2.9 billion monthly active users; 1.96 billion daily users, and 200 million small businesses available – looks like a utopian market? Well, this is absolutely real, as it’s Facebook. 86% of US marketers use Facebook for advertising, and 78% of American consumers discover retail products via Facebook. Such figures are impressive, as they signify the high efficiency of running a business via the Facebook platform.
Advertisement has always been the engine of commerce in both the physical and virtual worlds. With an immense audience reach and carefully created and implemented advertisements, you can become one of the prosperous small businesses that arose from social network platforms.
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What are the main things to consider when creating ads for Facebook?
It’s important to understand, that people percept information differently – with sound, picture, activity, or mixed types. In order to hit the spot and reach even the most reluctant user, it’s necessary to influence all these three channels of perception, combining them with the Facebook advertising strategies extensively described by https://create.vista.com/blog/how-to-advertise-on-facebook.
● The target audience
The very first and foremost thing to define is someone you want to turn into your customers and loyal clients – the target group. They will make the backbone and starting point of your commerce. It’s crucial to narrow down the list as much as possible, choosing people who are highly likely to buy your idea.
Typically the division is done according to location, age, gender, and hobbies. However, this information will not provide you with a specific target group. Location is often blocked or intentionally changed, as age, gender, and views as well. The most useful way is to track the activities – likes, dislikes, comments, purchases, and interests.
If there’s an intention to target several groups of people with the same product, the advertisement must be absolutely different.
● Visual picture
People like quality. Even if they aren’t ready to pay for it, they like to watch it. The images and photos have to be unique and top-notch quality, with high resolution. The layout must be pleasant, not annoying, and overwhelmingly stuffed with details. You need to define 2-3 focus areas, a catchy slogan or heading, and only the essentials.
The requirements for the images: a resolution of at least 1080 by 1080 pixels and can be a maximum of 30 megabytes. The technical minimum requirement for size is 600 by 600 pixels with no maximum.
The color palette is important as well, as colors stimulate or suppress our desire to check the ad. The choice of fonts helps to make the picture complete, as even tiny details matter.
Elaborate advertisements will catch the attention of people who are visuals. And even if they skip it the first time, they will sooner follow the link.
● Video
The advertisement can be created in video format, as it now prevails on all the platforms. Its main benefit is duration. Our humanity may be developing technologically, however, the ability to grasp a big amount of information is decreasing dramatically; the attention span gets even lower than one minute. The first 3 seconds are decisive – you either capture the attention, or the page is scrolled.
The words must make a hook for the users so that they follow your link and reach the page with the products. The quality must also be beyond reproach.
● Call-to-action
Call to action will appeal to people who need activities, the third group. “Follow”, “Sign up”, “Check this”, etc. It’s the final point of the advertisement. After being attracted to the ad, the user scans the information and needs to know what to do next. That’s why a CAT button is used, it will lead them to your store with goods or services.
● Focus group
After getting a final variant of the ad, it’s important to understand that it is only a draft, as it needs to be tried and tested. The focus group should consist of the micro-target group and non-related users, as you need to understand how the ad is also taken by a regular user, outside your focus. All the questions to the groups must be carefully selected, focusing on all the details, as it will help to see the big picture.
If the reviews don’t meet your expectations, it’s worth showing flexibility and making some changes.
● Insights
The efficiency of the ad can be defined by the Facebook Ad Manager, as it shows the users’ engagement. Every comment, suggestion, like, reaction and click will help you build the way toward a better ad, and thus, a better connection with the audience.
Another way to become closer to the users is communication – be active and proactive. Giving professional comments and advice will improve your image, as a brand representative, and therefore of the brand as well.
Apart from analyzing the user’s activities, it’s also necessary to keep an eye on the competitors’ ads and actions, their engagement, and their communication with the customer.
When listening to happy business owners talking about their success built through Facebook, other people get inspired and want to reach the same heights as well. However, it’s only the front-end side, the back-end is persistence, lots of details, control and management of all the activities, and the driving force – carefully made advertisement.