Why Advertising on Facebook Should Be A Part of Your Marketing Strategy
Advertising on Facebook is today’s version of putting a print ad in a newspaper during the mid-19th century. It’s a customary way of reaching new and existing consumers, meeting them where they are consuming content regularly.
Facebook was arguably one of the first social media platforms that changed the advertising game. Consumers fell in love with new brands that they wouldn’t have known about if they weren’t served an ad. While businesses were able to learn more about their audience base, narrowing in on their interests and behaviors.
While newer social media apps may be attention-grabbing, their advertising platforms aren’t as reliable. TikTok’s user base is often much younger and the videos are so short; that it’s not uncommon for users to bypass your ad completely. And with X, there are still a lot of unknowns particularly after Elon Musk acquired the app in 2022. If you still need some convincing that advertising on Facebook is worthwhile, keep reading. Below are three reasons why you should make Facebook part of your marketing strategy.
1. Efficiency
According to Hawke, Facebook’s Automated Ads can help you scale more efficiently. Automated Ads is Meta’s user-friendly platform that will assist you in creating ads that work for your business needs. It’ll guide you through ad creation, building up to six different types of creative. The platform will suggest various tactics, such as specific call-to-actions or additional text based on past performance.
With these rules in place, you’ll be able to maximize your value by running the same ad campaign and applying new targeting tactics. At the same time, you’ll be able to better monitor how much you’re spending on each campaign and set a maximum budget. And while you will need to still monitor the campaign’s progress, you won’t need to monitor everything so manually. In short, Facebook’s Automated Ads takes the guesswork out of launching a new marketing strategy while also giving you full reign over your advertising strategy.
2. Consistency
Advertising on Facebook is a tried and true tactic. You know that if you target this niche segment during these specific time windows, you’ll see success. And when you’re working with a smaller marketing budget or other limited resources, this app can provide you with the most bang for your buck.
That said, many brands fall into the trap of switching up their Facebook strategy too quickly. You’re seeing great success with an ad so you’re drawn to tweak or fix it to optimize it even further. While this may seem smart, it can do more harm than good. This is due to Facebook’s tracking system called Pixels; an updated ad can confuse the tool. It knew what was working well before, but now it doesn’t know how to generate even more conversions.
This shouldn’t deter you from changing things up if you see that something is not working well. Rather, be smart about what you are revising and how often. Trust Facebook and its track record. Don’t shut off or pause a campaign after a single day. Instead, look at the overall progression and watch how the algorithm is learning about your desired customers. The more campaigns you deploy on Facebook, the more you’ll learn, and the more the ad platform will learn about your needs too.
3. Variety
Lastly, another major benefit of advertising on Facebook is the ad variety and targeting options. From a creative standpoint, you and your marketing team will feel like kids in a candy store when looking at all of your ad options! From a basic single-image ad to collection ads showcasing a variety of products to short-form video story ads, the options are nearly endless. By selecting different types of ad formats, you’re able to test and learn what works best for your brand. You may see great results, for example, from a carousel ad highlighting some of your new products with a direct call-to-action button.
In regards to targeting, you can get super specific about who will be seeing your ads. Facebook divides its targeting into three levels: core audiences, custom audiences, and lookalike audiences. Core audiences are your foundational base, those that you first see as your demographics. You’ll want to identify your customer’s location, behaviors, and interests. Custom audiences go a step further, segmenting those who are already familiar with your brand. This is where you can run a retention campaign, re-engaging those who have purchased from your site before.
Lookalike audiences build off of your core and custom audiences by finding patterns and identifying individuals who may also like your brand. For example, an athletic apparel company can create a lookalike audience based on a consumer’s interest in a particular sport. The main benefit of identifying these lookalike audiences is that it can generate high-quality leads through data-driven methods.
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At the end of the day, it’s hard to go wrong with advertising on Facebook. As the largest social media site, you know that your audience is on this platform. You can also assume that many of your competitors are using Facebook as part of their marketing strategy as well. If you aren’t at least playing in the same playground, your target audiences may forget or be unaware of your offerings. With the right tactics in place, you’ll see great results from this powerful social media and advertising tool.