It’s no secret that Facebook is getting a lot of negative press, especially after its privacy scandals. It had an impact on its user base, for sure. Does that mean that Facebook is dead?
Not quite; as of the second quarter of 2019, it still has over 1.587 billion daily active users. The numbers didn’t even decrease after the scandals, it only increased.
What does this mean for marketers? Does this also mean Facebook Ads isn’t dead?
That’s both true and false because while the old Facebook Ads is dead, there’s a new one that makes it more powerful. Let’s take a look at the current advertising situation on this platform.
Facebook Ads are Not Dead
Like Facebook isn’t dead, Facebook Advertising isn’t, as well. It’s only evolving.
To this day, Facebook remains to be one of the cheapest providers of ad space. It allows you to reach the same amount of people at a fraction of the cost of Google ads, for example.
With Facebook’s number of daily active users, ad space on Facebook remains to be a prime spot.
However, that doesn’t mean that there are no changes to how ads perform on the platform. Facebook made huge changes to its ad algorithm in 2018. It included improvements for both the user and the marketer.
The changes compelled advertisers to change their digital marketing strategies, though. Otherwise, they won’t get the same results as they did prior.
That said, how does the social media marketing landscape at Facebook look nowadays?
Ads on Facebook Videos
You might have noticed that Facebook is putting its focus and resources on videos. It even launched a section in its app, called Watch, dedicated to exploring videos.
That’s because the social media giant realized that users prefer consuming videos than other types of content, like images and photos. Videos get more engagement and 1200% more shares than these.
Videos on Facebook are still generating more engagement, leading the platform to monetize content creators here, too. Like on YouTube, content creators get money by putting ads in their videos.
But why choose Facebook video ads over its rival? Well, more content creators mean more original content, which then means more viewers. Because of that, Facebook has surpassed YouTube in terms of viewership.
Around 47% of people claim to watch more videos on Facebook over the other. On the other hand, only 41% of people prefer watching on YouTube.
That’s because the types of sponsored content they see are relevant to them. Facebook is getting more accurate at targeting people. That goes for ads, too.
In summary, you get better targeting and more people to reach with Facebook’s ad breaks. Seeing as how users love watching videos, even with ads, you must include both video content and video ads in your SMM strategy.
How to Create Effective Ads
Facebook’s part in your campaign only starts after you’ve published your ad. It will then find the right people and show your ad to them. The rest of the campaign, however, is up to you.
It’s up to you to make users click on your ad. We’ll show you how you can do that below.
1. Know Your Audience
This is the first step to every marketing campaign because to reach the right people, you need to know who they are. You must have an idea of how old they are, what’s their income, where are they living, and other general demographics.
Not only that, but you have to take into account their interests and behaviors, too. This creates a narrow audience that’s most likely to act on an ad. It ensures you’ll only be paying to reach these people.
2. Retarget Your Viewers
Facebook Ads Manager is pretty useful. It offers a lot of options for customizing your audience.
You can even target a group that has already watched your videos. That way, you can target only the people that have already shown interest.
For instance, you can launch a video ad to a cold audience and let that run for a few days. After this, you can run another video ad that can incite them to take action. It could be an ad about huge discounts on your store or a limited offer.
In a sense, you’ve already pre-qualified your audience. You spend less on people more likely to take you up on your offer.
3. Create Proper Ads
Don’t want your audience to ignore your ad? Don’t make it look too spammy.
In the first place, Facebook has already taken action on spam, making it less likely to appear on the users’ timelines. If your ad looks like spam, it may get tagged as such.
For instance, too much text on an image will have a lesser reach than images with less than 20% text.
For starters, you must adhere to Facebook’s rules to make sure your ad runs normally. Then, make it interesting to make users click it. Make them curious or give them a reason to click your ad, like a discount, a solution to a problem, or else.
4. Start with a Small Budget
Your budget for the ads depends on a lot of factors, including how large your audience is, how long you want it to run, and so on.
However, we recommend starting small first. You can still reach your audience but with lesser risks of annoying them. If you have a huge budget with a small audience, for example, Facebook will show the ad to the same people, possibly annoying them.
Starting small also allows you to test different types of ads without spending too much.
5. Test Your Ads
Are you familiar with A/B testing? It’s the act of testing two identical ads but with one minor difference.
Both ads can be the same in all aspects except for the CTA, for instance. Both ads will then run at the same amount of time, and the one with the better results wins.
Facebook allows you to do that, with which you can not only test the ad elements, but the bidding strategies, audience groups, and ad placements, as well.
Take Your Facebook Advertising to the Next Level
Facebook Ads may not be dead, but there’s still a lot of adjustments to make to create an ad fit for the current landscape of the platform. We know it can be overwhelming, and that’s why we’re here. Contact us now for your digital marketing needs.