I’ve seen a number of posts in Facebook Groups by business owners needing help with their Facebook Ads.
There is a lot of information out there about which buttons to click and how to run the ad, but they miss the things businesses need to have set straight before they even open up the Ads platform.
What is the aim of your ad?
It seems strange to even have to write this, but a number of business owners run ads – because they want more business.
Ok so what does more business look like? Is it more bookings right now, is it more likes, is it getting people on your list to market to in the future?
Having a clear intention for the ad will help you decide what type of ad to run, where to run it to, what language to use, and what image to use.
Have this set and you’re off to a good start.
Who is the ad for?
Who is the target for the ad? What will they get out of the ad? What do they need to do? What problem do you solve for them?
Too often, businesses get caught up in running the ad to grow their business that they overlook that they need to attract a person to fulfil the aim of the ad (like, enter a competition, attend an event, buy a product).
The things you need to consider are:
– what is their gender
– how old are they
– what kind of things do they do
– what problem are you solving
– how will they feel after it’s solved.
You need to answer each of these things and address them in the image and text of the ad. There’s not much point putting up a photo of a Mum & child if you’re trying to reach a single 20-year old male. The audience needs to be able to identify with the person or scene of the picture and with the problem and feelings the solution gives. While the physical targeting of the ad helps, it’s the image and/or the text which will stop them scrolling and have them clicking.
Speaking of clicking, the more you make them do and the further you remove them from Facebook, the more people you will use. This is why the vast majority of my client ads are to Facebook Messenger. We are comfortable with Messenger and it keeps us within the Facebook App. If you redirect someone to a website, then you need to make sure that your website continues to build on the points above and makes it clear, right up front, what they have to do.
When you decide what they have to do. TELL THEM. While it might be glaringly obvious to you, we are busy and generally distracted as we scroll through Facebook, so making it clear that they need to ‘click here to download’, ‘message us to book’ means that you’re more likely to get someone doing them what you tell them to do, rather than them wondering what the point of the whole thing is. Yes you have to spell it out like they’re 5. (but don’t be condescending).
So you know why you’re running the ad & who it’s for, why they want it and how to get it… now what?
The secret to targeting a Facebook Ad.
I have heard and read so many people wasting so much money on split testing age & gender on an ad when they don’t need to.
You know you’re target audience? No? Here’s a tip then on who is likely to want your product… head over to this tab on your Facebook Page.
Your Facebook Page insights tells you the people who are attracted to your page. Providing you haven’t bought likes and your page isn’t just full of sympathy likes from friends and family, it will tell you who is likely to want your stuff.
So this picture is taken from my page and if I’m running an ad, I target women aged 30-50. Most of my fans are female and most sit in this age range. Your business is no different and has these statistics. So use them. So you know, I’ve run ads to men & women in that age range & it’s still women who respond. Oddly enough, I have a number of male business owners that I work with. I just don’t attract them as clients through my ads.
Now, you can go deeper into targeting your ads, but this one tip saves you a lot of time in testing your ad. Use it as a starting point and start with fewer test groups, if you still want to split test, but you’ll be ahead from the get go.
Theirs is a lot to understanding the person you’re targeting with Facebook Ads. The great thing is that once you learn it, you can apply it to your page too. For more information, head over and download my ebook of tips to running a Facebook Page.
