Chelsea Allenby is a Digital Marketer of 9 years and Managing Director of Allenby Digital Ltd, an online marketing agency she set-up in 2015, specialising in social media and content marketing. www.chelseamarketing.co.uk
Facebook advertising is the best and most advanced form of social media advertising currently available. What makes the Facebook ads platform so unique, is the detailed and specific targeting capabilities that you won’t find with any other network.
Bad advert targeting, which is typically targeting that is too broad, results in a lower conversion rate. For example, if you own a Mexican restaurant in central London and you target only people who have an interest in Mexican food, you might reach an audience that would enjoy visiting your restaurant, however, you will also be targeting people who live miles away from London and are less likely to actually visit and ‘convert’ into a customer. This is why it’s referred to as a ‘conversion rate’.
Facebook’s location targeting lets you pinpoint a particular location, plus it lets you add a radius on to that destination to reach people nearby too. Every year Facebook’s targeting gets more advanced.
Why do I Need to Use Facebook Ads?
Social media isn’t as ‘free’ as it once was. Yes, it is free to set-up a business page and share your content, but getting that content in front of your own fans, well that’s no longer as easy as it was a few years ago. With so many brands and so many people actively sharing content, a user’s news feed (where posts appear), would get very crowded if it wasn’t for the Facebook algorithm; simply put, their filter system. Many business owners do not realise their content is being filtered, but here’s how it works:
When you post something on your page, Facebook organically distributes it to roughly 1-2% of your fanbase. The number of people that see each post, is based on the value that Facebook gives it. Different values are given to different post types, for example, video uploaded directly to Facebook will be typically be given more value. Therefore more people will initially see it.
After this initial distribution, Facebook monitors the engagement that post receives, within the first 1-2 hours of being published. The more people that engage, the further Facebook will distribute it. As a business owner looking to use Facebook as a tool, this is a problem. If only 1-2% of your fans are seeing each post, it’s unlikely many are going to engage in the first place. This lack of engagement stops the reach in its tracks, and suddenly you find that no one is seeing your content.
The answer lies in Facebook advertising, and you certainly don’t need a huge budget to start utilising it successfully. Promoting an update with as little as £1-2 will hugely increase the number of people who see that post. Set a small budget aside to ensure your best offers, deals and news are seen by the people that matter!
There are many different types of adverts that can be used on Facebook, post promotion is just one of them. You can also do the following:
- Increase the number of people who have ‘liked’ your page, by targeting friends of existing fan-base, or by targeting based on interests and location.
- Promote a video and pay for each view. If you have promotional video content it can be a great way to engage an audience on social media.
- Promote a mobile app and increase the number of downloads
- Set-up campaigns that specifically drive people to your website, useful if you are promoting your on-site order or booking feature.
Before you dismiss giving Facebook your money, consider just how many people use this platform on a daily basis, and just how much Facebook knows about their users. It’s an inbound method of marketing that cannot be ignored in 2016. Look out for next week’s article to find out more about how the Facebook advertising platform works and how you can get your first advert set-up in no time at all.
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