When is the last time you saw an ad while scrolling through your Facebook feed? Let’s give it a try- Scrolling, scrolling, ad, scrolling, scrolling, ad!
Facebook paid advertising continues to be one of the most effective advertising strategies with over 6 million businesses using Facebook ads. Specifically, in regards to social media marketing, Facebook dominates with 94% of social media marketers use Facebook ads
To emphasize how impactful Facebook ads are for businesses, we have outlined the six main reasons they can benefit your marketing strategies.
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1. Extensive Audience and Social Influence
There are a total of 2.5 billion active users using Facebook per month worldwide with an average time of 20 minutes spent on the platform. That is a lot of time spent scrolling and exploring Facebook. And with so many people actively using Facebook, the number of users and time spent on the site is almost unfathomable.
If you have a business, it’s essentially a guarantee that your audience is on Facebook. This is one of the most critical components of Facebook advertising, the vast audience it occupies. In addition, Facebook is still a social media platform, meaning the main component of Facebook is for users to be social with their friends and family. It is not a platform for selling and advertising, it is a platform to build connections.
Therefore, when an ad is implemented in a manner that coincides with Facebook’s social purpose, it paves the way to add a social proof aspect to the ad. Social proof is when a user’s friends and family on Facebook give meaning or backs up a product or service shared on Facebook. This can be accomplished by liking, sharing, commenting, and/or direct messaging a Facebook ad that can be recognized by other users. The social foundation of Facebook significantly increases the likelihood that an ad will be interacted with, thus increasing its reach.
2. Micro-Targeting
While Facebook has an enormous user base, it does not mean you should be advertising your business to every Facebook user. Targeting the correct audience is key in order to make your advertising worth the time and spend. Facebook enables you to exhaustively decide your audience by selecting specific targeting options such as interests, behaviors, demographics, locations, connections, etc. Facebook gives you considerable control over how broad or narrow you want your targeted ad audience to be by offering extremely comprehensive targeting capabilities. When you are able to specifically define your audience and whose feed the ads will be placed in, then you can more effectively reach an audience with a genuine interest in your products or services.
3. Target Audience Lookalikes and Remarketing
Two additional ways of determining your ad audience are using the options audience lookalikes or audience remarketing.
The lookalike feature enables marketers to use Facebook’s capabilities to target similar users based on an existing customized audience. Once you have found a successful audience, you can use the lookalike audience option to tell Facebook to automatically target users that reflect that audience. Based on Facebook’s analysis of your audience and identification of common themes of similar characteristics, the ad will be pushed to people with a high probability of interest in the products or services.
Facebook remarketing is targeting users that have previously engaged with your website, landing page, or social media accounts by using a cookie or pixel to follow a user’s digital activity. Using Facebook ads for remarketing means reaching users and bringing them back to your sales funnel with the intention of conversion. By following up with a lead and adding an additional touchpoint along the customer’s journey it increases the likelihood they will further engage with your business and/or purchase your product/service.
4. Balance Organic Facebook Marketing
As the Facebook algorithm has evolved to focus more on creating value among family, friends, and groups, it has subsequently limited the effectiveness of organic Facebook marketing. With Facebook’s prioritization of personal connections and the ever-growing business competition, it reduces the likelihood that a brand will show up in a user’s Facebook newsfeed. While organic Facebook marketing still has value, Facebook paid advertising significantly increases the likelihood your content will reach the audience. Ultimately, developing an organic and paid advertising marketing plan is the best social strategy for using Facebook.
5. Budget-Friendly with Maximum Control
For such a powerful marketing tool, Facebook allows extreme flexibility when it comes to creating and managing your advertising budget. Traditional types of marketing, such as radio advertising, billboards, or TV commercials, can have a hefty cost, while Facebook advertising is significantly lower. You have the ability to determine how much you want to spend on the ads by setting the daily budget and/or the lifetime budget cost. Therefore, if you have a very limited ad spend, you still have the potential to reach a large and defined audience.
In addition, Facebook allows maximum control over the ads and the budget with ongoing editing. You are able to revise an ad’s image or CTA if you notice it is not performing well or you can alter the budget if you notice the ad is running well and you want to expand the daily reach. Unlike other types of marketing media, you have continual control over the Facebook ad.
6. Robust Analytics
Facebook further expands its capabilities by providing the data necessary to analyze your Facebook marketing strategies to provide comprehensive numbers and reports. Some measurements include weekly reach, post engagement, page likes, conversions, and more. Understanding how your ads are performing by using analytics equips you with the information to revise, edit, and improve your ad strategies.
Facebook advertising is a powerful tool that is easily accessible by businesses of all sizes and industries. Incorporating Facebook advertising in your marketing plan allows access to a vast audience with the ability to specifically refine the targeted users using a low-cost and flexible option.
