A few things to consider when you are starting a Facebook advertising campaign

06 February 2012

Facebook ads are a great way to drive traffic to a page, or even to your website - though the clicks are quite expensive, so you had better be sure your landing page converts well. We’ll assume you’re trying to drive traffic to a Facebook fan page or get people to “like” something or share something on Facebook.

The Difference Between Facebook Ads and Adwords

Facebook ads, while seeming very similar to Google Adwords, are most definitely a different thing all together. For one, they’re much less intelligent, and much less keyword-based. They’re also far more expensive than Google ads if you’re trying to use them in the same way (around $1 a click).
This means that you’re paying up to five times too much for a visitor you might lose on your landing page if you send the clicks to your website. However, using them to get fans for a page can be seen as more of a marketing investment than an expense.

Start Small, then Go Broader

When you set up a campaign, you can be very specific when choosing your target group. Be as specific as you can at first, and as long as there are more than 100,000 people or so in your target group, stick with that for a start. You can always expand it if you’re not getting enough clicks.

Bid Low, but Don’t be Cheap

Facebook ads cost more money than any other type of pay-per-click, so remember this when setting your bid prices. If you’re in a market like online marketing, events organising or insurance, you’re going to be spending upwards of $5 per quality click, so be prepared to spend it. You can probably get clicks with lower than the recommended bid, but you won’t get many.

As a general rule, start just below the recommended bid, increasing by small increments until you start getting good clickthroughs. Keep increasing for a while until the increase in click throughs stops.

Use Someone’s Face

A number of studies have shown that using a face or an easily-recognisable object or landscape in a Facebook ad’s picture increases click throughs by around 30%. If you don’t know any models, use a stock photo - they’re relatively cheap.

Don’t Forget Your Call to Action

Make sure the last line of your ad inspires an action, like “Shop online now” or “request a free quote” - this kind of language dramatically increases conversions.
Make Your Landing Page Worthwhile

If people like something and then find nothing worthwhile there, they’ll either un-like it or just never visit the page, or remove it from their feed. Then you will have paid for a subscriber you can’t access. Make sure there is something for them at the page they get to when they click on your ad or like your page - something like a coupon or some bonus content that they can only get if they subscribe.