Facebook Advertising Basics

If Facebook were a country, it would be the third largest country in the world, following behind China and India. This is thanks to Facebook boasting more than 400 million users, and it’s still growing.

Businesses are now seeing the value in advertising through Facebook as an extremely targetable platform. Though, just like Google AdWords, there are several areas you will want to pay attention to to make sure you get the most from your account. So below are 5 areas to think about:

Targeting

Just like in AdWords, your Facebook advertising can be targeted to be display only in front of people within specific variables, determined by you. On Facebook you can target by geography, age, gender, education, relationship status, workplace and keywords.

Facebook has a lot more ways it can be targeted which is very beneficial to a business because they can communicate with only those people who are going to be beneficial to the business.

Attract and Engage

The first thing you must do is decide whether you want people to be directed to your own web page or something on Facebook like a Page, Application, Group or Event. Sending people to your website means that you will be able to track their behavior a lot easier, though sending them to a page, for instance, means you can create more engagement with the user as they can comment on your wall, RSVP to an event, talk to other users etc. Both options have their pros and cons.

Some users find Facebook ads a good tool to promote events or get new fans to their pages. The most successful Ads on social networking sites are those that foster more engagement from the user, as opposed to those trying to sell something. So try using the ads to promote content and value and not so much to sell something.

You don’t get much space in these ads so you need to use it wisely. Your headline (25 characters) should grab attention immediately with a benefit. You’ll get another 135 characters to describe and entice in the body of the Ad. You also have the option to upload an image. Take this option. It may be the most important aspect of your ad so choose wisely. Facebook users are very image driven (it’s the largest photo sharing site in the world) and the visual graphic you choose will make or break an Ad. This is an element you must plan on testing.

Budget

Facebook advertising works a bit like AdWords in that you bid for keywords and compete to get your ads shown.

You can choose between a cost per click (CPC) model where you pay only for clicks and a cost per thousand (CPM) model where you pay per 1000 ad views. Most research suggests that the CPC model is slightly more effective in terms of ROI.

To start your campaign you must determine a bid per click and daily budget.

Test

No matter where or what you should always test your advertising. Online applications like this make it pretty darn simple. You can and should create multiple ad versions. Once you create an ad you will have the ability to create similar ads and run those as well. You’ll be able to easily view which ad is performing the best based on clicks. Facebook does need to approve your ads so make sure you are familiar with their guidelines.

Analyze

Once you create and launch your campaigns you need to start tracking and tweaking. Facebook has a tool that gives you some information on actions taken inside the Facebook platform. So, if you are running an ad for an event or Facebook page you can use the Facebook Insights tool to monitor interaction.

---