How to Use Facebook Ads in 2020 Without Going Broke

According to Pew Research, close to 70% of all adults in the US have an active Facebook account. Worldwide, that number jumps to an impressive 2.4 billion users every month. Its position as a leading force in advertising tech is more than assured, with more than 6 million advertisers worldwide using the platform to promote their products.

In spite of how impressive the numbers are, not every one of those advertisers uses the platform to its full potential. Technology moves fast, and Facebook isn’t one to be left behind on trends.

Algorithm changes on Facebook have been a significant feature in the news of late. The best practices to be followed for a successful campaign have changed with them, and change just as often.

Marketers need to stay ahead of the curve by keeping up with the best practices to save money, time and a lot of headaches.

Clearly define your audience

Audience targeting mistakes are perhaps the most common when it comes to setting up a Facebook campaign. No matter how great the design, placement, or copy, if it’s seen by people that aren’t interested in the product, it won’t convert.

To define an audience, you also need to do demographics research. This can be done by revisiting your existing customer base and finding out what the most prevalent demographics are. Things to be on the lookout for include gender, age, location, lifestyle, and education.

Location plays an especially crucial role when it comes to targeting campaigns. They have historically returned the best results, and have the potential to drive more walk-ins to a physical store, promote loyalty towards your brand and help you leverage traffic from local landmarks.

Finally, analyze what interests the majority of your users share using Facebook’s Insight tool. This way, it will be a lot easier to create an ad copy and design that matches your users’ interests.

Use the Facebook Pixel

Facebook Pixel is a small piece of code that you can place on your website to track conversions, optimize and build targeted audiences.

It’s incredibly advantageous to have it on your site because it gathers a lot of relevant information that can be used to create and target ads. It was created to help you build user profiles from outside Facebook and ensure that the most interested people see your ads.

Pick the right kind of ad

Facebook enjoys such tremendous popularity for several reasons, but a diversity of choice is perhaps one of the most important aspects of its relative longevity. The problem that arises when presented with too many choices is that businesses aren’t sure what to pick and end up misusing them.

When defining the goals you want to achieve, they should generally fall under three categories: awareness, consideration, and conversions.

Awareness involves increasing your reach, consideration leads to encouraging interaction with prospects and conversion goals to convert prospects into paying clients. The goal of your marketing campaign will generally define what kind of ad you will use.

Brand awareness ads work best for exposing your product to new users. Store-visit ads are geography-based and encourage people to visit physical locations and so on. It’s worth doing a bit of research to find out what will work best for you.

Upload quality content

Quality content is a defining characteristic of successful campaigns. Blurry, pixelated photos, bumpy videos, and typos will all lead to churning users. Focus on clear photos, many of which can be found for free on sites like Unsplash and Pexels, stock videos and copywriting.

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It’s particularly important to remember that posts with videos and images have higher conversion rates, in general, than those without. Images can be responsible for as much as 90% of ad performance. Pick your images carefully.

Have a headline that hits the mark

Conventional wisdom has it that headlines are the easiest part of your ad campaign – it’s all about stating what you have on offer, after all. Conventional wisdom couldn’t be more wrong. This fundamental error in judgment is one of the reasons for the recent popularity of ‘write my essay’ sites for copywriters, too.

Your headline shouldn’t just state what your product is but should add information that explains how your target audience will benefit from including it in their life.

Try to create an emotional connection with the user by showing that you understand what their problem is. Speak to their pain points and highlight how those issues can be solved. And, as with any headline, don’t forget that shorter is better.

If possible, use video

You’ve probably heard it more times than can be counted, but the importance of video content cannot be overstated. Videos are the right combination of engagement and emotional intelligence to get your audience interested in what you have to offer. With the right thumbnail, they grab attention, and with the right clincher statement, they retain it.

Facebook made a recent algorithm change that prioritized videos on the platform. Considering that they actively encourage brands to utilize videos to promote their products, this strategy cannot be ignored.

Don’t neglect organic traffic

Finally, it’s in your best interest to take advantage of both worlds – don’t over-rely on ad traffic while ignoring organic traffic.

Organic traffic has its place in the modern advertising space because it helps to build a pool of loyal customers that have likely reached your product through content or an associated community. Facebook ads are consistently reliable because when used right, they encourage a lot of conversions.

On the other hand, organic traffic is very useful for building relationships and communities around your brand. These factors are important for brands that want to create repeat customers, rather than single conversions that don’t amount to anything in the future.

Conclusion

Facebook ads are very effective at directing new traffic to your website or platform. In order to do this, however, you need to follow a set of best practices that includes choosing the right kind of ads, using visual advertisements, and using Facebook Pixel to track conversions. This subset of methodologies is almost always guaranteed to work.