#MarketingTrends2018 - Using Facebook Boosting and Facebook Ads

It might surprise you to hear that Facebook ended 2017 with 2 billion monthly active users and is still growing. That’s a lot of people. So it’s no wonder that 93% of social media advertisers use Facebook advertising. That’s not even close to the next most popular platform for ads, Instagram (owned by Facebook) which weighs in at 24%.

If you are a social media marketer with an advertising budget, you are probably already on Facebook. But are you meeting your goals? If not, maybe you aren’t focusing on the right tool to get your Facebook content seen and, even better, converting.

When it comes to advertising on Facebook you have two choices—news feed ads or boosted Facebook posts. Understanding the difference between the two can be a little tricky, but it’s SO important to choose the right type of advertising!

Knowing which route is best for your business objectives means you’re using your money wisely, and your advertising is in front of the right people.

What’s the Difference?

Simply put, a boosted Facebook post is a type of ad that takes content that you have developed for your news feed and shares it with a larger audience. Status updates, photos and videos, and special offers are all popular types of content that people choose to boost. When you boost, you are paying to have the content you posted show up in people’s news feeds. You go through Facebook’s ad manager to do this and you have the option of selecting the audience you want to target.

Facebook ads work the same way except you have more options for narrowing down or expanding your audience. You also have the ability to include a call to action. Depending on your goals you can have users “Like” your page, visit your website, or take some other action. Since you can target users by very distinct characteristics such as age, gender, and hobbies, ads can be more effective than boosted posts for a planned campaign with well-defined goals.

A key difference between boosting a post and placing an ad is that with boosting, you can only focus on visits and engagements. If your objective is simply to build a greater awareness for your brand, then boosts may be just what you need. If, however, you hope to do more than that, your investment will be put to better use with ads.

For most social media managers, developing a plan that incorporates both boosting and ads is the way to go.  But if you are trying to accomplish something a bit more specific, like sell a certain product or push the audience toward engagement with your page, then your dollars will work harder with ads. The exact combination will depend on your objectives and your business but both have a part to play.

Much like traditional advertising, Facebook is a sandbox where – if you haven’t built up a loyal community yet – you’re going to need to pay to play. Thankfully, Facebook ads are affordable and their targeting system so refined that, if done properly, the financial investment is worth it.

If you want help navigating Facebook ads, or simply want to hand the process over to an expert, schedule a Discovery Session call with me at hollieclere.youcanbook.me.

Be sure to Follow us and Let's Engage!

Hollie Clere of The Social Media Advisor is a “#BeAwesome” Developer, Social Media, Brand Builder, Content Manager, Trainer and Author in LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Google+,YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram and the tools to manage them.

Click here for her Social Media Workshops, Classes and Seminars

Social Seven - Budgeting for Social Media Ads

Here are some tips on how to budget for paid ads in social media and how to set yourself up for success.

Tip #1: Credit Card Safety

If you have really struggled with Facebook charging too much for adds or having fraudulent charges show up on your credit card, there is something you can do. Go to the store and get a Visa gift card. Put on there the exact budget for what you want to do. That way it never interacts with your bank account or credit card. The cards can be refilled as needed.

Tip #2: Don’t Rush

You’ve got to be able to look at advanced features. Do not rush through creating your ads. Facebook, in particular, has a lot of options for paid advertising. Twitter, Pinterest and other platforms now have options for paid advertising. There are more opportunities than ever to get higher visibility syndicated as a sponsor. With that knowledge, however, comes the ability the mess up. If you rushing through the ads, you are going to run into situations where you are overcharged because you didn’t pick an end date or you didn’t pick the right keywords. You have to be really specific with your target.

Tip #3: Images

Images are going to make a world of difference.  People like images so include clear, crisp, attractive images in your ads.

Tip #4: Keywords

Think about all the keywords in your ads. Who’s your demographic? Who are you trying to reach with this ad? Then speak directly to them. Don’t copy another company’s keywords. Your demographics are not going to be the same.

Tip #5: Your Budget

What is an ideal amount of money or a sample budget for social media ads? People are going to disagree but your budget is your budget. Remember that. Don’t let anyone suggest an amount you aren’t comfortable with. You can go as little as $5 a day in any ad on Facebook. If you wanted to run a campaign for five days, start off with a $25 budget ($5 a day) and track your results. It’s small but you will be able to see some results.

There is a theory that if you don’t spend more that you won’t get bigger results. However, how are you ever going to be comfortable and confident with this if you don’t try? Start small. You may find that the smaller ads have a better or more significant reach. Tracking and monitoring is important. This will help you establish an ad strategy.

Tip #6: Advanced Options

Make sure you are checking all of those advanced options. Check every single section. If there is a down arrow, you need to be clicking on it and opening that section to make sure that all options are combed through. Some of the Facebook ads allow you to pick your start date and time but others don’t. You will only know that by clicking on an area and answering the questions.  Do I want to boost this post? Do I want to get more traffic to my website? Do I want to boost this page for more likes? Am I going to pay to have my new call to action visible?

Tip #7: Ad Location

What about the ad space on the right side of Facebook? Should you use that square shaped ad on the Facebook newsfeed? If I am scrolling the feed and I already ignore that side of the screen because they are all ads, this might not be the best place to purchase an ad. Consider using other options such as desktop and mobile advertising. Viewers are now well trained to ignore the areas of the screen where ads are more likely to be placed.

Think this might help you with budgeting and staying on top of your social media? Follow us on social media to find out when our Social Seven podcast is streaming live! 

 Join us each week as Erin Cell of Socially Powered and Hollie Clere of The Social Media Advisor dive into conversations about Social Media Tools, News and Guests in the Social Media World!  

Too much “Turkey” in your Facebook Marketing could “Stuff” your Efforts into Poor Results

The end of the year is upon us and most of us prepare to sit with family, stuffing our bellies with yummy food, gift giving and reflecting in a spirit of thanks.  Along with this season, comes business planning for the New Year, goal writing and campaign development for marketing.  In the theme of Thanksgiving, here are some things you should consider with your social media marketing in Facebook  to improve results with branding while maintaining activity with your clients, vendors and partners. 

Let’s Talk Turkey - Using Facebook Promotions can benefit you but …

Facebook has three (3) paid advertising options.  The most important thing to know is none of these work well, without effective and attractive Profile writing.  The bio section of your Page should specifically paint a picture of your ideal niche, target market and specific services.  Facebook uses a program called Graph Search which pulls from things people talk about into suggestions of pages or posts for users  to then  “Like” or “Follow”.  Without the proper wording, even a paid promotion or advertisement isn’t going to draw in the right “Followers” leaving your efforts stuffed with an unhappy pocketbook and minimal results.

(1)    Consider getting your Bio/Mission Statement/About Us information written by a professional writer.  Social Media Marketing Experts are great resources for this as they play in this medium daily and have seen what works well for a variety of entities.

(2)    Be sure your profile is completely written, by filling in each section to its capacity with story telling, service offerings and calls to action.  Even selecting the correct type of “Page” can make or break your campaign as Facebook provides multiple options (Community, Local Business, Company, Organization, Band, Artist, etc)

(3)    Schedule out consistent posts by using tools such as HootSuite to make sure your audience sees updates from you at the time they are online.  By rotating time of day/days of the week and including photos/links/videos will increase your organic “share/like/comment” activity.  If your page hasn’t posted an update in the last month, there is work that needs to be done to get back in front of your visitors and a routine of posts multiple times each week  will help with that.

Let’s talk Stuffing – What are things I should have on my Facebook Page?

(1)    Be sure to have a clean Cover Photo void of too many words and be sure contact information is not included.  Contact information isn’t intended for your Cover Photo as there are other places for it.  The Cover Photo should draw in ideas for your target market – such as a featured product, event or provide a nice visual as to the services you offer.

(2)     Your “Profile Picture” should be recognizable to your brand, preferably your logo and shouldn’t change as frequently as your Cover Photo does.  Honestly, don’t change this picture unless your brand completely changes as it will confuse your visitors.

(3)    Buttons on Facebook such as “Sign Up for your Free eBook” are custom buttons and can integrate a multitude of different applications to enhance your visitors experience.  The buttons can be changed frequently to highlight promotions as well.

(4)    Use your Pin / Highlight options in Facebook allow you to “Pin” a post to the top of your timeline, making it the first thing visitors see when looking at updates or “Highlight” a post takes it from a smaller square shape, to a long wide real estate on your page.  This is good for a past promotions or sharing of an event, gallery of images, etc.

Use your Facebook Page to engage … after all, it is “Social” Media, not “Create a page that will do nothing for you” media. Engage, communicate, keep it fun and constantly changing.  Your viewers will appreciate the variety and over time will open up and begin to share with you in return.

Learn more about how we can help you achieve your marketing goals in social media so you aren’t stuffed with poor results in this time of planning.

 

~ Social Media is changing the way people do business.  Don't get left behind ~ 

Hollie Clere, of The Social Media Advisor is a social media manager, trainer and author in LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Google+ , Pinterest and the tools to manage them. Click here for her Social Media Links

Sign up for your Free Social Media Analysis