Creating great Facebook ads

Like social media, the map to creating a good Facebook ad is always changing - because of user expectations and the innovation of the technology driving Facebook.

Whether you are in small business or a larger national or worldwide business Facebook advertising offers a highly targeted advertising option and at the fraction of the cost when compared to traditional, print, television, and radio advertising - and better still campaign data is 100% measurable and immediate.

Creating a great or standout Facebook advert comes down to two campaign fundamentals: the first is the goal you want to achieve, for example you may want to get customers to subscribe to an enewsletter or sell a product and the second is the targeting you choose and the audience you are going to target.

Then it is down to 4 simple variables that you control, including:

1. The title of your ad
2. The image you choose
3. The copy of the ad
4. And the destination URL

Firstly lets look at the title of your ad. The title of your ad should reflect what you want the customer to do - use a way to directly engage the customer to a desired action - and get straight to the point as you only have 25 characters. And mostly importantly talk to your target audience or audience segment. For example, if you looking to attract more female apprentices to a particular occupation or trade, or should use the targeting tools in Facebook to really drill down to a specific audience - the more you can use language to personalise the ad (so your audience can relate to it) - the more successful your ad will be.

Tip: Try to avoid running generic campaigns - run a series of segmented campaigns that better connect with your customer - then review accordingly.

Secondly - the image literally speaks a thousand words. Choose an image that will get your target audience excited and engage them. For example if your targeting is right, use a picture of your product and use colourful images. Importantly, like your title and body copy, refresh the image regularly - say between every 8 - 12 days. The size of the image you can use is 110 x 80 pixels so use the space.


Thirdly - the body copy. Again use language your customer will use - and get straight to the point - just because you have 125 characters does not mean you need to use all the space! Give a strong call to action, tell the customer what you want them to do and why they should do it. Use words like free, discounts, limited time, subscribe now. And use terms which would be specific to that particular audience segment.

Tip: Refresh your campaign regularly - just like that ad on TV becomes annoying - so to does a Facebook ad that has not been refreshed.

Finally - don't leave your customer hanging. Whatever you do, create a landing page on your website specifically for the purpose of the ad, if it's an ad designed to sell a product, take the customer to the URL where they can buy the product or get more information about the product - if you want the customer to subscribe to an enewsletter send them to the subscription page - avoid sending customers to a generic home page, this is one guaranteed way to lose a customer.

If you have any questions about your Facebook advertising just leave a post and i will be in touch soon!