Advanced

Tips for

Advertising

on

Facebook

Best practices fromFacebook Ads experts

1Copyright © 2010–2014 Simply Measured, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Intro While Facebook has proven itself as one of the most effective advertising platforms worldwide, the advanced tools and technology offered can often seem like a lot to take on. For major brands and media and advertising buyers, we’ve gathered a list of tips for Advanced Advertising on Facebook that will help you institute best practices in your marketing strategy. These tips come from industry experts, Forbes Top 50 Power Influencers, Community Managers and Digital Strategists. Our own marketing team also weighed in, providing Facebook Ads insights with data analysis.

A quick course on Facebook Ads Facebook Ads are a great way for businesses to have their business Page served to a wider audience than just their Page fans. The benefit of paying for ads on Facebook is the ability to target ads to specific audiences based on location, demographics, behavior, connections, interests and keyword data. In addition, your content will appear on both desktop and mobile versions of Facebook.

Successful Facebook Ads follow several best practices – primary among them is having actionable and measurable goals. Without knowing what you want to say, and to whom, what actions you want that audience to take, and how you will measure those actions, creating a Facebook Ads strategy would be like driving blindfolded. The Facebook Advertising platform allows you to choose goals based on the above data. You can use the platform to drive engagement, drive web visits, and even drive web conversions. It allows for advanced targeting and lets marketers know how large the spend will be based on the audience demographics and interests.

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Facebook’s Interest targeting currently allows you to target a wide section of users who have expressed an interest in a topic. The Interests targeting algorithm looks at Pages these users like, their interests and activities.

This is a pretty broad segment, but by adding Custom Categories marketers have the ability to target more specific audiences based on things like job status, marital status, or whether the user owns or rents their home.

As you narrow the scope of your audience, your targeting becomes more refined, allowing your ads to reach people who are more likely to take action.

The Ads platform even lets you bid on objectives, clicks, or impressions, determining how your budget is allocated and which users your content is served to.

Sample audience size from Facebook Ads creation dashboard

AUDIENCE DETAILS:

• Location: United States

• Interests: Marketing or Social Marketing

• Category: Broad categories management, Sales, Small business page owners or Event creators

SPECIFIC BROAD

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The new ads structure Last month, Facebook rolled out a new structure for Facebook Ads that has three levels: campaigns, ad sets, and ads.

Campaigns: Campaigns are the highest level in the new Facebook Ads structure and are based on high-level advertising objectives. Here, you’ll determine what type of action you want your users to take, whether it’s a “Like”, web conversions, shares and so on. Ad Sets: Ad Sets allow you to determine the schedule and budget for your ads. In addition, you’ll define your audience segments and metrics specific to your audience – such as when the ad will be served and how much of your budget is allotted to serving that content. Ads: Ads are most detailed level and are where you’ll continue to target your audience, define your creative goals, and bid on impressions, clicks, or other objectives. Facebook recommends creating multiple ads for ad sets so that their system can automatically optimize for variations in text, images, links, videos, and placements on users’ News Feeds. These variations on your ads should all be targeted to the same audience and should have the same bid type so Facebook can serve the top performing content to your target audience.

For details on Ad types and pricing visit Facebook’s Ads Product Guide.

For an overview on the new Ads structure, visit the Facebook for Business Advertising page.

Ads AdsAds Ads

Ad Set Ad Set

Campaign

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Tips from Facebook Power Users - Facebook Ads As a media buyer, it takes a relatively short amount of time to become familiar with the ads buying process. Nevertheless, it can be hard to develop an ads strategy that is truly successful without having significant Facebook Ads experience. There are a ton of tips and tricks out there that promise to help you tweak your strategy to yield higher engagement and higher conversions. Many of those tips, though, are written for more general audiences or do not address Facebook’s current ads structure.

That’s why we contacted a number of Facebook power users and asked them for advanced tips that may not be as obvious to seasoned Ads users. Then we weighed in on how these tips can impact the success of your Ads campaign.

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LILACH BULLOCK @LilachBullock

Social Media Consultant Forbes Top 50 Power Influencer

Founder of Socialable

“News Feed ads with photos generate more engagement.” One of the things we’ve noticed with Facebook Advertising is that News Feed ads tend to work much better than other forms of ads, and they usually get more clicks and more engagement. In our experience, the best way to ensure you get the attention of Facebook users is to use beautiful, eye-catching images and videos.

But the most important thing is to check your ad analytics regularly to see if you’re getting the results you were hoping for - and if you aren’t, then be prepared to make the changes needed to get them there! Simply Measured’s take We’ve dug through a lot of data that shows that photos and video work best in driving Facebook engagement. In fact, running a Complete Social Media Snapshot report for the Interbrand 100’s performance in just the first week of March, we found that photo posts generated 69% of all engagement.When using images in your ads, consider rotating that creative content in your ad sets to keep your content looking new and interesting. This will eliminate ad fatigue, leading to better performance as people are continually intrigued by your content.

Lilach also points out that News Feed ads seem to perform better than non-News Feed ads. This may seem surprising, but considering how many users access Facebook from mobile devices, it’s not hard to see how News Feed ads and Sponsored posts have much more visibility than ads that appear in the sidebar. Not only that, News Feed ads feel more “native” to the user because they blend into the same visual space where people also see posts from friends and family.

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CONTENT OPTIMIZATION

Photo

Content breakdown for your accountswith 90th percentile or higher engagement.

Status Link Video

68%

3%

21%

9%

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“Gather audience data.” Don’t guess about your audience on Facebook. Click on the insights tab and find out who your audience really is, what’s resonating with them and when - and target from that information. Make your content visual, lean, interesting and fresh. Track your posts in the analytics at the top of the page and boost those that are doing well with targeted promotions. And don’t let customer messages go unloved. Simply Measured’s take Facebook Insights captures a good amount of relevant data on your audience and it’s worth using this to your advantage. In addition, you may want to consider monitoring keywords and hashtags to find out what your audience is talking about. Use the Simply Measured Facebook reporting tools to analyze your Facebook audience and what content they engage with the most.

Doing this for your brand and others in your industry (competitive analysis) will help you determine what types of ads drive engagement among your audience. In addition, discovering social media influencers who are brand advocates will also help you in developing engagement and driving conversions.

GLEN GILMNORE @GlenGilmore

Marketing Strategist Forbes Top 50 Power Influencer

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47% 38%17% 11% 7%

Where influencers follow brands

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“Generate brand awareness rather than clicks.” There are many objectives for utilizing Facebook Ads, and for most companies it comes down to either increasing brand awareness through “Like” campaigns or promoting a campaign through Sponsored Posts. These ads are dependent on visitors to click through to “Like” a landing page, and each click requires a cost. While this won’t work as well for Sponsored Posts, there’s an easier, less expensive way to generate brand awareness inside the Facebook community: Create a series of ads that no one would want to click on.

There is a company that I have heard of that did this with great success, creating ads which no one would want to click-through on yet generating brand awareness. After a few months of spending very little money on ads that very few clicked on yet generating many impressions, the company started getting calls from people saying that they “see them everywhere on Facebook.” It’s important to note that, like other ad platforms, your ad will not appear as often if it doesn’t generate any engagement, but perhaps experimenting with high bids in hopes that very few users click on your ad is a high-risk high-return approach to potentially generating a lot of engagement for very little budget. Simply Measured’s take However, you’ll need to make sure you’re actively monitoring the negative impact ads like these might have on your fan page - through unlikes, hides and spam reports. Remember that Facebook optimizes your ads based on two factors: spend and how well your ad meets performance goals based on your Campaign Objectives.

NEAL SCHAFFER @NealSchaffer

Social Media Consultant Forbes Top 50 Power Influencer

Founder of Maximize Social Business

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“Custom categories allow for better audience targeting.” Tap into the power of Facebook’s partners’ data (Acxiom and Datalogix), which you can use to target Facebook users with more focus using the “custom categories” tool. This allows you to target ads to more categories of people – for instance, targeting Facebook users based on demographic info (home owner, renter etc) and on their purchase history (type, model and price of car; date of purchase and a whole lot more).

Using this feature will make your ads more relevant and powerful. Simply Measured’s take We recommend ad buyers test and use Facebook’s Custom Audience feature and experiment with the Lookalike feature. The Custom Audience option allows you to upload a list of user attributes (email addresses, phone numbers, Facebook user IDs, App user IDs and IDFAs) and target these users with ads. The Lookalike option allows you to use these lists to tell Facebook you would like to target users similar to that list. This is a great feature if you’re trying to target users similar to your current customers.

JEFF BULLAS @JeffBullas

Social Media Strategist Forbes Top 50 Power Influencer

CEO of JeffBullas.com

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“Understand the true value of Facebook advertising.” Facebook is a tremendously powerful and unique platform for acquiring users. Other acquisition models negatively incentivize user acquisition & retention (for example, rewards programs for installing and trying new apps or games). This results in a large percentage of that audience un-engaged because they’re not truly interested in your product or service and joined simply to get that tchotchke. Facebook empowers the marketer to properly incentivize prospective customers and existing customers alike.

For new customers, targeted Facebook ads put the onus on you and your brand to sell prospective customers to like your Page or engage with your content. At the end of the day, the consumer is the one making the conscious and deliberate decision to “Like” your page and/or interact with your content for no other reason than to say, “I like what you have to say, and want to hear more.” That leads to an incredibly valuable proposition for your organization, in contrast to the weaker methods of acquisition I described before. Simply Measured’s take Know who your audience is and what they want to hear. Find out what types of content drive the most engagement (you can use our reports for that), and using this data, tailor your strategy to cater to that audience and build your status as an industry leader. If you use content as the driver for “Likes,” clicks and other objectives you are trying to achieve, you will gain fans that are interested in your content and not your incentives.

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JOSH OLIN @JD_2020

Community Development at Turtle Rock Studios

10Copyright © 2010–2014 Simply Measured, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

“A/B testing makes all the difference.” Don’t think of your Facebook ads as “set it and forget it.” That’s one surefire way to blow through your budget and limit your success. It’s important to not only monitor your ads’ initial performance, but also A/B test which variation of copy and imagery is converting the highest. I’d also suggest incorporating customer/buyer persona development research into your ads, which will help you tailor effective messages specific to each audience or recognize new targeting opportunities.

Though Facebook removed the option to set a Default Landing Tab for your Page with the implementation of Timeline in March 2012, having a landing tab set as the destination for your Facebook ads is still a viable option. A landing tab could elaborate on the initial ad’s value proposition and combined with a fan-gate (i.e. “Like” to see more) can be very effective in converting more paid traffic to fans.

Simply Measured’s take At Simply Measured, we are major fans of A/B testing as part of any marketing strategy. This is why Facebook Ads now ask for Ad Sets – multiple ads instead of just one. This allows Facebook to optimize for the ads that perform best with your target audience and budget. That doesn’t mean, however, that you can stop testing. You should continue to A/B test ad sets, landing pages, calls to action, or even target audience and devices.

For example, when you’re thinking about mobile versions of ads, treat them as completely different ad sets. Use the Power Editor to target your mobile set to mobile customers. You may find more ROI on your mobile ads than you do on your non-mobile ads. At that point, you’ll be able to determine how to best allocate your ad budget.

JACOB CURTIS @JacobKCurtis

Digital Strategist & Community Manager at Bonfire Marketing

45 signupsVERSION A

85 signupsVERSION B

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“Native advertising is the goal.” Craft your Facebook Page wall posts in as friendly and personable a way as possible. Aim for short, concise narrative that catches people’s attention and ideally makes them want to share with their friends. Then, when these wall posts in the News Feed, you want your paid content to seamlessly integrate with personal posts that friends of your target audience share. As Mark Zuckerburg stated at the last TechCrunch Disrupt event, “I talked about our efforts to grow our business through improving the quality of our ads rather than just increasing the quantity. Our goal is to reach a point where the ads are as relevant and timely as the content your friends share with you.” Simply Measured’s take Zuckerburg’s quote highlights the “native” aspect of Facebook Ads. Native ads are designed to look like organic content that isn’t selling something but is more like a user’s friends’ posts. This is the entire onus behind the revisions to which posts appear in News Feeds. Ads need to look sophisticated, with high quality images and design, and specifically curated text.

Lilach notes that News Feed ads seem to perform better than non-news feed ads. This may seem surprising, but considering how many users access Facebook from mobile devices, it’s not hard to see how News Feed ads and Sponsored Posts have much more visibility. Not only that, News Feed ads feel more integrated - or “native” - because they appear in the same visual space where people also get news from friends and family.

MARI SMITH @MariSmith

Facebook Marketing Expert

Forbes Top 50 Power Influencer

www.marismith.com

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Our goal is to reach a point where the ads are as relevant and timely as the content your friends share with you.

- Mari, quoting Mark Zuckerburg

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“Focus on amazing content.” Facebook’s changes to their News Feed algorithm have changed the type of content that lands in users’ feeds. If you are relying on targeting alone to get the job done, you’re missing a big piece of the puzzle. Teams that are agile in terms of creative development and armed with data to help them make targeting and budgeting decisions are going to be incredibly successful in the future. Think about it this way, you can have an amazingly-targeted ad, but if your content is dull compared to the content in a user’s feed, they’re going to scroll right by - especially on mobile. Your content (copy, image, etc.) needs to be as interesting as the stuff they’re seeing from friends, family, and other brands. Knowing what type of content resonates with your audiences and being able to make changes on the fly go a long way in the Facebook ad world. “Combine display and social.” Facebook advertising is becoming more and more like display advertising, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Using a stepped approach to engaging with your target audiences and walking them through your funnel (or whatever-shaped process you have) will help drive results and achieve business objectives. Brands have been using partners like AdRoll, Turn, and others to connect their audience insights and data with FBX ads for a while, but taking those audiences and engaging them with FBX content in the News Feed is a more engaging experience, especially on mobile. When bringing in a partner for retargeting might not be an option, you can always use the native Facebook “Website and Mobile App Custom Audiences” option to re-engage users. This combination of what were once digital display tactics with Facebook advertising gives brands the chance to right-set their strategies and combine efforts toward business goals.

RON SCHOTT @ronschott

Director of Client Services

at Simply Measured

Former Head of Social at

IGP Mediabrands UK

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“Leverage the platform accordingly.” This value also means you have a great deal of responsibility as a marketer on this platform. And Facebook goes that extra mile to provide us with the tools we need to succeed at that job. For example, Facebook gives marketers the ability to track multiple different ads within a campaign and adjust spending parameters accordingly based on which ads are performing better. This allows you to A/B test a variety of different strategies concurrently, across multiple different campaigns (and even products & demographics).

But what good are the tools if you’re not leveraging them properly? It’s critical to strategize your campaign around well-defined goals and objectives. Don’t try to do too many things with a single campaign - know your goal and align your creative process around those objectives. Doing this facilitates decisive conclusions about the relative success or failure of a given campaign. Then measure those results in real-time, and don’t be afraid to modify the parameters of your campaign as needed to maximize its effectiveness. Simply Measured’s take Josh’s tip shows the importance of defining goals and objectives based on in-depth audience analysis and competitive benchmarking. It also shows the need for effective social CTA strategies that are interesting, informative, and engaging.

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JOSH OLIN @JD_2020

Community Development at Turtle Rock Studios

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“Start by setting SMART goals.” Like with any other marketing activity, you need to start with a goal. Ask yourself “why am I spending this money on Facebook ads?” If you don’t have a clear answer, don’t do it. Your goal should be S.M.A.R.T.: Specific, Measureable, Actionable, Relevant and Time-bound. For example, I want to drive more downloads of my new app. Your goal, in this case, should be: get 1,000 downloads by the end of the quarter with a budget of no more than $10,000. When the end of the quarter comes, it should be fairly easy for you to determine whether or not you achieved your goal. And then set a new one.

URI BAR-JOSEPH @uribarjoseph

Director of Marketing

at Simply Measured

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Goals should be simplistically written and clearly define what you are going to do.Specific

You need tangible evidence that you’ve accomplished your goals.Measurable

Your goals should stretch you slightly so you feel challenged, but defined well enough so that you can achieve them.

Attainable

Goals should be instrumental to the mission of the entire marketing team and/or organization.

Relevant

Set a definite target date for completion as well as frequencies for specific action steps.

Time-bound

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Conclusion Advanced advertising on Facebook can seem daunting but with smart strategies from industry experts, it’s easy to tweak your ad campaigns to drive performance. For many of the research and development options, Simply Measured reports will provide the data you need to set your strategy.

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News Feed ads with photos generate more engagement

Gather audience data

Generate brand awareness rather than clicks

Custom categories allow for better audience targeting

Understand the true value of Facebook advertising

Leverage the platform accordingly

A/B testing makes all the difference

Native advertising is the goal

Focus on amazing content + Combine display and social

Start by setting SMART goals

18 Copyright © 2010–2014 Simply Measured, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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