Finding it difficult to drive organic traffic from Facebook? Paid adverts are the way to go.

Over the last couple of years, Facebook has completely changed their news feed algorithm. Gone are the good old days where every post would be seen by all of your followers. One of the main goals for Facebook is to keep users on their website or app for as long as possible. This increased attention means Facebook can display more adverts, which of course makes them more revenue. With that in mind, how Facebook has tackled the problem of user retention is to only show content to the user that has the highest chance of engaging with them.

How the algorithm works is by using machine learning to analyse your behaviour. This includes what content you consume, posts you like, the websites you visit and who you messages you. The algorithm then tailors your news feed with post and content that is going to keep you on Facebook longer. The problem that is affecting small business is unless your customer base is really engaged with your posts, blog articles, products and your website the odds are low that they are going to see your content.

 

Boosting Facebooks posts are a bit of a shot in the dark

Facebook post boosts do serve a purpose – they can act as a quick, easy way for business owners to experiment with paid advertising for a relatively low cost. However the main drawback with boosting a post is that you’re limited when it comes to the targeting options available in the back end of the Facebooks ads manager. Because of this the chances of your advert reaching your intended target audience are significantly reduced. In my experience, you can get much better results from setting up your ad campaign with the Facebook ads manager.

4 easy steps to use Facebook Ad Manager with existing posts

1. 1. The first is the options to clearly choose the object you want to achieve.
   2. After you have set up your target audience and budget you have the option to use a Facebook post as your ad copy as similar to boosting a post. Selecting “use existing post” you would then be given the option to use an existing post from your Facebook page.
   3. Detailed Targeting – Detailed targeting is where a lot of people get stuck. Facebook ad manager offers a tool that is not very often utilised called audience’s insights tool.Within the audience insights tool, you can discover all the data you need on your target audience. For example, if you were to put in camping as an interest, Facebook would then show you what percentages of people who like camping are male or female, their relationship status, what pages they like, job role, location etc.Using this tool should give you the data you need to make an informed decision when it comes to choosing your target audience.
   4. Set your budget and time scale.

Measuring the success of your campaign

If you are able to install a Facebook Pixel on your website you can unleash a whole raft of useful data. The Facebook pixel is a snippet of code that is provided within the Facebook ads manager that you place on your website. The pixel helps track conversions from Facebook ads, optimise ads based on collected data, build targeted audiences for future ads, and remarket to qualified leads— these are people who have already taken some kind of action on your website.

There are a couple of ways to install the pixel on your website. If you are using a CMS such as WordPress or Shopify then you download a plugin from the Facebook manager. If your website is hard coded or uses a custom CMS then you can download the raw code itself and install it manually.

Custom and lookalike audience –

Once you’ve had the pixel installed on your website for some time and has collected a good portion of data on your website visitors. You can then set up retargeting audiences and lookalike audiences.

A retargeting audience allows you to advertise to people who visited your website but did not convert. With retargeting you could resale that prospect with the benefit of your product, offer a discount or tell them an offer is about to end.

A Lookalike audience is taking the data collected by the Facebook pixel and telling Facebook to find new people who would be interested in your business.

Benefits for small business

Facebook advertising is perfect for small business because not only do you reach people who are interested in your niche but it is also much cheaper than traditional advertising such as print, radio and TV.

Facebook is one of the most popular social media platforms in the world, with more than 1.6 billion worldwide users. Plus people like to spend a lot of time on it, whether all at once or periodically throughout the day.

When it comes to advertising, there is no company in the world that has more information about its users than Facebook. It includes much more than just your age, gender, and alma mater. While those things are valuable for marketing purposes, Facebook also knows which websites you visit and how often, how much time you spend doing various things online and what you purchase.

Lastly, there are a very large number of businesses who have not taken advantage of Facebook advertising. This is an opportunity to reach a market that is relatively untapped and steal a march on your competition.

If you want to know more about Facebook advertising and the benefits it could have to your business, no matter what size, then please get in contact.