So, you started Facebook advertising…and now you want to quit! You want to quit for so many reasons: it’s time consuming, you’ve spent a lot of money with little return on investment, and you’re seeing engagement but no conversions.
Yes, I understand why you might want to throw in the towel. But don’t!
Instead, reevaluate your Facebook efforts.
Facebook advertising is viable for most businesses. However, thinking that you’re going to receive the same ROI as you would from traditional paid search avenues is unrealistic. Facebook users receive advertisements passively. They aren’t actively searching for a new purse, protein shake or hoverboard. Knowing this information is the first step to unleashing the potential power of your Facebook advertising campaigns.
Consider these four pieces of advice to reignite your Facebook advertising efforts.
What Are Your Goals?
Establishing a set of concrete goals should be the first step you take to improve your Facebook advertising. As a reminder, your goals need to be realistic and measurable. And everyone on your team needs to be on board – your coworkers, your management, and your investors.
Your goals should also align with your overall marketing and business goals. And your goals shouldn’t be limited to only include conversions that lead to purchases. The great thing about Facebook is the availability of valuable user information, much more than traditional paid search provides. While Facebook doesn’t always drive direct sales, it can prop up your email campaigns and prompt new visitors to your site, which are all helpful in establishing brand awareness and building ongoing relationships. Our clients have had great success by focusing their campaigns on collecting emails as well as enriching their email lists for future prospect nurturing efforts. Challenge your usual way of thinking around paid advertisements and consider how Facebook can produce great results beyond the typical direct purchase model.
Are You Neglecting Your Remarketing Efforts?
Remarketing is an advertising channel that generally outperforms all others. Therefore, it should definitely be a strategy that you employ on Facebook. In addition to whatever remarketing you’re currently doing, start also targeting the audience of site visitors and cart abandoners you find through Facebook.
Remarketing on Facebook has benefits that other channels just can’t match, like recognizing its users regardless of the device that they’re using. Facebook tracks people, not just cookies. This means that whether you initially captured a potential buyer on their cell phone or desktop, you can reach them on any device they choose to use next. Yes, Google can do this too, but with only a small percentage of their audience.
Another plus about remarketing on Facebook is that you can layer interest and demographic targeting on top of your remarketing custom audiences, thus building an even more responsive list that is more likely to convert.
You Can’t Succeed with Over-Targeted Ads
When creating ads for search engine marketing platforms, like AdWords, your goal is generally to make your ads as specific as possible. This strategy will unfortunately backfire on Facebook’s interface.
A recommended audience size for ad-targeting success on Facebook is 1MM to 1.5 MM users. And within your audience, your ads should broadly speak to the interests of this audience. Then, let Facebook apply its optimization magic to show your ads to the users most likely to take the action you’ve specified. For an ecommerce retailer, the action is typically a conversion on your website.
Do You Know How Facebook Affects Your Bottom Line?
You may have high expectations for your Facebook advertising performance and that’s okay. However, Facebook is a different ballgame compared to traditional paid marketing channels, like Google Adwords or Bing Ads. Comparing Facebook advertising to traditional paid advertising is like comparing apples to oranges, so it isn’t realistic to expect the same last click performance as Adwords or similar platforms.
With that being said, go back to your goals. Are there other ways Facebook is contributing to your bottom line? Is Facebook helping with your brand awareness, collecting email addresses or bringing new visitors to your website? If you can answer yes to at least one of these questions, Facebook is bringing your business a return on investment.
Facebook advertising can seem like an untamable beast, but with the right strategies in place, you can turn it into a successful marketing channel for your business.
This blog post was written by Persis Swift, Segment Marketing Manager at ROI Revolution.About Author
