Using Facebook Ads to grow your small business

Facebook is a great platform to market your business, and it is user friendly. But, it is also ever-evolving. This is great on one level because it is changing quickly to work better for you and your business, but with that said, you have to change quickly too.  

You want everything you do to build brand awareness and get your service and product into each and every household, you want to generate clients and leads, and of course, you want to make more money-you want your ads to generate sales. Unfortunately, one ad can’t possibly do all of those things. Think of a Facebook ad campaign as a marathon and not a sprint, you have to use multiple ads to achieve purposes, and remember that there may be some hiccups along the way.

Here are some steady Eddy tips for making sure that your Facebook ad hits the mark and brings you the results you are looking for!

Tip 1: Plan and Set Goals

Plan a campaign that gets you all those things you want, awareness, leads, and sales. Plan a goal for each and measure those goals. You need to consider whether you are trying to build engagement, drive traffic to your site, get them to view videos, to get them to install an app, to get them to sign up for a trial, or get people into your store… you name it. Once you know what you want the ad to do, you can plan your attack sequence and Facebook ads will help you do just that. And, to ensure that your Facebook ads are a success, you will want to evaluate your campaign continually to make sure you have the right goal, the right focus, and are getting the right results.

Tip 2: Understand consumer behavior

Consider consumer behavior in your mix. You are building a relationship with your clients, so the first step is making them aware of who you are, what you do, why they need you, as well as how your product/service is relevant. This means your ads need to bring people in and educate them.  The next step is to give them the options and the information and finally, the incentive to buy, buy, buy. Ask, at what phase are you at with your target audience? Are they aware? Are they following? Are they informed? Are they interested?

Tip 3: Ads for awareness

When you are building awareness, it can be focused on national, local, and/or to expand your reach as far as you can. They are for the purpose of building your following. You will want to have vivid pictures that tell a story. Your ads have to be personal representations of who you are as a brand. They need to draw your audience in and get them curious. By understanding who your audience is, and what your product has or does that will attract customers, you can plan for images that will peak your audience’s curiosity. Also, give them something free for engaging with your ad, site, and brand, like a helpful ebook, checklist , or fact sheet, you will . 

Tip 4: Consideration Ads

This is when you have peaked the interest of your target audience. You have built up a number of followers/fans so your ads need to have an intent to provide them with more information to inform their buying decisions. These types of ads include getting people to your website to read your content and your blog for information. It may be an ad with statistics including an infographic that spells out the benefits of your service or product.

Tip 5: Conversion Ads

Now that you have the relationship, and you have given them the information they need, you want to put out Facebook ads that carry out a specific action and result in a monetary transaction or result in a booked service. These ads will include an offer that your target audience can’t refuse, for example, a free month with a yearlong subscription, an additional item when you purchase a product, free installation with a purchase, sign up for a free estimate and get 15% off services rendered. They will and should provide a link or a button to commit to a purchase. These ads cost more money, but the return on investment could be substantial.  

Tip 6: If at first you don’t succeed…

Trial and error is one of the best ways to succeed at Facebook ads. Continue to measure the results of your ads, compare them to one another, and then revamp/do over. 

Facebook marketing continues to evolve almost daily. Doing your homework; analyzing the plan, goals, and results; and continuous effort and exploration are keys to a solid and effective Facebook ad campaign.