Facebook Advertising Done Right

The numbers are big. 500 million people on Facebook alone. And they’re so tantalizingly interconnected. It’s tempting to reach out to them with a Fan page (er, I mean a Like page, I guess, these days.) It’s tempting to talk to all those people directly, on the social network they use every day.

Until you do it, and you discover: 8 Likes isn’t enough.

So you look at the social advertising options. And there are some good ones. And Facebook lets you target people who have very specific “likes,” and offers a decent ad-building engine and opportunity for step-up programs.

And, you know what? That’s a really great opportunity to micro-target some very specific audiences. But don’t mistake it for a social campaign. That’s advertising, plain and simple.

Because it’s advertising, treat it like advertising:

1. Put the best possible creative you can into it. Yes, it’s tough to do something cool with tiny photos and static text, but if your creative isn’t up to the challenge, find new creative.

2. Start with more than one ad. Facebook automatically rotates your creative and shows which ones are more effective at a glance. Start with at least three approaches to see how they perform next to each other.

3. Rotate creative. Every week, kill the underperforming ad and rotate in a new one to see how it does against the others.

4. Pay attention to the numbers, and what they mean. If an ad has a 0.5% clickthrough (very good for Facebook), but it isn’t converting to Likes or sales, drop it and try a new approach.

5. Create, and maintain, an effective Facebook brand page. Sure you can drive people outside of Facebook with your ads, but you’ll soon find that the response rate is much higher if you stay within Facebook. This means creating and maintaining a Facebook brand page which includes:

a. Up-to-date, meaningful content about your company.
b. Regular updates on your company’s feed.
c. Tabs that allow people to buy direct from you in Facebook, or engage with your company directly in Facebook.
d. Interaction from fans.
e. More than 8 Likes. Shoot for several hundred at least. Thousands are better.

6. Keep it rolling. Social is a marathon, not a sprint. The longer you’re there, the better the results.

7. Or kill it. If the results of your social advertising are lower than the results of your conventional advertising (cost per sale is higher, etc), then just consider pulling the plug. Social takes plenty of time and energy, and if you have other marketing tactics that pay off better, it’s best to spend your time and energy there.

Posted by August 26th, 2010 | by Jason | Permalink