facebook, local businesses, facebook ad myths, facebook ads, facebook campaign, facebook myths
Did you know that over 1.86 billion monthly active users on Facebook right now? And over 1 billion of DAILY active users on mobile. With an audience that size, there is a good chance that people you want to do business with are on Facebook at some point during their day. While we wouldn’t recommend spending a lot of time on Facebook for every business (See: What Social Media Site Should My Business be Using?) Facebook Advertising is just too strong of a targeting platform to be ignored. There is so much that can be done for any type of business with Facebook Ads.
Here are some common myths I’d like to put to rest.
1. Facebook Ads are too expensive.
Facebook Ads CAN be expensive if you don’t have a plan. Running a campaign blind is like throwing money at a wall and then wondering why the phone isn’t ringing. What is a lead worth to you? What is the goal of your campaign? Who is your target? Launching a Facebook ad before answering these questions will guarantee your Facebook Ads are “too expensive”. Even with a small budget to start, there is a price point that can work for you.
2. I already “boost” my posts, isn’t that the same thing?
The short answer, no. Boosting a post and running a Facebook Ad are different. Facebook will always run your ads based on the intent behind them. So a conversion campaign will be shown to people who are more likely to convert, a Lead campaign will be shown to people more likely to fill out a form, and so on. A boosted post’s goal is to increase engagement, likes, and comments. If that’s your goal, great! But don’t boost a post for the goal of driving traffic back to your website alone.
When you run a Facebook Ad Campaign, you can get way more specific with your goal, detail your audience based on several factors (instead of just one) example, people who like your page AND are in your zip code, manage your budget, manage the platform, and TEST to see what is working best. Zip code plays an important factor as it uses the local information and people available around the area to showcase the boosted post and generate traffic. Many people even get influenced by real estate companies and search for things like Seattle Homes for Sale “insert zip code” as this helps them narrow down the location of their real estate desires. Though boosting your post using your own money may not profit you much but as time passes it gives back the reward in a significant way.
In short – Boosting = post engagement Ads = EVERYTHING ELSE
3. I sell B2B- so Facebook Ads aren’t for me.
With Facebook targeting, you can easily target job titles and types of companies. If the company is large enough, you may even be able to target their employees. With B2B ads your approach may have to be different, but there are still many ways you can run a successful campaign. Instead of trying to close a sale, try to gain a lead. Offer ebooks, promote articles you wrote that would be relevant to the industry you want to target, etc.
4. Facebook Ads just don’t work.
One thing we’ve learned about Facebook Ads, they take a lot of work! Testing the right audience, your ad copy, your ad images, the platforms, ad score, are just some of the things that we are checking daily. Finding that “sweet spot” for any campaign takes some time and testing. And then more testing. Did I mention testing? Some more of that too.
If you’re thinking about giving it a try, or haven’t had much success before, try it out! Don’t be afraid to test different audiences, campaign goals, and ads. And test, test, TEST!
close a sale, try to gain a lead. Offer ebooks, promote articles you wrote that would be relevant to the industry you want to target, etc.