The fundamentals of Facebook ads

Facebook ads are the new generation of PPC advertising. Instead of paying for sponsored links you are advertising to members within a social network. The overall concept of Facebook Ads is the same as other forms of PPC advertising: you are effectively paying for ads to be displayed to a very diverse database of potential customers. There are, however, slight differences in setting up, writing the ad and deciding on a target audience that should be noted.

It is important to remember here that Facebook ads are served to people on Facebook who have the keywords that related to your business on their profile. They are not searching for them but are being shown them based on what they have already listed.

How to create a Facebook Ad

To create a Facebook advertisement you firstly have to consider the following:

1. What do you want to advertise? The number one thing which you need to think about is whether you will send visitors directly to your website, a specific destination or a fan page.
2. What would you like to do? secondly, you have to choose between a ‘like’ campaign, promoting specific page posts on your fam page or a custom campaign which sends visitors to your website or application.

How to write a Facebook Ad

Destination URL

Unlike Google Ads your destination URL is your landing page. There is no display URL. In order to properly track your Facebook campaigns make use of the Google URL Building to create a tracking code for each Facebook ad campaign.

Ad title

The maximum length for this is 25 characters. Be short, to the point and use keywords that will draw attention to your ad.

Body copy

This has a maximum length of 90 characters. Ensure that you always insert a call-to-action.

Image

The cost is the same with or without imagery. If you don’t select an image, Facebook will insert a default image for you. choose branded, inspirational images that will attract visitors to your ad.

Audience demographics and Facebook ads

Facebook ads do not work on keywords. Instead these ads are displayed based on the demographic information that is available on Facebook profiles. The more specific details you include about your target market the more targeted your campaign will be.

If you have a Facebook Page, you may use this as a connection and link to this page as a sales channel. Make sure that you create a corporate Facebook account before creating ads. It looks more professional when ads come from a personal persona. Therefore make sure that you always create posts through your business page.

Lastly you have to name your specific camping, select a reasonable campaign budget and select the time period in which you want to run your unique advertisement. Use the suggested bid range but keep in mind that some keywords are more competitive and therefore have a higher suggested bid range. If your ad has a low CTR and number of impressions switch to the CPM bid type for a while to ensure that Facebook does indeed display you ad.

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