Given the right strategy, Facebook Ads are a powerful tool that can yield effective results with minimal investment. It’s a great way for your institution to connect with profitable consumers (especially Millennials!) and start to build valuable relationships.

Here are eight tips for getting started with Facebook ads.

Tip 1: Get to know your audience.

Before you start any type of marketing program, you need to invest resources into researching your target audience. Determine their demographics, location, behaviors, interests, and if they’re even receptive to social media marketing. If already have buyer personas created for your brand, start there. You can also utilize Audience Insights on your Facebook page to research your target audience’s psychographics, interest, and behaviors. This basic information will help inform your targeting strategy during campaign execution.

If you’re still unsure who your target audience is, start with a broad audience and narrow it down with time. The Facebook Advertising algorithm will optimize for the audience that is most likely to respond to your message.

Tip 2: Ensure your website is ready for advertising traffic.

Your digital advertising is going to land on your website or a landing page. About 90% of Facebook traffic is coming from mobile devices, so verify that your website is responsive across all devices.

Your site should also properly track marketing activity from various channels via an analytics system. You can obtain more insight and track conversions by installing tracking codes from different platforms (i.e. Facebook Pixel).

Tip 3: Map social ads in the consumer journey.

In some industries, social media ads can constitute a full customer journey, from brand awareness to purchase. In others, brands rely on social ads as a step of the consumer journey alongside other marketing tactics (i.e. only brand awareness or consideration). Once you’ve identified your Facebook ads' place in your marketing strategy, you can start creating the assets for your campaign.

Tip 4: Choose your goal and budget.

Pick an advertising goal that aligns with your strategy. If you want to use social ads to drive brand awareness, use Facebook’s brand awareness objective. If you want to drive more leads, choose a conversion objective. Facebook has a wide selection of campaign objectives and tools that can help you achieve these goals. Choosing a correct objective can help you back into the necessary budget and will determine your creative production. If you’re unsure what to budget, test small amounts first and then add budget depending on performance.

Tip 5: Determine your offer. 

Select what type of offering you want to advertise. If you decide to include any incentive or lead magnets, like an account opening bonus or a switch kit, make sure that you produce the necessary assets in time for the campaign launch.

Tip 6: Produce your creative assets.

Your creative assets need to stand out to break through the clutter of messages Facebook users see every day. Take time to research best practices as well as your competitors’ ads (Research Tip: You can sometimes get exposed to a competitor’s ads by liking their Facebook page and visiting their website.).

Use Facebook’s Creative Hub to review best-in-class ad pieces and create your ad mockups. Be mindful of any legal disclaimers that you might need to include in your ads. Even though there isn’t a strict rule about the text in your imagery, including too much (more than 20%) might negatively affect your campaign performance.

Tip 7: Test and optimize your ad.

Define a strategy for testing and optimizing different pieces of your campaign - target audience composition, placement, location, ad creative, and landing pages. This will inform your decision-making for the next campaigns. For easier analysis, choose one variable to test at a time.

Tip 8: Keep up with best practices. 

There are multiple sources online that can help you refine your campaigns and skill set. Look for experienced advertisers in your niche or industry –– those who will most likely share valuable insights and optimization tips; such as Jon Loomer or Monica Louie. Facebook and Instagram official blogs are great resources for frequent platform and algorithm updates.

Want help developing an always-on social strategy that works? Contact us today.