24 Sep, 2020

What are Facebook Ads?

Fb Ad
24 Sep, 2020

Facebook Ads : A Step-by-Step Guide to Marketing on Facebook!

Everyone knows Facebook is the ultimate place to market a brand!

With over 2.7 billion Monthly Active Users and over 3.14 billion users using at least one of the company’s core products i.e. Facebook, Whatsapp, Instagram, or Messenger each month – Facebook is one of the biggest social media networks worldwide!

Although Facebook has been surrounded by scandal upon scandal for too long now, including Cambridge Analytica, account hacking, breach of privacy, etc, the consumers haven’t really changed their behavior when it comes to browsing their daily content.

facebook-Adverstising

About 1.5 billion people tap on the Facebook icon daily and scroll through the Timeline to connect to their network, browse through products, tap onto the news, and more.

And that makes Facebook the undisputed king of Social Media Paid Advertising!

The busiest marketplace with billions of active users, millions of buyers, and lakhs of marketers garnering attention for their brands/businesses; Facebook is indeed incredible!

But is it valuable enough for the marketers to fetch effective results with their budgets?

Do Facebook Ads fit the marketing and finance needs of businesses?

Is Facebook Ads as good for small businesses as it is for big companies?

We will find out here!

What are Facebook Ads?

Facebook Advertising or Facebook Ads is the paid advertising module Facebook that businesses/brands/marketers can use to drive the audience to their website and generate leads.

Facebook Advertising is one of the most immediate ways for businesses to market their content and create an impact. The Facebook Ads Manager platform is a one-stop-shop for all the advertising and marketing needs of businesses. Additional platforms like Instagram, Messenger, etc are also a part of the product mix.

As a self-serve tool, Facebook Ads allows marketers to target their audience through creative ad campaigns, boost reach, and generate leads on the busiest social media platform – Facebook!

Why should you advertise on Facebook?

Simply said, Facebook is the single-most effective and best alternative to Google Adwords.

And if recent trends are to be studied, Facebook (with its product mix) is becoming far stronger and more effective than Google Adwords when it comes to Marketing Ad Campaigns. Call it their use of technology, budget spread, or just the way the platform connects to the audience – Facebook makes a huge difference!

And you simply can’t ignore the results it drives for the marketers.

With billions of people using Facebook each day and spending almost 1-2 hours daily on the platform, it is the most promising arena for driving leads.

  • Facebook is one of the most diverse social media platforms that has catered to audiences of all ages. From high school and college students to senior citizens – today Facebook has become a mainstream social media network that connects all.
  • Over 96% of marketers rely on Facebook ads for their brand exposure and conversion.
  • Targeted Ads that stream relevant content to relevant audience
  • Precise interest marketing allowing maximum conversion

And that’s not all.

As the audience on the platform is diverse, Facebook allows diverse options for businesses of all types to garner a strong audience.

Facebook Ads are equally good for bloggers, homegrown brands, influencers, etc and Business Giants, Brands, and Thought Leadership.

Advertising on Facebook!

Advertise on facebook

Facebook, although one of the largest paid advertising networks, is often misunderstood in terms of performance.

Every marketer wants to tap into the broad customer base of the platform, but not all are successful. The reason? The Facebook Algorithm!

Facebook Ads don’t disrupt the user experience on the platform! As such the marketers are responsible for designing their ads according to the right metrics in order for them to work.

Facebook users are fickle! They aren’t here to look for products or shop online. They are here to connect with their friends and family. And so the trick to marketing here is a low-friction conversion.

Instead of asking for a big commitment from the audience i.e. Buying your products immediately, or filling out big forms, the idea is to market the brands, create awareness and place the products in front of the customer. Subtle hints go a long way!

For instance, Deal sites like Groupon have a successful Facebook Ads model where they just ask for an email address from the audience and send them the deals later in their inbox!

Thought idealization, idea influence, and visual impact are the main insights that make Facebook Ads work!

How do Facebook Ads work?

fb-ads-work

Facebook Ads is unparalleled when it comes to targeting. Created with the objective of awareness, consideration, or conversion, you can target users by

  • Interests
  • Location
  • Age
  • Gender
  • Relationship status
  • Education
  • Workplace
  • Connections
  • Language

Depending upon your target audience and specificity, you can filter the crowd and target small groups with complete efficiency.

Interest Targeting is one of the major credentials defining your Ad campaigns and it is often used in two broad categories i.e. Topic Targeting, and Precise Interest Targeting.

While broad category targeting allows you to include topics like home décor, banking, and finance, photography, yoga, entertainment, etc, the specific interest targeting is information-based and is designed around the activities people undertake on the platform i.e. pages they like, the content they browse, etc. These could include topics like travel photography, harry potter movies, vinyasa flow, etc.

Take it from the experts, Interest Targeting is a higher-performing endeavor than broad topic targeting.

Types of Facebook Ads

Facebook Ads come with a lot of options. You can promote your page, boost posts, increase engagement, or take the audience to your website. There are different types of Facebook Ads i.e.

  • Image Ads – These are the simplest Ads. One can either create a campaign or boost an existing post. With an engaging picture, caption, and a CTA button the image ads are placed on the Timeline for maximum engagement and conversion.

 

Facebook-Text-Ads

  • Video Ads – These are streamable ads in the form of videos that can feature on the feed, stories, and even as an in-stream ad on long Facebook Videos. Video Ads include GIFs, animations, and short-form videos. These are more interactive and engaging.

 

  • Video Poll Ads – A new entrant to the Facebook Advertising portal, the Video Poll Ads are specially for the Mobile-customers and have an interactive component with polls on the video. It promises high engagement and interaction.

 

Facebook-Video-Poll-Ads

 

  • Carousel Ads – featuring over 10 images in one Ad Campaign, the Carousel Ads showcase your Business products or services in one single campaign. You can put your pictures together to offer a multi-dimensional understanding of your brand for the audience.

 

Facebook carousel ad

 

  • Slideshow Ads – Short Video Ads much like a presentation, the Slideshow ads are catchy and informative at the same time. Created with pictures, consuming less bandwidth, and easy to upload – Slideshow Ads are low impact funnel to draw attention.

 

  • Collection Ads – A collection of five clickable product advertisements are displayed together to give your audience an instant experience and browse through multiple products together. Each of the images is clickable with the final image driving the audience to the website.

 

  • Instant Experience Ads – Often called Canvas Ads, the Instant Experience Ads open up as a web page on Facebook and offer the brands their own separate time and engagement. It’s a full-screen format ad that loads faster, has more engagement elements, and attracts maximum attention of the audience.

 

instant-experience-ads

 

  • Leads Ads – These are swift lead generating ads targeted at collecting information from the user and making them connect with the business. Specifically targeted towards the mobile-users, these ads help in the instant collection of email addresses, newsletter subscriptions, website signups, etc for customer engagement.

 

  • Dynamic Ads – This is the most rewarding format of Facebook Ads. Dynamic Ads promote targeted products to the interested audience. For instance, if someone visits a product page or browses through the products and then abandons it – the dynamic Ads appear later on, in the Newsfeed or stories to remind the potential customer about the product. Expressed Interest is the base that drives actions.

 

  • Messenger Ads – Over 1.3 billion users use the Facebook Messenger App for their instant chats with Facebook connections online. Messenger Ads target the audience on the Facebook Messenger App and feature an image, text, and CTA button for easy engagement with the brand.

 

  • Story Ads – These are full-screen ads that are known for their daily engagement factor and maximum reach. Served in the form of highlights, Story Ads connect with the user on a more personal level to drive leads with swipe-up actions.

facebook-instagram-stories-ad-specs

 

  • Augmented Reality Ads – Story Filters, lenses, animations, etc are interactive tools that brands can use to create awareness and connect with the audience. Already a hit on Instagram and Snapchat Ads, the Augmented Reality Ads are catching up on Facebook’s main platform as well.

 

How to set-up a Facebook Ad?

Facebook-Ads-Setup
A Facebook Ad Campaign begins with creating a Facebook Page for your Brand. You can then head straight to the Facebook Ads Manager, often called the Business Manager, and create your First Facebook Ad Campaign.

  • Choose your Objective
    Once you click on the Create Ad button on the Ads Manager page, you are offered several marketing objectives to choose from. You can select your objective – Brand Awareness, Reach, App Install, Website Traffic, Engagement, etc to match your marketing strategy. Note: The Marketing Objectives are related to the cost structure of the Ad Campaign. For example, conversion objective works on the Pay-Per-Click model while engagement and page views, etc on pay for impressions.

 

facebook-objectives-selection

 

  • Create an Ad Account
    As you progress you will be prompted to open an Ad Account. Enter in key details like preferred currency, time zone, country, business account, etc to set up the payment system for the marketing campaigns.

 

Creating-Facebook-Ads-Third-Party-Apps

 

  • Target Your Audience
    Start by naming your ad campaign, and scroll down to targeting your audience. You can select audiences based on interests and demographics and filter them down through locations, age, gender, profession, etc to effectively target the relevant audience for your brand. Based on the kind of audience, the estimated daily results are displayed.

 

  • Set-up the Ad Placements
    You can select where your Ad will be placed on Facebook! The simplest choice is the ‘automatic placement’ where Facebook turns on its intelligence to study your ad and place it across platforms where it promises maximum engagement. But if you want it as per your specifications, you have the following options to choose from:
  1. Device Type: Mobile, PCs or both
  2. Platform: Instagram, Facebook, Messenger, or third-party network
  3. Placement: Stories, News Feed, Messenger, Apps and Sites, in-stream videos, etc
  4. Specific Operating Systems: IoS, Android, etc

 

  • Schedule and Budget
    Facebook Ads are pretty easy to budget as it comes with a delivery analysis. You can set an amount based on the estimated number of likes, engagement, or reach. Schedule your Ad Campaign as per dates, design the daily budget, maximum spending per day or bid control, etc.

 

  • Create Your Ad
    Select an Ad format i.e. image, video, carousel, etc, and upload the content to set up the advertisement. As you design the Advertisement you can check the preview of how the ad might appear to the audience.

When all the fields are filled and you are ready to make your Ad Live, you can click on Publish, and Facebook reviews your Campaign, after which it will go live.

What do the statistics convey?

Facebook-Stats

With billions of active users on the platforms and millions of posts being made daily – Facebook is the Kind of Social Media!

Facebook-marketing-stats

Facebook has been the cult choice of marketers, brands, businesses, and individuals alike for running paid marketing campaigns and boosting their business.

And ever since the launch of the Paid Advertising Module, the graph has been moving upwards.

Ads-Revenue

Facebook and Google Search Ads together run a duopoly in the Paid Advertising arena capturing over 59.3% of the Market Share. Out of this, Facebook enjoys a good 37.2% hold i.e. over $28.52 billion of total US digital Ad spending coming to the platform.

marketing-stats2

According to Statista, Facebook clocked a revenue of 17.44 billion US dollars in the first quarter of 2020 and over 18.32 billion US dollars in the second quarter.

 

EMarketer expects Facebook Ad revenues to go up by 4.9% during 2020 i.e. $31.43 Billion.

Trends show that although the %change in the revenue streams have dipped in 2020 due to the lockdowns and pandemic related struggles, there is a steady rise expected and the Net Facebook Ad Worldwide Revenues are only going to rise in the further years.

Facebook-Ads-Aren’t-Converting

In terms of segments, Mobile is the most promising advertising form for the company. In 2017, Facebook’s Mobile Advertising Revenue already accounted for 88% of the total advertising revenue. And with an increase in the number of smartphone users, emerging businesses, digitization, and fierce marketing strategies – the numbers are set to touch new records in the coming years.

Simply said, people are spending on Facebook and leveraging their businesses through extensive marketing strategies!

Let’s take your First Facebook Ad live!

Fb Ad live

If you are a smartphone user, Facebook comes pre-installed!

It is a given that Facebook is one of the main places to market your product when you want to reach an audience of vivid demographics, regions, and locations.

It doesn’t matter if you are a homegrown brand, professional service company, fashion store, or an influencer – There is a Facebook Ad out there that can boost your reach online and give your business an edge!

All Stars Digital is a digital marketing and brand scaling agency that makes brands shine! From designing creative marketing strategies and engaging content to setting up campaigns that will send the target audience to your website – All Stars Digital and its team of experts help you navigate your way through every stage of digital marketing, brand imaging, and advertising.

If you haven’t already, it’s time to take your First Facebook Ad Live! Let’s connect and create some Ads!

 

 

References:

https://blog.hootsuite.com/how-to-advertise-on-facebook/#types

https://neilpatel.com/blog/facebook-marketing/

https://neilpatel.com/blog/deep-dive-facebook-advertising/

https://neilpatel.com/what-is-facebook-advertising/#whyfbads

https://adespresso.com/guides/facebook-ads-beginner/why-you-should-advertise-on-facebook-now/

https://buffer.com/library/facebook-ads/

https://www.bluecorona.com/blog/types-of-facebook-ads/

https://www.statista.com/statistics/277963/facebooks-quarterly-global-revenue-by-segment/

https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2014/01/30/facebook-advertising-tips

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