(image: https://www.superdream.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/advertising-with-facebook.jpg alt: advertising with facebook)
**If you thought that Facebook was just for keeping in contact with your friends, think again. **
This social media platform has turned into one of the most cost effective advertising mediums available. So much so, it’s being exploited by a whole host of companies across the UK – from start-ups to multinational corporations. Following on from (link: https://www.superdream.co.uk/social-media-advertising-tips/ text: last week’s post), we thought we’d take a look at one method a little closer.
Enter: Facebook advertising.
**Why use Facebook advertising?**
With 1.11 billion users worldwide, Facebook has a huge audience reach. But maybe more important to advertisers is the ability to target people based on a number of demographics including: their age, sex, where they live and what their interests are. This is information that users are happy to supply when creating their Facebook profile, and is advertising gold.
**How it works**
It’s straightforward to set up an advertising campaign on Facebook.
You can select the ideal customer you are trying to target, so that your advertising budget is used most effectively. Let’s say you run a local business selling horse riding equipment. You could set up an advertising campaign targeting women, aged 18-60, living within 60 miles of Bromsgrove, with an interest in horse riding.
Just 10 years ago, this type of specific customer targeting would have been extremely expensive or simply impossible. Now it is readily available with just a few clicks.
**Who should use Facebook advertising?**
Any business can use (link: https://www.superdream.co.uk/advertising/online-advertising/facebook-advertising/ text: Facebook advertising popup: true title: Facebook Advertising) as part of its marketing mix, but you must be aware of your audience. Users are likely to respond best to a ‘soft sell’ approach, such as being taken to a page where there is further information or the opportunity to sign up to a newsletter. Asking for a big commitment such as a sale too early could simply make users hit the back button to Facebook.
**How will I know if it works?**
If you are running (link: https://www.superdream.co.uk/digital/website-analytics/ text: Google Analytics popup: true title: Website Analytics), you can track exactly how visitors from Facebook ads perform on your site. This will allow you to see how many sales or enquiries originate from each individual advert, and whether this type of customer stays on your site longer or views more pages than average.
**Getting better results**
The beauty of using online marketing platforms like Facebook is that you can test different types of advertising. For example; you should try using different images on your advertising such as smiling people versus product shots. You can also see whether you get better results by sending people to your company’s Facebook page rather than straight to your website.
You can also test different types of Facebook advertising. Through the available tools such as ‘sponsored stories’ and ‘promoted posts’ you can build a relationship with your audience on Facebook and also influence what is seen by their friends
By continually testing different adverts, over time your results will improve and give you a better return on investment.
So, when looking at pair-for methods of (link: https://www.superdream.co.uk/advertising/online-advertising/ text: online advertising popup: true title: Online Advertising) be sure to incorporate, or at least consider, Facebook.
For more tips on Facebook marketing, download our (link: https://www.superdream.co.uk/white-paper/mastering-facebook-marketing/ text: free Mastering Facebook Marketing whitepaper).