How To Get The Most from Advertising on Facebook

If you are looking for a way to bring in more revenue to your business, advertising on Facebook is probably the perfect and most effective approach to promote your product or service. With more than 1.59 billion active Facebook users, you will be able to target and reach your specific audiences in any niche. The only question is how to get the most from advertising on Facebook in 2017.

The Big Advantage in Facebook Advertising

Although Facebook is relatively new as an ad platform, it is not exactly an untouched resource. It is as innovative and fast-moving as Facebook itself, making it an advertising option with great potential to maximize ROI. Facebook has become a way of life for millions of people and its ad platform is being used as the main source of social interaction, news and entertainment, and research for customers of all ages.

In the past with AdWords, advertising was restricted to factors such as broad demographics and targeting campaigns. The recent change in Facebook’s advertising platform has made it possible to narrow down your audiences not just by location, gender or age, but also based on interests, behaviors, life events, past interactions, and much more. With it, you can also promote a variety of suitable content for your business, ranging from text to photos, events, videos, and links to your website.

With the combination of an enormous user base, staggering targeting options, and myriads of ad objectives, Facebook becomes your most powerful tool for e-commerce. It has essentially transformed digital marketing into a science. As such, Facebook offers some of the most innovative and advanced ad units to help you reach and connect with the right audience for your business. If you are ready to jump into digital marketing, here’s how you can get the most from the massive advertising features Facebook offers and take advantage of an opportunity that will pay off for years.

1. Multi-Product Carousel – People love stories, and it would be great to relate to and place them in the right context. Facebook allows users to choose a multi-product carousel advert to make people more interested in your product or service. This intriguing and interactive feature encourages customers to scroll through and see more products from the carousel. By clicking and playing with it, people are able to see a wider range of products you offer. Even if they do not purchase the main product, you are able to tell a story about your other products that work together, drawing and engaging more people to your brand.
2. Video Advert – By using a video, there are higher odds that your advert will find its way into people’s feed. Statistics show that more than half of Facebook users watch videos on the platform every day because it is an engaging format. Studies show that shoppers are 1.81 times more likely to make a purchase after watching a video content. With video ads, you can showcase your products in action. Preferably, add captions to your video not only because most people watch Facebook ad videos without sound, but also to increase video view time.
3. Live Video – A relatively new feature, Facebook Live Video allows users to broadcast a live video to their audience in real time. This popular and cool feature enables you to track your audience response at specific points during a live broadcast. All you need is a smartphone with a good camera to capture events, record tutorials, or express opinion on current affairs, which you can share with your audience.
4. Delivery Insights – A new set of insights is available in Ads Manager to tell advertisers how competitive their ads are at auctions. It provides recommendations on how to improve or add a twist to the ad to level up to the cut-throat competition. It identifies ad sets that are under-delivering and promptly provides an under-delivery sign to notify the need for the ad to be tweaked to make it more effective. Delivery insights explain the reason for under-delivery and provide suggestions for specific action which advertisers can take to make a more competitive ad at auctions.
5. Dynamic Product Ads (DPAs) – DPAs are another step aimed towards digital ad automation. They target users with past actions or inactions on your website or application using a perfectly timed ad. DPAs increase click-through rates and generate more revenue while lowering costs. All it takes is to upload your product catalog on your Facebook account and make sure that Facebook Pixel is properly installed on your site.
6. Engagement Targeting – Found in the “Create a Custom Audience,” Engagement on Facebook allows you to create a list of people who have engaged with the videos you posted on your account. This amazing feature lets you narrow down your target to people who have shown initial interest in your product based on their engagement with your videos.
7. Instant Articles WordPress Plugin – In the past, Facebook launched Instant Articles for publishers to create and load great content in their Facebook newsfeed at lightning speed. Now, Instant Articles can be installed by everyone by creating a WordPress plugin to convert any blog posts into Facebook articles. This new Facebook update can be applied in business to get the most out of your advertising and marketing efforts.
8. Messaging Ads – Facebook’s Messenger and WhatsApp continue to dominate the world of the mobile messaging app, replacing email, text and voice calls. It is considered a great way to chat with family and friends. It remains to be an untapped resource in terms of ads, but given its potentials, Facebook Messenger can become an option for your target audience.
9. Lead Ads – Just the perfect way to get new leads, Lead Ads is another Facebook ad type that enables people to download contents from your site. Customers can also sign up to avail of your offer without necessarily leaving the Facebook platform. Lead Ads makes a perfect method for generating email addresses of potential customers.
10. Call–to-Action– One of Facebook’s best new features, creating a personal Call-to-Action will drastically maximize your click-through-rate. The setup is found in the “text and links” section where you can choose from a few drop down options, such as “shop now,” “book now,” “learn more,” “sign up,” and more. Entering your customized call-to-action will actively drive your customers to choose an option which will consequently boost your potential sales.
11. Facebook Pixel – This features how to measure conversions, maximize your ads and targeting, and provide insights about your website visitors. Without it, it is not possible to use Facebook’ remarkable Remarketing and Lookalike Audience features. Simply go to Ads Manager to implement or create a pixel, give a name to it, and copy the code onto your web pages. You can start tracking what actions people take when they visit your website and use those insights to move prospects up or down the funnel. You can also identify users with traits shared with your existing customers.
12. Website Conversion Campaigns – As soon as you have implemented the Facebook pixel, you can get people to take specific on-site (or in-app) action by using Website Conversion campaign. Whether the action means driving people to your website or a specific page, adding an item to the shopping cart, making a purchase, or some custom parameter, you have the ability to measure the value of an action taken by people when they view your website.
13. Engagement Ads on Wall Posts – If you want your Facebook page to look very popular to anyone interested in your business, Engagement Ads are what you need. This type of ad is shown to people who tend to engage with your post either by providing comments, reactions, or sharing. Having a Facebook page with thousands of fan interactions can make your business look so great.
14. Interest Targeting – A new section on the targeting algorithm of Facebook, “Purchasing Behaviors” target people who are likely to be interested or are in the process of buying a particular product. It uses cookies on your browser to serve ads tailored to the interests, activities, and pages of your specific audience.
15. Demographic and Financial Targeting – With the unique ability of Facebook to offer niche advertising, you can now target people based on the recorded demographic, financial, and other data on users. It provides you with powerful ways to target your adverts using the location where they live, age, political beliefs, jobs, or specific life events like birthday, anniversary, etc.

Financial targeting is ideal if you sell a pricey product. With a high-end market in mind, you can advertise for people with above-average income level or those who can afford to purchase your product.

16. Dark Post – If you want to create a multiple version of your Facebook post and turn it into an ad, Dark Posts makes it possible for you. Dark or unpublished posts are those posts that are not published in your Timeline. With Dark Posts, you can create four versions of such posts for your intended groups without cluttering up your Timeline in the process. Dark Posts also make it possible for you to promote a post that surpasses Facebook’s 20 percent text in images rule.
17. Saved Audiences – If you have a handful of targeting combinations frequently used, you can avoid wasting time clicking ad variations by using Saved Audiences. Saving an audience in the Power Editor allows you to select all of your targets with just a single click based on geography, age, gender, language, education, workplace, connections, and much more.
18. Instagram and Instagram Stories – When Facebook bought Instagram in 2012, it subsequently allowed Instagram advertising initially through its own Power Editor and Ads Manager, and now on Instagram Stories. Building ads for Instagram are made easy by Facebook. With the combination of first-mover advantage and Facebook’s targeting capabilities, advertising on Instagram becomes an appealing option for many brands.
19. Custom and Lookalike Audiences – One of the most effective targeting methods on Facebook is the Lookalike Audience. It is a targeting criterion used by Facebook to generate audience segments composed of models that are part of a brands current audiences for developing database or website information. These audiences are created by Facebook by matching users with their profiles in order to generate targeted cohorts based on similar criteria, such as demographics, interests, and behaviors. After the audiences are determined, brands can be promoted targeting groups similar to the most qualified leads or customers.
20. Slideshow – These video-like ads use motion, sound, images, and text to relate a story without some factors, such as file size or internet speed to hamper video ads. All you need is to upload three to seven still images and select the slideshow length, ranging from 5 to 15 seconds. The finished Slideshow ads are auto-play videos that are up to five times smaller and quicker to load than traditional videos. Small businesses can easily create cheaper videos, while international companies can opt for ads with single units that can still be viewed by people with a slow internet connection.
21. Remarketing – In Facebook Remarketing, brands can reach people who interacted with the brand’s website or app. Remarketing is done through the Facebook pixel and/or tag implementation using your digital channels. The ads can then be triggered to appear on Facebook if there are previous site interactions or page visits. Unlike typical Facebook ads, Remarketing ads are much more specified and tailored. Through Facebook’s segmentation options, brands can choose the Remarketing window length and can opt to either include or exclude certain pages and domains.
22. Placement Selection– Ads can be viewed in multiple locations and in a wide range of devices. The ad placement can be optimized by Facebook based on your set performance and goals. There are, however, requirements for each respective placement, including character limits and image sizes, which may not be ideal for a one size fits all approach. It would be more practical to segment campaigns by placement, especially if you have set manual bids or clicks goal.

23. Attribution Models – Found under “Manage Adverts,” Attribution Models are the fundamental guidelines on how conversions are registered. They include the time frame after an interaction with an ad. Understanding this enables you to know the value of your conversions in comparison to other networks, and to have full control over the information that the reported metrics are contributing to the overall objectives.
24. Free Stock Images – Thanks to Shutterstock, there are thousands of images you can use for your ads at absolutely no cost. Just head into Ads Manager to create an ad and click on “Free Stock Images” when you need to add an image. By simply typing a keyword into the search bar, you can choose up to six images you can add to your ad for split-testing. Make sure to adhere to Facebook’s guidelines in terms of choosing an image.
25. Canvas Ads – This new ad format hosted on Facebook’s mobile app may initially look like a standard ad, but a click can expand it to a full-screen experience. You can get creative with your brand using an assortment of apps, such as animations, image carousels, embedded videos, and tilt-to-view images. Canvas ads can be customized to include text, images, videos, and vibrant call-to-action buttons. It is currently available on FB’s mobile app, but it may expand to other properties, including Instagram.

Facebook Advertising Helps You Stay Ahead of the Competition

Advertising on Facebook can be both a daunting and exciting way to get your business known out there. It can either boost your product or you can lose money and reputation, Facebook’s advertising features are forever changing to open up new ways for more advertisers to take advantage of.

Meanwhile, shoppers are becoming more picky with lots of options available in their midst. Whether they use mobile gadgets or desktop computers, fickle-minded customers continue to search around for products that match their needs, interest, preference, etc. The only possible way to keep up with them is to run effective and killer Facebook ad campaigns.

It is very clear that marketers should be meticulous and innovative at a rapid rate. While there is plenty of social-networking platform with fully integrated advertising system, Facebook offers more features and insights, not to mention its billion users. Facebook is the ideal place to run an advertising campaign. Unfortunately, if you do not understand how to use the ad units or you do not have a strategy to advertise, you may end up wasting money and resources down the drain.

It is important to remember that Facebook ultimately wants its advertisers to achieve their goals successfully because a robust advertising is the company’s lifeline. As a result, Facebook reigns supreme as an advertising platform. All it takes for you to succeed is to understand how each feature works and be armed with some knowledge on how the best advertising practices work. Keep in mind that Facebook is a volatile advertising platform that constantly changes, so stay informed of any new developments and know how to apply them accordingly.

Alternative Option

Not everyone is on Facebook and it’s worth considering other ways to earn online income including being shown step-by-step how to build your own profit generating website.