Ad is Visually Appealing

Humans have an average attention span of 8 seconds, which is one second shorter than a goldfish, so advertisements have to capture the eye of the user within that precious amount of time.

An attention span that’s shorter than that of a Goldfish!

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Selecting a low-quality image would make users browse away from your ad, so you want to ensure that your image abides by the ideal size preferred by Facebook. The perfect image size for a Facebook ad is 1800×628 pixels. Once the user sees your ad, chances are they will be looking from left to right, so your ad’s information should follow the same direction. When the user is browsing on Facebook, the average rule that users browse is from left to right.

Nielsen Norman Group even released a study that proves a majority of users who browse the internet read from left to right, possibly because of several reasons. One possible reason why users read from left to right is that the user is looking for the scroll bar, which is usually located on the right side of a browser. Your ad should follow the same idea. Users should be able to understand what is going on as they swivel their heads to the right side of the screen.

With your image adjusted to the optimal form, the next step is ensuring your idea appeals to the right audience.

2. Know Your Audience

You can make your image as visually appealing as an advertisement, but you want to ensure that the ad is targeted at the right person. You can promote your ad better when you know who you want to sell to.

Knowing your audience is one factor to consider when creating a good Facebook ad. The popular GI Joe Cartoon and Toy series is famous for the phrase “Knowing is Half The Battle.” We can apply the same idea to your advertisement. The platform lets users adjust their ads to reach audiences based on Location, Behavior, Demographics, Connections, and, Interests.

You could be a Denver SEO company that wants to promote your service to businesses interested in creating an online presence.

The first thing you want to do is to fix your location. Your business should cater to the Denver area, and then you adjust your audience’s demographics. Facebook can change your ad to reach users based on their purchase behavior, device usage, and more. Maybe your target audience tends to use the desktop more because they are unfamiliar with the Facebook app on their smartphone.  As the advertiser, you should know what kind of audience you want to have that will consume your product.

Choose the age group, gender, level of education, relationship status, job title, and much more.

Users may even receive advertisements because of a Facebook Like. For example, the user likes a particular brand of suntan lotion. The user may receive an ad from the suntan lotion’s sister company because the user selected the lotion’s Facebook page.

Other factors could also contribute to users receiving certain advertisements based on mutual interests with Facebook friends, sharing the same location information, etc. Advertisers who target users with shared interests are an example of companies that narrow down the selection of their audience.

The advertising needs a hook to convince the user to purchase. When the advertiser narrows down its audience, it can reach the audience they are primarily looking for. The chances of a user scrolling away are decreased because the advertisement targets the user’s interests. Now that you have the user’s attention, you want to convince the user to click on the ad.

3. Have an Enticing Value Proposition

Now that your advertisement has been tailored to the correct audience and is visually appealing, the next step is to convince users to click on the ad.

Let us say your ad is for your business that sells fishing gear. All the advertiser needs to place a hook that will reel the user to the intended Action the advertiser wants. Don’t just tell your audience that you’re selling fishing gear. Give them more reasons to click on the link.

Maybe if the user clicks on the Facebook Ad, the user would receive a discount for accessing the website from Facebook. Advertisers could also tell users to use an exclusive Facebook discount code that other social media pages don’t have. Place the proposition to the right side of the ad so that users would be even more enticed, as this would be the last item they will see.

Another way to convince users to click on your ad is through testimonials from public personalities. Many public characters have followings that could give your business a try simply because nature recommended your company to their followers. Inserting celebrity testimonials can increase the chances of getting a click because fans want to try something their favorite character endorses.

Your ad, for example, can be about Guinness Beer endorsed by talk show host Conan O’Brien.

“Conan O’Brien endorses Guinness Beer because he’s Irish. Get a 15% discount on your next Guinness purchase when you use the exclusive Facebook Code on the bottom right of this advertisement.”

Now that the value proposition has been set up, the next step is to have a clear call to Action below your advertisement.

4. Create a Clear Call to Action

The call to Action is usually a phrase at the bottom of the advertisement and leads the user to the advertiser’s website or Facebook page. I’m sure you’re familiar with the terms “Buy Now” or “Learn More” that you will see in almost every Facebook advertisement. Advertisers place the word at the bottom of an advertisement as a final hint to tell the user to visit their website or Facebook page and buy an item from the business. Adding a Call to Action also creates a sense of urgency for the user. The discount code would entice the user or the limited time for the sale, and the little value propositions could help the user become a buyer by clicking on the ad with the Buy Now button.

Calls to Action don’t stop on the ad itself. Advertisers can also place a call to action button on the button of their advertisement. The advertiser can adjust their intention for users who click the button. Users may be led to the advertiser’s official Facebook page so the user can stay updated with the advertiser’s activities or be brought to the advertiser’s website where they can purchase the item being promoted.

The final step, however, does not stop with the Facebook Ad itself.

5. Consistent Details on The Website

Now that the user has entered the advertiser’s website, the advertiser needs to fulfill their promise to the customer of a discount or offer advertised on Facebook. The advertiser is responsible for ensuring that what the user clicks on is what the user will get. In our example, it’s the exclusive Facebook Code for 15% off Guinness Beer.

When the user clicks on the advertisement for 15% off Guinness on Facebook, the website should also display the exact content of the deal. Customers clicked on the ad because they wanted a discount on beer, so one of the first items the customer should see is the beer promotion. Advertisers can’t just make an ad and mislead audiences with content that is not there. The advertiser can place a deadline on the Facebook advertisement and their website to signify that the offer runs for a limited time, which would count as a call to Action. The user would be encouraged to find details about an offer as soon as possible. Keeping information on the website and the Facebook advertisement consistent can show users that the advertiser knows what they’re doing and the brand will not mislead them.

One Last Ad

Facebook ads are an excellent way to increase a brand’s online visibility and attract more customers to a business’ website. However, companies must remind themselves that having a beautiful ad is one thing. The advertisement should also make sense.

You don’t want the customer to scroll past your advertisement because the ad was not aimed at the user. Narrow down the audience to the users you feel will undoubtedly interact with your post and maybe even click on the advertisement and convert the click into a purchase. Don’t forget to integrate all the details from an image that isn’t just beautiful and gets your message across to the right people.

As the advertiser, users should easily understand the message you want to tell so they can click and make that purchase.

Author’s Bio: Dan Smink is the founder of C1 Partners, a Denver SEO company that helps small to medium enterprises with their digital marketing strategy. Dan comes from 20 years of business leadership background and has a track record of helping businesses achieve million-dollar revenue values. He is an active community leader and contributor to Forbes.com’s Agency Council, spreading the word on how digital strategies can positively impact today’s businesses. You may connect with him on LinkedIn.

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