Facebook is a beast and it’s easy for small business owners to get frustrated with all of the quirks that Facebook likes to throw at you. Between Facebook’s changing platform and overwhelming ads set up, it’s no wonder that many of us want to throw up our hands or scream into a pillow. Even seasoned Facebook marketers get frustrated, so don’t get too down on yourself for feeling like it’s just too complicated. We have all been there, and while I can’t say you won’t have days where you will still feel this way, I can say it gets easier once you get your basics down.
To help you with this, here are my 5 tips for getting your Facebook ads running smoothly, just in time for the holiday season:
- Drive traffic to your website (start right now if you didn’t head our warning to start your holiday marketing in July). It’s more cost-effective to run retargeting ads to clients who have already visited your website, than it is to run ads to a cold audience who has not interacted with your company before. As Facebook ads increase in price between now and the end of the holidays, it’s even more important that you start this as soon as possible.
- Start using Facebook Business Manager. Facebook is changing its systems, but Facebook Business Manager still provides the most robust tools for managing your advertising strategy. Check your analytics that are coming in through your Facebook Pixel, and especially look at the demographics of your audience and the click-through-to-purchase process to see what the customer journey is like.
- Set up your ads right away, even if they are not going to run until Black Friday (which is in two weeks!) With the COVID-19 pandemic, ads are taking longer to get approved right now. Get your ads ready and scheduled on Facebook now, so they’ll start running right on time on Black Cyber weekend.
- Keep your message, your audience, and your medium in mind. These are the very basics of every ad campaign you run, so you must start by thinking about these three questions. What action do you want your audience to take? What pain does your product solve for your customers? Will your target customer see your ads on Instagram? In Stories? Keep all these things in mind as you create your ads.
- Do not just boost posts! When you boost posts, Facebook shows that post to people who like to click “like”… and that’s it. You want to create an ad using Facebook’s ad tools in Business Manager that is targeted toward the results you want. If you aren’t sure what to choose, download our #30DaysOf Holiday Marketing Tips and go to days 19 and 20 to read up on setting up your ad campaign.
If you’re still overwhelmed by all of this with your ads, schedule a call with us and let us help you get started!