First, the facts: lots of people claim to be experts at Facebook ads. The truth from the inside is a little more humbling. Facebook ads platform changes weekly.
As a marketer, you can’t get too comfortable.
It’s like a dance. Facebook shimmies, you shimmy. Facebook turns, you turn. If you want hard and fast answers to all your questions, you might get them, in terms of how many eyeballs were on your ad, or how many clicks it got, or how long someone viewed your video; but by the middle of next week, those numbers can change.
Ouch! So what’s a marketer to do?
We’ll probably never know the secret to how Facebook decides to place your ad before its customers, and at what price. You bid (auction style) and then you let Facebook take the lead and trust that they’re mission is to create the best experience for their customers. (Ahem, that’s their users; not you, dear marketer, but stick with me here…)
Facebook is testing new things all the time. As you partner with the most accessible marketing tool on the planet, my advice is to enjoy playing with the platform. There’s nowhere else on the web where you can get the kind of highly targeted positioning of your content, AND (no small thing) detailed reporting about what’s working and what’s not.
Just an example. We’re working on a Kickstarter campaign for a technology company and we’re targeting outdoor enthusiasts. Although the market includes the music and construction industries as well as urban parent markets; for now, we’re only going after outdoor people like kayakers, mountain bikers, hikers, etc.
If you’re a startup, you know the drill. You think you know what people like and want, but you don’t want to spend dozens of thousands of dollars to know what your customers like for sure.
Enter Facebook. Whether personally you love it or not, Facebook will show you if your words and images resonate with your intended market.
For example, we’re running Facebook’s new carousel ad with five different images and different text beneath each image, with a call to action below each image. Now can you imagine getting reports on which picture and which text your customers liked the best?
- Wouldn’t you like to put five different ads before your ideal market and see which one people prefer? You can.
- Would you like to take that same ad and place it before two different groups of people: people who like mountain biking magazines, and people who like fishing magazines… and see which market clicks the most? You can.
- Would you like to put a video in front of your ideal customer and see if they spent at least 10 seconds watching it or if they scrolled right by? With Facebook’s new video ads, you can.
And you can do this very simply for a budget of $10 a day.
You don’t need to be a fancy ad agency or a marketing expert. All you have to do is log in and start experimenting.
If you have a Facebook Page and you’re not dabbling in Facebook’s back room, why not carve out an hour this week and check it out.
And when you’re ready for a quick walk-through to see what you can do there, schedule a call with me and we can talk about your business and your next marketing project.
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