By Anissa & Rianna
Facebook for business is all the rage right now. The internet has opened a floodgate of possibilities for business, and Facebook has brought these possibilities into the living rooms of every work from home mom and digital nomad. Facebook Ads are the next big step.
As more people join the Facebook Business phenomenon and start advertising more and more, the bar is being raised to make better content and better ads. Here are 10 Tips for Making Compelling Facebook Ads from us to you! Here are some Facebook Ads best practices from us to you!
Tip #1: Be Clear on Your Intent
Before you even begin the ad, be very clear on your intent for the ad. Why are you wanting to run an ad or boost that post? What do you want people to do when they see the ad? How will you measure the success of the ad, realistically? Use the S.M.A.R.T. goal setting method for preparing your ad. This is incredibly important so that 2 weeks and $20 later you will be able to say exactly how successful your ad was and why. This can even be as simple as, “I want to boost this ad for $5 to increase the reach of my brand.”
Tip #2: Select Your Objective
Okay, now you can go to your computer! Boosting a post is still a slightly different thing than creating an ad. Boosting a post will just create more reach to get engagement or messages to your page. However, if you use ads manager, there are several different objectives you can choose from that will help drive your compelling Facebook ads forward. Keeping your intent in mind, which objective will best suit you?
Keep in mind 90% of sales happen after 12 touches, so starting with Brand Awareness and Engagement are good objectives to grow people’s awareness and interest of your business of Facebook. Link Click ads are good at driving traffic to your website, but they are more expensive ($5 per day minimum vs. $1 min for all others) and you want to make sure people know what to do when they get to your website in a matter of seconds. Finally, conversion ads are the big money maker when it comes to selling on your website with Facebook ads. Set up your Pixel ASAP to start getting data for this now so you are ready to use it later.
Tip #3: Selecting Your Audience
These suggestions apply for both boosted post and Facebook ads, although there are less options with the boosted post. When you are first getting started, select a broad audience knowing you will use data from the results to narrow your audience.
Choose 5-10 states or cities where you currently do business or have a warm audience. If you are a brick and mortar, use a 50 mile radius of your location, or places you can ship to/work with. Next, choose an age range within 30 years or less. Choose Gender and Language if it is appropriate to your product or service. Next, Select 10-20 keywords. Demographics, behavior, and interest are the three categories of keywords and they are exactly what they sounds like. Use this area as a search bar to find what keywords are available or browse what is available to get some ideas.
Stretch your thinking with this. What other things might your audience have in common? For example, you may be selling pancake recipes, but you know your audience needs to buy things like blueberries and flour. These would be good keywords to select.
Tip #4: Selecting Your Budget
Now let’s talk money. How do you set a budget? For boosted posts, the budget is pretty straight forward, but ads require a bit more strategy.
Most ads are $1 per day with the exception of link clicks which are $5 per day. It takes the software 72 hours to properly optimize your audience, so let it run for AT LEAST a week, but no more than 30-60 days for one ad. With these minimums in mind, type in several numbers to see the estimate reach and results of the ad. $20 can really go a long way. If you have no idea where to start, do $50 for promoting a big event or product, or $100-$200 a month of a combination of ads to help boost the growth of your business on Facebook.
The #1 thing I recommend is using a lifetime budget with a set end date, this way you have set parameters on your money before you even begin.
Tip #5: You need a compelling headline.
All good graphics and ads start with a compelling headline. Before starting any design work, think about what text you’d like on your graphic. It should be simple and attention grabbing. Leave the heavy copy for the ad itself. Facebook does not like images with more than 20% of text taking up the image. Keep this in mind when creating your graphic. The recommendation is to keep it short and sweet, about 5-10 words but no more than that. When you have a headline in mind, it’ll be easier to create your imagery around it.
Examples:
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Tip #6: Make sure the graphic isn’t too busy.
When creating compelling Facebook ads, you want to make sure your graphic isn’t too busy. You want your audience to engage and react to your ad. You don’t want to place text over a busy image or in a spot that can’t be read. For example, if you want to use a city skyline in your graphic, place your text above the skyline not in it. Unless you plan to use a solid colored overlay, it’s generally not a good idea. Also, if your graphic is hard to read or understand, your audience is less likely to click through as they’ll lose interest in your ad.
Bad Examples:
The font is not bold enough and can’t be read over the image. The image is too dark and has too many bracelets in one picture. This can make it hard to view what is being sold and the emotion you are trying to convey. Plus, nowhere does it have the business name on it!
In this example, there is too much text. Facebook would flag this as having too much text and will warn you that it won’t perform well.
Good Example:
In this image, we clearly see the product and what is being highlighted for sale. It is also on a clean white background which makes the product stand out more!
This graphic has just the right amount of image to text ratio. It has key important copy but it doesn’t overwhelm the graphic.
Another keynote is to make sure you are using the right image dimensions for the ad that you are using.
Facebook Post Images should be:
Facebook Ad Images should be:
Tip #7: Always, ALWAYS include your branding.
A common mistake that most business owners make is failure to include their branding or business name on their advertisements. As a business owner, you are working hard to build your brand awareness. You’re likely to have your audience more in tune with you the more familiar they get with your brand. You don’t have to include your logo on every single graphic, especially if the graphic is a different palette or theme, but you should always include your business name or website in the footer of the graphic.
Tip #8: Colors matter!
Color psychology is a thing, don’t ya know? If there is a specific emotion or reaction that you wish to convey, it’s important to use the colors associated with it. For example, if you wish to convey excitement, then your primary color should be yellow. All of these play an important part of converting your ads.
Examples:
Tip #9: Use legible fonts.
Believe it or not, another factor that plays into ad conversion are the fonts that are used in the graphics. While script fonts are beautiful, sometimes they don’t read as well as they should. You have to account for all the screen types that your ad will be shown on. If you plan to use scripts, make sure they’re big and legible, not in all caps and in a darker color. One way to see if your graphic is legible, is to zoom out. As you zoom out, you can start to picture it in different aspects.
Tip #10: Test and Check Test and Check Test and Check
Once you have the ad up and running, the most important thing to do to make the ad successful is to test and check. Test a few different images then check back every couple of days to see which are performing the best, and pause the others. Set time on your calendar every week to check in on your ads, test a few different age groups and see which in performing well. However, between these times, leave it be! It can be tempting to check and tweek the ad every hour, but leave it be to do it’s thing. Every time you make a change, it takes a while for it to be approved at which point the ad is not being shown to your audience.
On The Table..
However many changes Facebook makes or algorithm updates that occur, follow these steps to get the best results from your ads. Check the data on your ad and see how many people have responded to the ad in what demographics. (See the “Breakdown” tab in ads manager).
Good images will help you tremendously. There are a lot of terrible ads out there, take the updates and competition and motivation to do better!
Happy Advertising!
Meet the Authors!
Anissa… is more than your ordinary Sidekick. A geek of her own, Anissa is the Founder of The Virtual Sidekick, where they serve as your creative right hand, bringing your vision to life and helping Superheroes save the day, one creative step at a time.
Rianna… is a self-proclaimed data nerd with a love of strong coffee and her two mutts. Rianna is the Founder of Pancake Digital Solutions, a company founded on the belief that anyone can learn anything…Currently teaching Facebook Ads and Social Media for Business.