In the session “Facebook Ads: Reaching Prospects Earlier In The Decision Cycle,” Sarah Smith, Manager of Online Sales Operations, Facebook, offered tips on targeting your audience, creating compelling ads and getting a solid return on investment.
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Sarah Smith
Facebook’s mission is to give people the power to share and make the world more open. Facebook has over 250 million users globally and has open registration.
Facebook allows you to target your exact audience. With other ad options you are not able to target your exact audience.
Targeting capabilities structured and unstructured. Structured includes: location, age/birthday, gender, education, workplace, relationship and language.
Unstructured (keywords): activities, interests, music, TV, movies, and books.
Keywords are generated because users actually put these words in their profile.
Tips to top ROI on Facebook ads:
– Experiment with multiple ads
– Target relevant audiences
– Design and refresh compelling creative
– Create and optimize socially enabled landing pages
– Use Facebook reporting
– Become a fan of Facebook Ad page
Users can decide what they think of Facebook ads by giving them thumbs up or thumbs down. This can help advertisers refine their approach.
Consumers can become fans of your page via Facebook ads using links to the page.
Best practices to boost CTR:
1. Keep ads short and simple
2. Ask questions in ad text
3. Avoid overcapitalization
4. Strong call to action “ACT NOW!”
5. Mention offers or discount code
Design ads that demand attention
-target the right people and find success
Refresh creative with simple changes
-color of the image…
Exploit pockets of opportunity
Adjust landing pages for engagement
Build a fan base to connect with customers
Optimize with Facebook ad manager
Dig into Facebook reports
Report type
Set up a test with Facebook ads
Use unique tracking links to measure ROI
Experiment
Mix targeting
Question & Answer:
Are ads currently being approved only in English?
Ad approval process is being built out in Facebook to cater to other languages.
How do we use CTR versus thumbs up/thumbs down? What’s the correlation?
Not sure. Both the CTR and thumbs up/thumbs down both weigh equally.
How do you know what clickthrough rate to expect?
Advised that you bid on the high end and adjust later on. Facebook doesn’t have any benchmark right now but says that you shouldn’t expect same CTR on Google AdWords on Facebook Ads. Seen ads with high ROI and be successful with a .04 CTR.
Why do I want to target those people who are already of my page?
May not necessarily be customers yet.
What is the definition of a fan in the sense of the sales funnel?
Example is Maria Smith (?) – you get more exposure by that free exposure. A fan is a potential customer or evangelist of your business. Can also be influencers. Companies can also use it as a CRM tool to get feedback on their products.
Will Facebook be implementing tracking codes to monitor conversions?
They are looking at it – it’s a huge value for advertisers but it’s difficult for Facebook right now.
