TLDR.
Don’t have the time to stick around and read the entire article right now? Not to worry. Here are the key takeaways!
The following are simple and inexpensive Facebook ad optimisation tips that could majorly boost ad performance;
- Make sure to install the Facebook Pixel onto the desired website. It will do a lot of the heavy lifting for you!
- Before any ad goes live or a cent is spent, make sure you are 100% clear on what the objective of the ad is.
- Particularly for smaller businesses using Facebook Ads, using location-based or geographic targeting can be hugely beneficial.
- If a piece of content posted to social media got a great organic response, use it as an ad as well! It will likely go on to resonate with people who aren’t yet followers.
- To optimise ad performance regularly A/B or split test the ads, whereby two slightly different versions of the ad go out. Based on the results you will be able to refine ads for optimal performance.
- Be flexible about where the ads are seen online. The more places they can be seen the better so don’t limit yourself to “story only” or “in-feed only”.
Introduction.
Facebook ads are very often a key component of any business’ marketing and advertising strategy. When done correctly, the rewards are essentially limitless. If they are not quite firing on all cylinders, they can return results that might not be reaching their full potential. If not planned and maintained at all, they can be a waste of money and effort. This is of no benefit to any business.
So the key question – Facebook ad optimisation, how do I do it?
It has been well publicised in recent years that the use of the Facebook platform as purely a social media tool has been in decline. There has been a decline in use by Millennials & Gen Z also have very low usage rates of the platform, instead opting to primarily use Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, etc.
This has had no direct impact on the use of Facebook ads by businesses however. While we wait on all of 2021’s stats, some of Invoca’s 2020’s figures include;
- Over 160 million businesses are still using Facebook ads monthly to reach their customers.
- 93% of social media marketers are implementing Facebook ads.
- Annual Facebook ad spend was $31.43billion up almost 5% on 2019. And 2021 forecasts are looking at a further increase of around 22%!
Looking for some tips on Facebook ad optimisation? Here are some simple, but potentially very effective ways to seriously improve your Facebook ad stats.
1. Install the Facebook Pixel to your Website.
If you have been running Facebook ads for some time now this has likely already been done. But if you have not yet installed the Pixel, DO IT NOW!
The Facebook Pixel is a small piece of code that you put on your website. It tracks people’s movements on your website and will give you hugely valuable data in relation to their online behaviour. This in turn will inform your ads strategy and will vastly improve the chances of reaching your Facebook ad objectives.
If you have someone “in the know” who could help you install it, great! If not, there are plenty of great help options available online, such as Facebook’s own step-by-step guide.
2. Have a Clear Ad Objective Before Launching.
This might sound very obvious in relation to Facebook ad optimisation, but you would be surprised with the amount of businesses who have ads running and aren’t really sure what they want to get out of them. They are running ads “for the sake of it”. This will lead to money being wasted.
There are tonnes of reasons why people run Facebook ads. Reach, awareness, engagement, traffic to site, purchases, growing likes/following, and so on. Before you even think about creating images, writing copy or ad placements, decide on the campaign objective first.
When creating an ad on Facebook you will be asked firstly what the objective is (see below). Take the time to carefully consider these options and then decide the purpose of the entire campaign.
For some information on what your long and short term objectives on social media should look like, and the difference between the two, you can read our blog on it here.
3. Use Location-based or Geographic Targeting.
This can be particularly useful for SMEs who might be operating with smaller budgets. Do you have a brick and mortar store? Again, location–based ads should be your best friend!
Facebook ads allow you to target people based on very specific geographic locations, down to the nearest kilometre.
For example a business owner in Cavan with a brick-and-mortar store should have different ads going out to different geographic locations in Ireland. The target audience within 25km of the shop should be seeing ads encouraging them to come to the store, highlighting a collection option and other in-store benefits (see example above). Whereas the ads being seen by people in Cork should be highlighting things like free delivery, encouraging online purchases and driving traffic to the site.
Once you have gathered data based on the locations of people, you can begin building this audience and begin looking at other characteristics such as age, gender, online interests, etc.
4. Boost Successful Social Media Posts.
Have you got some great, organic content going out on social media? You should be sharing it with people who aren’t yet followers of yours!
For example, let’s say a piece of content that you post scores well organically – reach, engagement, impressions. It has resonated with your followers. There is then a very good chance that people who are like your followers will like it too. You need to get it in front of these people.
The post can be boosted through Facebook Ads (the app or desktop). To save time and for improved efficiency, save some lookalike audiences so you know the people being reached are the correct people. The two most common objectives for boosting social media posts are to increase reach (the amount of people who will see it) or to increase engagement (the amount of people who will engage with the post).
Over time this boosted post will gather additional likes, comments and shares, helping you achieve whatever objective you outlined when boosting the post in the first place.
5. Use A/B or Split Testing.
This is where you can run two versions of the same ad by altering certain aspects of the ad. Why do this? It will show you what your audiences prefer which will allow you to serve them up better ads in the future.
Just some of the things you should consider altering when running some A/B testing ads are;
- Ad copy
- Imagery / videography
- Ad placement
- Call-to-action button
- Bidding methods
- USP of the ad
You will then be able to examine the results of both campaigns. Learn from the findings. And then create new A/B tests to further refine the ads. After a number of A/B tests you should be able to determine what exactly is the best kind of ad to reach your target audience with and how to get the most bang for your buck!
Everyday is a learning day and the same goes for your Facebook ads!
6. Be Open To Where The Ads Will Go.
In reality there is no exact right or wrong way place for your ad to be seen online. Yes, there are formats and platforms that you would prefer your ads to be seen on, but keep an open mind in relation to other potential locations.
For example, if you are a new clothing brand looking to sell to Irish women under the age of 30, Instagram would likely yield better results for engagement than Facebook. However, what about the mothers, fathers, aunties, uncles and even grandparents of these Irish women under 30?
These people might be purchasing presents for these women a couple of times a year. So Facebook could well be the best place to reach these people. Always think about who might be purchasing, not just who the end user is.
A top tip from us in relation to ad placements online – create a variation of the image or video. Square or 1:1 ratio is perfect for in-feed. 9:16 is optimal for stories. And so on. Having a few variations will allow the ad to be seen in more places, as seen with one of our clients below.
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Conclusion.
Getting deep into the world of Facebook ads can be a little daunting. You can make your life a lot easier by implementing these simple Facebook ad optimisation techniques in the early stages of using Facebook ads.
Once up and running and spending money on Facebook ads, none of the above Facebook ad optimisation tips will come at any major additional cost! And as already mentioned, this could help totally transform the results your ads are delivering.
Want to chat more to us about Facebook ads? Do you feel you could use a little hand in running effective Facebook ads and campaigns at work? Drop us a message below & we can have that conversation!