Top 5 Tips for Creating Facebook Ads That Convert

by Billy Mitchell Mr

The importance of Facebook marketing for businesses shows no signs of subsiding and, while page content remains important, the force behind a successful Facebook presence is a successful Facebook Ads strategy.

79% of the online UK population use Facebook, according to recent figures. Odds on, that number is going to contain members of your target audience, so the question becomes not whether you use Facebook to target them, but how you go about it. Thanks to changes made by Facebook over the last few years, organic posts are limited in their scope. You need to use Facebook ads and, crucially, they need to be good.

Here are 5 Tips to Get You Started:

1. Know Your Aim

If you go into any Facebook ad campaign with a vague idea of “getting noticed”, you’ll likely be disappointed. An ad created in isolation that doesn’t have a stated aim won’t be targeted correctly and will fail to engage the audience because it isn’t aimed at a specific audience. Your ad aim will be closely tied to your marketing strategy and might be one of the following:

● Grow your email list

● Improve sales of a product

● Increase brand awareness

● Gain more page likes

2. Have a Good Hook

Remember, Facebook users are familiar with seeing ads on the platform and yours will have to be enticing to make them stop scrolling. Your Facebook Ad should be offering something that your target audience will like. That could be anything from a 25% off voucher through to a free book, depending on your niche. If you’re a leadership expert trying to get sign-ups to your online course, for example, the hook might be a free guide to leadership skills. Know your audience and give them something they’ll value.

3. Get Your Targeting Right

Targeting is arguably the most powerful element of Facebook ads. It allows you to reach your own audience by pinpointing the demographics that most apply to your customers. When you boost posts, you don’t get these targeting options, so it always pays to create an ad rather than boost a post. The key to good targeting is to know your audience and keep it narrow. Don’t target an ad to all women in your town if your product only really appeals to the under 30's – it’s throwing money away on people who are unlikely to buy from you anyway.

4. Focus on Quality Design

Your Facebook Ad should ideally be an image created specifically for this promotion. Don’t use one of your grainy product images and hope for the best – remember that you want people to be impressed enough to click-through. One caveat for Facebook ads is that you can only use 20% text in any images. Don’t fall foul of that rule as your ad will just be automatically rejected.

5. Don’t be Afraid to Adjust Things

Marketing on Facebook isn’t like putting an advert in a magazine. In traditional forms of marketing, the results of your efforts won’t become clear for months afterward and it can be tricky to work out whether you’re throwing good money after bad. Facebook results are much more immediate. You can see after a few days whether your ad’s performing well and getting the desired results. That gives you the option to change things around a little if necessary. An image change, some text adjustment, and improved targeting are just three of the options open to you. Don’t let it fester until you feel as though you’ve wasted your money!